Posted on 05/22/2019 10:49:09 AM PDT by Red Badger
I had heard grumblings about the downsides to storm chasing for a long time - poor driving habits, traffic jams as cars converge near violent storms, and the dangers of rogue chasers and hobbyists. It had always been on my mind, but four years of venturing to the Plains had taught me it was just something I'd have to live with. I always brushed it off as an unavoidable byproduct of chasing.
But Monday was different. I witnessed firsthand the practices that will drive me away from the sport I once loved with my entire being. The past week of storm chasing has been eye-opening. In just seven days, I've encountered:
--Chase vehicles parked perpendicular to roads blocking major intersections
--Multiple chasers with red/blue police lights "pulling over" others to clear their path to the storm; in 70 mph winds and egg-sized hail and less than a mile from a tornado, this could have been deadly
--Traffic jams 200 cars deep
--Chasers parking on/in the road to take pictures, blocking traffic
--Chasers barreling down a one-lane road at 90 mph
--Chasers driving on the wrong side of the road
The dangers speak for themselves.
There's a reason why my biggest fear about storm chasing isn't weather-related; it's not the softball-sized hail, it's not hurricane-force winds, and it's not even lightning or the tornado. It's other chasers. On Monday, when a large tornado passed by Mangum, Oklahoma, the Oklahoma Highway Patrol reported just one injury, not from wind but "involving two vehicles with storm chasers."
(Excerpt) Read more at greenwichtime.com ...
They also impede traffic as storms are approaching sometimes with fatal results when the storm catches up.
Storm chasers crash: Weather Channel hosts die in insane car collision tracking twister - TomoNews
I guess its just a matter of time before a chaser kills an innocent person.
Then all the Harrumph Harrumphing will begin.
Climate Change is at fault! /s
Even before the movie “Twister”, I had heard of storm chasers. I’ve always dreamed of going on one. I am aware of several reputable groups that do it.
Up ‘til this article, my greatest fear would be spending the money AND a week going back and forth across the Plains and not seeing anything more than a moderately severe t-storm.
Now, it sounds like the growing number of amateur storm chasers are ruining it for everyone.
I don’t see where the writer of this article reveals his real job but it seems clear that he chases for the thrill and not for a profession.
Therefore he and those who lament the crowds chasing are themselves the crowd chasing storms.
In short, they are major contributors to the problem.
I didn’t get a “Harrumph!!” outta that guy!
i blame pete buttigeig
Why?
Just because- that’s why!
Yeah. I tend to take shelter for storms. In my neck of the woods it’s hurricanes. Go home. Cover windows. And stay away from the coast. If I lived in the Midwest I’d have a storm shelter and plan on using it in a tornado.
Virtually all of them are morons and thrill junkies.
No one needs them for actual science. The only real task they can preform is alerting the TV stations from a safe distance if they have spotted a touchdown, and which direction it is going.
I see the problem here, this doofus refers to it as a “sport.”
If it is a “sport” to you, then you have no legitimate reason to be out in the storm, you are a potential obstruction to those with legit reasons, the local people caught up in the storm as thy do their daily routine, first responders, and those obtaining data for use in prediction and improving storm responses.
This thing is warped!! Why do I always get a warped one??!!
A few years ago we had a storm chaser come on the ranch and before we chased him off he said he could make as much as $10,000 from a unique video.
That kind of money can make people do crazy things.
This is parallel to my feelings about hunting. I haven’t hunted on public game land for 30 years. Most hunters are ignorant, drunk, or dumb, and many are all three.
In fact, this is parallel to my feelings about everything.
. And then again they might. Those little red devils... they love toys! ...
I don’t know who to blame but the practice should be banned.
We get the kind of laws we deserve, and increasingly we are a nation of idiots.
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