Storm Tracker For 4Warn Storm Team On KFOR-TV OKC, Sports Official, Small Business Owner. Opinions Are My Own. Strait Is My Hero. Ponca City, OK #BoomerSooner
“Invisible tornado” is not a tornado. It was funnel. Your job is to protect people, not sensationalize every single thing because you think you’re cool. Just tell the freakin truth. #txwx#okwx
PDS Long Post Warning: A Community Truth
I unfortunately really feel like storm chasing is going to become regulated by local and state governments in the near future, here’s why and what I’m going to continue to do moving forward..
It is inevitable that at some point the luck within storm chasing community is going to run dry and when it does there will be a mass casualty event and it won’t necessarily be a town but it’ll be the population of one that gets impacted permanently (friends, family etc of lost chasers etc)
But let’s say a town does become impacted as well, as in nearly the case of last night of Blue Rapids, KS.. if let’s say 10-15+ chasers get caught up in a violent tornado and devastates them, that immediately becomes a whole lot of local and state resources (maybe even federal if state of emergency issues and funds get granted) that are being used up for chasers who likely don’t even live in that town or state. I’m talking dedicated people and resources that are reserved for and to be used for the residents in that town and other locally impacted areas, i.e EMS vehicles and workers, nurses, doctors, hospital beds and more taken up by impacted chasers, I think it’s safe to say that no local emergency management team prepares for catastrophic chaser convergence disasters…
This very idea of a mass casualty event was truly barely missed yesterday. If yesterday as a whole and this particular storm had produced as it was forecasted/modeled to produce, this unfortunate scenario likely would’ve occurred at some point and most likely would’ve been in or near Blue Rapids, Kansas.
Thankfully residents of Kansas and that portion of the chaser community was spared yesterday by the grace of God alone, to whom for which I give praise and thanks for.
I unfortunately believe an event like that, when (not if) it occurs, will trigger large scale action across tornado alley within local and state governments to apply regulations to storm chasing, how it’ll be applied and enforced, I’m not sure.
Tbh I fear even the events of the last 2 days with the reports of the large scale chaser convergence in or near imminent disaster or emergency zones could be enough to prompt this regulatory action to begin, if it hasn’t already (like it has in Oklahoma). Situations like this only add to the collective evidence needed to pass such laws and regulations.
Robbie and I did everything we could to
a). Embrace our American liberty and pursuit of happiness by safely, honestly and humbly engaging in something we are truly passionate about while doing our best to not obstruct anyone else’s right to liberty, safety or happiness in the process..
and
b). To not be a part of the mass convergence (to which, for the most part we did so luckily, skillfully and successfully) and not only as to not be a part of the problem but also for our own personal safety, because I, myself as a chaser, absolutely do recognize the severity and extreme danger caused by the concentrated areas of mass chaser convergence while also recognizing that our presence and purpose/intention of being there makes us guilty by association as we were there, as storm chasers, chasing storms.
The behaviors of some chasers are beyond unacceptable, I have witnessed them myself for years and undoubtedly and admittedly have made my own mistakes so I’m not innocent, no one is, but there are some things that go beyond the “normal” or “innocent” mistakes. To this, there are rarely ever real consequences involved if at all, no jail time, no fines or fees, no direct accountability and even when someone catches these folks on video and posts on social media as to call them out, the behavior doesn’t cease, the chaser chases on and this very knowledge and mentality gets adapted to way too many chasers, “I’ll do what I want without regard to possible consequences and repercussions”.
The greatest acknowledgment of a storm chaser is recognizing that it’s the act of driving that is the most dangerous aspect of storm chasing, its not the storm itself, now take that information times it by every chaser on the road and now factor in severe weather threat.
But we also don’t just have chasers out there on the road, we have to also factor in everyday civilians of all ages, unfortunately many who are clueless to imminent severe weather. We also have storm tour bus/vans filled with paying customers, some of which are from all over the world. We have people whose job requires traveling like
semi drivers etc or even farmers. We have locals who are curious and driving up the road to take a gander + their local law enforcement and emergency management and unfortunately many of which are improperly trained to report severe weather let alone properly navigate a storm.
So when you read the above and take the chaser out of the equation completely, it really clears up a lot, and places us in a highlighted position.
Now some chasers do a lot of good, raise money for storm victims, perform immediate search and rescue before emergency response teams can even get there and do save lives (Vince Waelti, Brandon Copic, Freddy McKinney just to name a well known few), some provide immediate services like giving food and water to impacted victims (people like Chris Hall is is known for this). Some bring means of communication like starlinks, or tools/chain saws and hands to help begin to the clean up. Many chasers provide educated and experienced ground truth by providing accurate and real time information to local NWS offices which helps them provide accurate warnings and lead times to locals in immediate danger, along with and thru their live streams to actually show all of the above exact locations of what’s occurring and the true severity of what’s occurring.
Then there’s the very few in it for actual atmospheric science like Team Dominator, DOW, NSSL, ISU met student classes and more.
So some storm chasers do have a real purpose and do work to serve communities and more.
But if we are/I am being honest with ourselves/myself MOST chasers/myself do not serve a valuable purpose at all and I’ll be the first to admit that. Most of us chase for clicks, clout, likes, subscribers, followers/follows, social media engagement, for thrill and adrenaline, for passion and hobby (photography/videography), for curiosity, for personal education etc etc aka all things that serve no true external purpose. Not all of these are bad, some are questionable and while yes many of the chasers who do serve communities as listed above also chase for these same or similar reasons there is a significantly MORE amount of chasers who do not serve communities in the ways stated above, but who chase for their own selfish reasons and nothing else but a right to liberty and pursuit of happiness.
I’ll also be the first to admit I have never done anything to contribute to many of these things. There’s reasons for this; I’m not a big time streamer (I don’t stream) with thousands of viewers to raise money for storm victims and my lack of streaming means I don’t contribute to information spread like as seen on Ryan hall yall or max velocity. I don’t have access to resources like chainsaws and tools, I’m also honestly really not physically capable of helping with clean up or to do search and rescue, I’d just be in the way and a danger to myself but I also haven’t ever been in a position where search and rescue was needed. I have submitted quite a few storm reports to local NWS offices, I even did so last night in Nebraska when we came across a town that had significant damage (not the S&R type), but I guarantee it was already reported and is the case most of the time I report something anyways.
So I am a chaser who chases for passion, for hobby, I love taking photos of storms and storm structures, I love being there in the moment, feeling the wind and the machine of nature working together to create beautiful and sometimes colorful giants in the sky. There’s just nothing like it, truly. But it serves no one but myself.
So what do we do? What’s the solution? I have no idea to be honest but
I find myself in a position where if I was questioned against regulation, I serve no true purpose by storm chasing rather just witnessing Gods incredible power and sovereignty and taking photograph and video of it.
So at the end of the day, I find myself contributing to the problem. It honestly did me and no one else any good to be in Kansas yesterday, sure we chased good and chased successfully and felt good, had fun, good experience, made a memory but at what real cost or potential cost? Who did we serve? I made no storm reports, I helped no one, I did everything for myself and tbh put my life in real significant danger by just being there, I risked potential important resource loss, less risk than others I might add that’s for sure but a risk none the less. All for another tor count? Another photo?
So due to the current state of things from now on I am going to increase factoring in all of what I have said when deciding to chase as to continue to further avoid being part of this problem, by choosing secondary or third target areas during high risk days or even further by simply avoiding high end risk days all together, any chase where I know there will be mass chaser convergence. Chase the days where there are bimodal options and chasers are spread out across different states or areas. Chase the “low risk with high reward” potentials.
I have already been doing this for the most part and many of us chasers already do in fact do this and I myself have successfully avoided significant chaser convergence all year, many have found themselves with complaints of chaser convergence and bad experiences and I have yet to experience it like that because I chase strategically with purpose and a specific goal in mind to avoid it. But I still run the risk of getting caught up, I run the risk of my own luck running out.
Yesterday I found myself my riddled with anxiety not just because of the potential violent nature of the storms but because of the possibility of getting caught up in chaser traffic with no way to escape.
At the end of the day the goal is to come home to my family above all.
We as a community have to do something before we’re forced to and it truly starts with us, i don’t even know what that is exactly but i feel like it starts by recognizing our purpose and worth to these communities and not placing ourselves where we don’t belong when we don’t belong there and we have to accept the reality that at the end of the day when it comes to becoming a real danger to ourselves and the public, they will start taking action.
#wxtwitter #wxcommunity #stormchasing
Shoutout to this moron who thinks you need to go 80 mph and illegally pass everyone on a secondary road to catch a storm moving 20 mph. Michigan plate EFG 6480. Almost caused a head on collision.
If @ReedTimmerUSA, @Jeff_Piotrowski, Marshall and others would stop posting their target locations, I would bet more than 75% of the bs that goes on would not go on. These idiots can’t chase without it. #okwx
Today made it clear to me. There are storm chasers, and storm chaser chasers.
If you have to rely on following another chaser all day. Hear me when I say this. STAY YOUR ASS AT HOME.
#wxtwitter
For the first time in FOREVER, there is a legit risk of severe weather in Texas and surrounding areas!
The very quiet severe weather season that the Southern Plains have had is coming to an end, with very large hail, damaging winds, and multiple tornadoes possible. This threat could be a lot more significant in this same area on Sunday.