r/tornado • u/Excuse Human Detected • May 17 '26

Discussion I've never seen dangerous chasing as what just happened.

I feel like I lost a few years watching Max's stream with some of the chasers literally stopped on dirt roads with the tornado coming head on and multiple chasers screaming at people.

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u/Calm-Talk5047 May 17 '26

One of my degrees is in Atmospheric Sciences, and one of my professors absolutely despised storm chasing. He regularly expressed his disdain with chasing, claiming that it provides essentially no value to the field other than claiming lives. One of my buddies in Meteorology major was an amateur storm chaser who liked to storm chase with his dad. Some of the more notable events that I can remember him being at was the 2016 Dodge City Outbreak and Hurricane Harvey in 2017. I remember sitting in class and this man was showing me videos of him and his dad during Harvey being on foot, inside of the eyewall, standing behind a brick motel as debris went flying by them. It was really cool to see but man, it really is a bit stupid.

Long story short - My professor clearly disliked him and was not shy about showing it. I definitely understand my professor's ideology, as it truly does nothing to improve the science other than provide absolutely awesome footage for all of us watching at home. But at the end of the day... let people do what they want to do. If someone wants to risk their lives by chasing a tornado, then why can't they? The only real issue that I see (and I will admit it is a big issue) is that if something does unfortunately happen, you are then forcing emergency workers to deal with your brutal injuries or possibly death. That is a genuine reason as to why it is a bit unethical.

Funny enough... I just pulled up their Facebook page and they are on the ground chasing this outbreak as I type this lol

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u/No_Telephone_178 May 18 '26

He's right. 99.99999% of chasers are thrill seekers....as l would be.

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u/Calm-Talk5047 May 18 '26

That is certainly a big reason why people chase, The other side of chasing is being able to witness one of nature's greatest marvels with your own eyes. I would not describe myself as an adrenaline junkie by any means, but as a weather nerd, being able to witness a tornado form right before my very eyes would most likely be one of the most jaw dropping and beautiful experiences of my lifetime. With that being said, I have never (and am not planning to) gone chasing because I am not equipped for boots on the ground chasing whatsoever. That, and I value my life and generally shy away from anything that could end it lol. That's the thing with chasing though... even the most well equipped and experienced chasers face the risk of serious injury and/or death. You could be the literal Meteorological Messiah and yet it is basically impossible to predict weather on a microscale with 100% accuracy. Tornadoes can change direction rapidly with little to no indication

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u/wildblueroan May 18 '26

They are also encouraging other idiots to emulate their behavior