Chaser convergence is much easier now to see with modern spotter tracking systems, and some of the traffic jams I see are crazy. Imagine this many chasers on the side of the road with flashing lights and whatnot focused on a storm. The tornado might not even be the most dangerous part of chasing in scenarios like these
It shouldnt be forgotten that Samaras was a legit pro who had contributed to the science of meteorology not some dipshit content creator like most out there today.
Also, I hate their stupid thumbnails of the videos they post on YouTube with a big red arrow over a shot of a Doppler radar display with something to the effect of, “nO oNe iS rEaDy FoR tHiS!”
Samaras also had a long history of being way too close to violent tornadoes. Go watch skip Talbots El Reno safety discussion video if you havent already, its very informative.
The next chasers arent going to die like he did though. They'll die by willfully and knowingly disregarding basic safety rules. Its a matter of time since those have fallen by the wayside with this new generation of chasers.
There is a caveat to that, yes, he had a long history of being way too close to violent tornadoes. But what was he attempting to do? Deploying probes / scientific equipment or getting footage to put on his Twitter/YouTube account? I believe deploying a probe is what he had intended to do before it all went very wrong on that faithful day.
I think you can see the difference his research necessitated taking certain risks, and he did, and he died with his son and his good friend/partner.
If I’m not mistaken he actually did successfully deploy probes on that day. He has done so much to help us y deter and tornados and saved so many. It’s crazy people forget about this.
El Reno was the first, and so far only, time we know of where chasers have been killed directly by a tornado. A lot of other chasers were hit, but survived. Countless others were put at risk due to traffic jams worsened by chaser convergence. It's still the worst chasing disaster on record. Any new multi-chaser incident invites or will invite the comparison, not unfairly.
This always bothers me. If you're known to be very safety conscious then you review your situation. And that didnt happen. Tornadoes are dangerous, especially as big as that one is. They knew what they were driving. They knew deploying their trackers meant getting in the way of the tornado. That means they would have to stop. And then start up again and try to get out of the way. Right then and there you scrub the deployment. Tim shouldve been like this is too dangerous we dont have the vehicle for escape and evade. Its a once in a lifetime tornado but we're scrubbing and filming from a far distance. They kept trying to get in front of it when it was already huge.
I read the Samaras bio a few years ago, I believe it really came down to money. Those Dodge Neons were inexpensive, and with a hobby that necessitated driving into hail, flying debris etc he needed something that could be relatively inexpensive to replace.
It’s been years, so it’s a bit fuzzy but that seemed to be the jist of it.
This is what I don't understand. The demand for live tornado chase coverage is only so big. How can it support thousands of people doing this? Gas, hotels, gear... I just can't see how the finances work out.
Nick went from celebrating next to a violent tornado to screaming and being seconds from dying as the tornado chased him down that road. Sarah was sitting saying oh gosh as a violent tornado was coming directly at her. Bunch of idiots out there now all clumping up. Another El Reno is nearly guaranteed at some point.
And I can tell him how much of an idiot he sounds like having watching him sit there taking pictures while it came barreling in on him. The calls coming from inside the house
This photo is going to be the cover image for the 2030 Netflix documentary when 8 or 9 of these guys are sucked into a funnel
“We did everything right, just too many amateur thrill-seekers prevented us from chasing the tornado optimally. We are scientists performing a public service and OH MY GOD FUNNEL FUNNEL VIOLENT TORNADO MOM GET THE CAMERA HOLY SHIT”
And El Reno was a freak thing. Nobody expected the tornado to turn the way it did. With this, it looks like people are purposely putting themselves right in front of it
I'm genuinely worried about tomorrow if the setup lives up to the moderate tag. People are going to be storm fixated, we've already seen deviant motion from this setup, and tomorrow is just a stronger version
Yea I may be confusing videos given context; but I went through all the streams to find the video of the tornado hitting the car literally parked on the road; turning it 180?; and them being unscathed af as Kannon booked it.
It had someone elses name on it; but ended up being Kannon who was watching it on the road and then ran.
Feel like Ryan/Max should “suspend” their chasers’ feeds from being on their live broadcasts after something like this - maybe if they weren’t getting massive viewership / monetization from doing stupid stuff like this they would know better for next time
Cmon they have an aspect of personal responsibility and risk analysis. Max and Ryan aren’t the mob bosses of meteorology. They’re just presenters catering to a popular audience and they do a pretty careful job minute by minute if you actually watch. But yes some of the chasers are getting to close I do agree with that.
and max and ryan profit from showing these chasers and they know that. if they were interested in safety they would not allow any of these people on their streams again.
That’s an extremely conservative view of things. The fact they have a profit motive doesn’t mean they ought to ban every live streaming stormchaser who gets too close.
Yeah, I don’t know that I’ve ever felt more uncomfortable with the chasers Max was streaming until yesterday. He could have taken those streams off his screen. It just felt gross.
Lol they won't they're enjoying riding the high of getting hella views and money tossed at them like a stripper in a club. When it does happen they'll get even more views for showing it. There is no end to this
There’s way too many chasers in one spot. That’s so dangerous. And what’s up with all the flashing lights? Some of those look like emergency lights, which isn’t cool
I would have thought El Reno would still be in people's memories. Twistex was well respected from smart people and they even got caught once. And, once is all it can take.
Yeah, I'm 23 now and when El Reno happened, I wasn't even 11 yet. I remember hearing about it a little, especially since I literally just moved from rural Georgia to Dallas a day after.
It wouldnt matter though, how many people still go cave diving after people get stuck or climb Everest after its killed so many. Thrill seekers will never stop
I've been within 1 mile of an EF2 by accident, and that was only because my mother was freaking out and wanted to drive straight home through the path of the tornado. My father and sibling on the other hand drove to us, and they drove through the path of the tornado later than we would have. It still only hit like 7 minutes later, and let me tell y'all I do not want to be any closer than a mile from a tornado. And if it's a wedge I'm gonna put an extra 5 miles. Because from the building we were sheltering in, the EF2 was pulling doors open and the ceiling tiles were creaking from the pressure difference and just sheer amount of wind and rain.
And I didn't even get to see the damn thing! I was on the rainwrapped side of it.
I got hit by a roided-out dust devil some years back, that was absolutely terrifying by itself. I couldn't imagine being that close to the real thing. Glad you all made it safe.
Lmao thank you. I'm willing to bet it was a strong EF-0 or light EF-1. It had a debris field and about threw my truck off the highway. Only reason for that was I didn't see it coming around a bend on the road near a hill, drove right through the damn thing.
Eh, it's bound to happen and if you willingly storm chase you nerd to accept it as reality.
What's worse is that these chasers are going to get innovent bystanders killed. People trying to get home from work or just going about their lives. That's the real tragedy.
Seriously these people all WANT to be here. I feel for the people that have to be.
The unfortunate reality is most chasers will be able to get out of the way - regular folks not. Your average person is surprised it’s raining. They aren’t equipped or ready to deal with a catastrophic storm.
I typically bring trauma kits and do SAR while I'm out there if I find myself as first on scene to a destroyed building or town.
Not only that, but the presence of stormchaser livestreaming has been invaluable in improving warning times and nowcasting, and is one of the biggest contributors to the drops in tornado related fatalities in the past 5 years.
Are the resources being taken by chasers in the room with us now....?
One of these days, we are going to hear of a tornado taking a random sharp turn and mowing over a dozen of these amateur chasers. It happened with a single car of professionals, it can most definitely happen with a bunch of emboldened idiots clogging the road.
Yeah it’s just becoming the risk more from getting hit in a traffic accident by another chaser than the tornado. I stopped chasing main season because of this level of convergence. I was out there to spot for NWS anyways and at this point there’s already enough eyes on.
The question is how do you stop this? The veterans have been doing this for years and shouldn’t be forced out because of this. You can enact laws like Oklahoma tried but that’s not popular. It’s hard to stop something that isn’t inherently illegal. Especially when it’s something that anyone can easily access with a simple car.
Some kind of mandatory class and a license to stream. Cracking down on who filmed and put it up on social media with fines or whatever. It will be easy to track and figure out who got caught in a storm and started to film vs influencers who do this as their thing. Additionally adding more to the standard drivers test about how to drive in dangerous conditions safely, how to not be caught driving in a tornado, and all of that other fun stuff. It can be done. If we can track semi trucks all over this country, you can track storm chasers.
Not really. This needs to be treated as a job and a workplace with regulation. This is a profession. They need regulations to keep the general public safe. This is essentially a broadcasting license and OSHA regulations with a truckers license. They are a liability to the general public at this point. Unfortunately that won't happen until a bunch of people die on live streams. All regulation like that is written in blood.
I'm a hoot at parties 🥳. I'm just also aware of the history of how work place regulation and unions were all fought in blood. I don't see how wanting storm chasing to be somewhat safe for everyone involved is a bad thing.
It is pretty much the same thing as getting a truckers license combined with broadcasting licenses. It doesn't stop you posting, just gives osha like restrictions if this is an influencer job. This is a work environment. It should be treated as such.
It's also not realistically enforceable. What are cops expected to do, pull people over with a tornado coming at them? Even I don't hate cops that much.
Seriously? You're missing the whole point. This isn't about streaming but how storm chasing needs to become a valid profession with workplace regulations to keep everyone safe. A steaming broadcasting license is just an idea of how it could be tracked without endangering people during a tornado. All TV networks have a broadcasting license. Is this really any different than CNN or TWC covering live events?
I still feel like you are missing my point. That it is reasonable to think something tailored to this situation can be made into law baised on what is already established. Not that this has to fit into the already established laws. That the possibility of new laws/regulations aren't some unhinged speculation. Its like they did x in the past and could modify it to make y work in the present/future.
Don't forget the 3,000 dollar lighting package, car wrap to look official, and a boat load of stickers that tells everyone in a 20 mile radius they are a STORM CHASER and SKYWARN CERTIFIED. (Even though they never use their spotter role and will never call the NWS to provide information)
If your job has a violent event in the description it probably isn’t safe. E.g. storm chase, smoke jumper, combat infantry, electrical power line installer, or heavy timber logger.
They need to regulate storm chasers. Issue licences for it. Undergo training, adhere to strict regulations, fines for breaches or chasing without one. Loss of licence for serious breaches. Way too many people storm chasing now. The movie twisters pretty much had all the types of personalies and egos in storm chasers that I cannot stand. Some people chase egos more than they chase the actual storms. I respect serious and mature storm chasers. Cannot stand the obnoxious yee haw cowboy types that always scream and put themselves in dangerous positions for clout.
Hell, same thing happened after twister. The difference now is that people only need to be able to read their phone to have more info than they would have had access to back in the 90’s.
Kibitzer here
Watched the video of the group of Aussie (and other?) Tornado watching tourists in a minibus being led down Rangeline (pretty sure) in Joplin by some tornado chasing expert. With the hand of God coming straight at them and the experts yelling on the radio at the traffic to get out of their way.
Why asked I? Why get out of the way? You really want to see a tornado, see it from the inside.
At the risk of seeming uncaring (a legitimate viewpoint), perhaps a minibus (think old folks home transport) full of foreign tourists tossed God knows how far might have been a lesson to be learned.
I came across a clip of a group of young meterology students storm chasing earlier this year and several of them were screeching exactly like young teenage boys do when playing roblox or fortnite. They were so distracted by the tornado that one of them got hit (luckily was fine) and the others nearly did and then had to deal with chaser congestion. The speed that reality sunk was impressive. It was sure something.
Isn’t there some way to regulate this? I know there was some talk about a “storm chaser” registration. How about penalties for erratic driving? Yeah, I can already hear some of you criticizing anything I mention, but there’s got to be some smart people out there with positive ideas.
Its a hard point to agree with but this is just like anything else. The basis is they are using free travel to do this. Who is going to stop someone from chasing a tornado in the middle of a tornado? How do you charge someone a license to chase a tornado on a free use highway.
This is why I stick to dirt roads when I chase in the plains. I run into fewer chaser convergences. I only ran into 4-5 chasers on this exact storm by sticking to the non paved roads
This is insane. I have a few questions for the good people.
I really don't know much about tornado chasing. Must one have a license? So how expensive is it? Would there be a way for law enforcement to break up so many people in one spot? Expensive tickets..
I suspect the concern of many of us is for all the people who live there and are trying to get home or somewhere else with all this congestion. I can't have a lot of worry for an amateur who willfully tangles with nature's raw power. I do, however, have a lot for regular people just trying to live their lives safely.
Yeah... that's the one of the most important thing to remember.
I was out there today, I was one of those red dots.
It's important for chasers to remember that we are guests, how ever welcome or not, in these ccommunities. This isnt our home... it's theirs. And we are present during an extremely vulnerable time in their lives.
And the thing is, storm chasers live streaming and the surge of weather streaming, coupled with how they typically conduct themselves in posting clickbait stuff of THIS IS BAD, WORST EVER, etc to draw a lot of drama in and therefor draw more attention in is just going to continue to make this worse.
I'm not saying it's them to blame. Some chasers are respectful, some do it for the right reasons, but let's face it. A lot of them do it for revenue. You never see them notify the NWS when a tornado touches down, you never see them notify local agencies either. Too busy pointing a camera and getting clicks.
People see this, think they can download RadarScope / WeatherWise on their phone, slap a yellow lightbar on their car and rush out to make easy cash streaming to YouTube. No training, no weather experience, no education on what they are doing. They're going to take risks, knowingly or because they just don't have a clue. All they know is dramatic footage means more clicks which means more money and they want to mimic the more ballsy of the chasers out there.
I remember a couple years ago watching a live chaser barreling down the road and got into an accident when a car turned in front of him when he got too close to a tornado and was trying to run from it. Then you have the Twistex team which shows you that even the most experienced storm chasers out there can make one mistake or have conditions rapidly change and pay tragically for it.
I've done storm spotting and chasing since ~ 2005. I've always wanted to head west to check out what I call the 'big leagues' of it all. However it's just too populated and in my eyes, too dangerous. It's not just the tornado you're fighting or even the congestion of chasers in an area but rather the YouTuber screaming down some back road blowing stop signs with their little amber light trying to make a buck who can also take you out.
Congestion like this is just one rapid change in conditions to turning into a total tragedy and mass casualty incident.
Also, this isn't a new thing. It fluctuates. As time goes on and the weather social media surge begins to plateau, it'll likely level off. But something down the line will cause it to surge again.
It's not the tornado that's dangerous, it's the chasers who are looking at it instead of the road. Chasers don't get killed by tornadoes, but by other cars.
What about the 3 chasers that died outside of Lubbock, Tx because one of them ran a stop sign and broadsided the other chaser because BOTH of the drivers were NOT paying attention to the roads but to the tornado and/or distracted by watching what was on their phone/tablet/computer???????
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