Has Tornado Chasing Changed the Last 20 Years?

[Ed Lizard]

Obviously, GPS and being able to see nearly live radar inside a car is a big leap in technology. And I get the distinct impression a lot more chasers, serious and rank amateurs, especially since that 'Twister' movie.

I want to chase someday, but never have.

But I got the impression reading the many fewer forums and web pages about 20 years ago, it was considered a very bad idea to core punch or enter 'the bears cage'.

Now I see it on the various TV channels a lot. Just more demand for a video that can be sold to CNN shifts the risk/reward? Having GPS and viewing near real time radar gives people more confidence punching cores?

Or am I just remembering what I read almost 20 years ago a little wrong?

[AtticaFanatica]

No, you're right.

[Bozart]

Aside from the technology, the biggest change is the traffic jams that converge at the base of a promising supercell. We were core-punching 20 years ago, but we didn't need to be hundreds of miles from the nearest respectable city to have a storm all to ourselves. Now, we do.

[Stebo]

Yeah I think the big change in 20 years is the ability to be mobile with the internet, essentially allowing regular Joes to go out there in chase now.

[Ed Lizard]

Yeah I think the big change in 20 years is the ability to be mobile with the internet, essentially allowing regular Joes to go out there in chase now.

People can see tornado warned storms and velocity couplets in their cars now, and in the day it was more synoptic meterology and identifying promising storm structure, I take it?

[janetjanet998]

Yeah I think the big change in 20 years is the ability to be mobile with the internet, essentially allowing regular Joes to go out there in chase now.

I miss the old days

[eyewall]

The internet has certainly changed it without a doubt. Obviously chasing has seen a huge rise in popularity and yes there are chaser convergence problems. Another reason for the increase is most certainly TV and of course the movie Twister in the 90's. Going back isn't possible so we all just have to adjust to this reality as much as we can. I am sure there are higher profile chasers who think they have special rights to a storm over others but nobody owns a supercell .

[Ed Lizard]

Aside from the technology, the biggest change is the traffic jams that converge at the base of a promising supercell. We were core-punching 20 years ago, but we didn't need to be hundreds of miles from the nearest respectable city to have a storm all to ourselves. Now, we do.

So people did punch cores in the day not being able to see exactly what there were getting?

[forkyfork]

it will change again after a group of chasers gets killed

[Srain]

it will change again after a tour group chasers gets killed

FYP

[Ed Lizard]

FYP

I'd surely trust someone who does gets paid for taking tourists on tornado chases before I would get in a car with a fellow noob with an internet connection and GPS and look for tornadoes myself. Of course, in a perfect world I'd have some way of being in the Plains with someone who has done many chases, preferably maybe some OU met student or someone who has a clue, as compared to being in an E-350 van with 6 strangers and a guide,

[Bozart]

So people did punch cores in the day not being able to see exactly what there were getting?

Yes. There was always a "do as I say, not as I do" element to chasing. In the earliest days of Internet boards I would read admonitions from chase veterans that people not violate the speed laws -- and then two months later watch the same veteran who posted that message go roaring past me at 90 mph on some lonesome Oklahoma two-lane. They know who they are.

Some chasers core-punched specifically to film the hail core once it became obvious that was all there was to see that day. Other times, they'd punch because that was the only way they could get into position to see the tornado. If the choice was to core-punch, or else find a motel room and chalk up the day to a bust after a 400-mile drive, the choice sort of made itself.

Of course, I don't deny that it makes a big difference who is doing the punching. The art and skill of visually reading a storm is not equally and universally shared. No data access can take the place of that skill.

[isohume]

Yes, somehow we've managed to make tornado chasing more boring.

[MichiganLion]

I haven't chased for 15 years (I did during 3 separate summers in the mid-90s). Then, we could look at a lot of the data in the morning, but usually a decision had to made by 10-11 AM as to: "we are jumping in the car and going to target <<fill in the blank>>."

Sometimes the target was wrong, sometimes it was right. But considering we didn't get too much real time data once the decision was made, when we wrong, it's doubtful we'd get into the right place.

Essentially, the technology has eliminated the "penalty" for a poor initial target forecast. I think that's a big difference these days.

[wxmeddler]

Why Chasing as increased...

1. Mobile Internet

2. GPS

3. Storm Chasers (TV)/ Twister.

4. Demand for severe media

5. Stupidity

But I chase in Pennsylvania/ Maryland...

[AtticaFanatica]

I'd surely trust someone who does gets paid for taking tourists on tornado chases before I would get in a car with a fellow noob with an internet connection and GPS and look for tornadoes myself. Of course, in a perfect world I'd have some way of being in the Plains with someone who has done many chases, preferably maybe some OU met student or someone who has a clue, as compared to being in an E-350 van with 6 strangers and a guide

Many of the tours are actually pretty good and run by smart chasers.

[MJW155]

How does selling video footage work? If I have a 20 second snippet of a tornado is that worth less than a 10 minute video? Or do media outlets just pay if it's exciting? How much are the videos even worth? $20? $1,000? What about selling footage to an University for research? How much can a storm chaser expect to make in an average 6 week period from say April 10th to May 25th?

[mnchaser]

I'd surely trust someone who does gets paid for taking tourists on tornado chases before I would get in a car with a fellow noob with an internet connection and GPS and look for tornadoes myself. Of course, in a perfect world I'd have some way of being in the Plains with someone who has done many chases, preferably maybe some OU met student or someone who has a clue, as compared to being in an E-350 van with 6 strangers and a guide,

Do your research, go to skywarn classes and study storm structure and what to look for. You don't need anyone to show you "how" because there is no standard how to. Storm Chasing involves part luck and part skill. But yes it has changed a lot even in the last 10 years or so big time. I still like to chase "naked" if I know the roads in the area. But if I am out of state GPS has saved my ass many time, but that's not 100% reliable cough cough, those unlucky chasers in Bowdle, SD last year who found themselves stuck in an angry farmer's field!

[AtticaFanatica]

How does selling video footage work? If I have a 20 second snippet of a tornado is that worth less than a 10 minute video? Or do media outlets just pay if it's exciting? How much are the videos even worth? $20? $1,000? What about selling footage to an University for research? How much can a storm chaser expect to make in an average 6 week period from say April 10th to May 25th?

You usually sell by the second with some type of minimum. There's really no standard as far as price and with the increase in the number of chasers, there's been a lot of grumbling that chasers are selling too cheap. Someone who's sold video would know better than me about prices.

I think most chasers who sell video aren't looking to get rich, but rather are aiming to just break even on chase expenditures or put a dent in their costs.

[MJW155]

You usually sell by the second with some type of minimum. There's really no standard as far as price and with the increase in the number of chasers, there's been a lot of grumbling that chasers are selling too cheap. Someone who's sold video would know better than me about prices.

I think most chasers who sell video aren't looking to get rich, but rather are aiming to just break even on chase expenditures or put a dent in their costs.

Yea I didn't expect you could get rich on it. If you could, there probably wouldn't be any tour guides. It's gotta be pretty cool getting home at night and watching your own footage on the news.

I can imagine people being annoyed that footage is being sold too cheap. It's the same thing in the writing market.

[AtticaFanatica]

I don't really mind the increases in technology and its inherent role in allowing more people to chase in a relatively safe manner. It's kind of ridiculous out there, but whatever, I still find myself on storms without many people all the time.

I do think there are an increasing number and/or percentage of chasers that have an inflated sense of self-worth, but that's an entirely different discussion.

[MJW155]

When you guys talk about how busy it is with other chasers, how bad is it? Is it bad like rush hour traffic in NYC or just enough traffic to slow things down and make it cumbersome? Is it like when the TIV drove on the wrong side of the road going uphill and not being able to see other cars coming?

I can imagine idiots just parking on the road and not pulling over.

[AtticaFanatica]

When you guys talk about how busy it is with other chasers, how bad is it? Is it bad like rush hour traffic in NYC or just enough traffic to slow things down and make it cumbersome? Is it like when the TIV drove on the wrong side of the road going uphill and not being able to see other cars coming?

I can imagine idiots just parking on the road and not pulling over.

It depends on a lot of factors, mainly the day of the week (busier on weekends), the location (busiest in central OK), and the SPC convective outlook (busiest on high risk days). At it's worse, it is debilitating, the now infamous TIV incident being the worse I've personally seen. Yeah, pulling completely off the road is really important, and a lot of chasers just don't do it.

[aslkahuna]

I once lost a chance to get video of a short lived AZ tornado because I was on a section of road where there was no place to pull off (and it was not the road for stopping in the middle of nor trying to vidoetape while driving).

Steve

[mnchaser]

When you guys talk about how busy it is with other chasers, how bad is it? Is it bad like rush hour traffic in NYC or just enough traffic to slow things down and make it cumbersome? Is it like when the TIV drove on the wrong side of the road going uphill and not being able to see other cars coming?

I can imagine idiots just parking on the road and not pulling over.

It can get pretty bad, I mainly stick to chasing the Dakotas, MN, IA, and Nebraska where it's not so bad..But the past few years "chaser convergence" seems to be getting worst even in these parts.

Not my picture, but it shows how unreal it can get sometimes..this is in Oklahoma on May 19th last year.

[bronxx]

MJW 155 asked:

How much can a storm chaser expect to make in an average 6 week period from say April 10th to May 25th?

$3.50

In a tornado season, there might be a few thousand dollars total paid to all (1000+) chasers combined for raw footage. . Really.

There is some other money if you run a storm chase tour business, or are contracted to provide coverage for a local

TV station.

In 1995 one could get $1500+ from CNN, etc. for a good tornadic or hurricane video sequence, doing damage. Today, if you have something super spectacular, can get it to them within 2 hrs., you might get $300.

[AtticaFanatica]

It can get pretty bad, I mainly stick to chasing the Dakotas, MN, IA, and Nebraska where it's not so bad..But the past few years "chaser convergence" seems to be getting worst even in these parts.

Not my picture, but it shows how unreal it can get sometimes..this is in Oklahoma on May 19th last year.

Yeah, the TIV day, I think that's the worst case scenario though because of all the V2 vehicles that were part of that traffic jam; they won't all be out (together) anymore. The Weather Channel following us probably brought out additional locals too.

[MJW155]

It can get pretty bad, I mainly stick to chasing the Dakotas, MN, IA, and Nebraska where it's not so bad..But the past few years "chaser convergence" seems to be getting worst even in these parts.

Not my picture, but it shows how unreal it can get sometimes..this is in Oklahoma on May 19th last year.

Man that's unreal. The locals out there must hate storm chasers. Imagine going shopping not thinking twice about it and having to deal with this on the way home?