STORM "CHASER"?

J. E. PALMER

KA5UUN

EOC UNIT 6850

Let me guess, you’ve seen the movie TWISTER and you want to be a Storm Chaser just like in the movie. OK, fine, first word of advice I can give you is "DON’T"!

What you saw in that movie was a bit of Hollywood entertainment and was never intended to be anything like what you’ll encounter in a real tornado. I will assure you, you will not survive a direct hit by an F5 tornado by strapping yourself down in a well house as was depicted in the final scene of the movie, The major problem with that would be the debris, which can slice you too ribbons in seconds! An F5 tornado was described in the movie as "…the finger of God", I think this is an apt description. Did anyone see the network TV coverage of the tornado in Oklahoma City? Brick homes stripped down to their bare concrete foundations, telephone poles snapped like twigs, large trucks thrown about until they were little more than balls of metal, etc. You want to play with something like that?

If you insist on going out to "chase" these storms you do so at more than your own risk. It is highly dangerous to try and rescue someone in the aftermath of a tornado. You have a sometimes unbelievable amount of damage; downed power lines, jagged metal, leaking gas mains and the like make rescue of victims a very risky venture even for highly trained rescue personnel.

Just because you have a police scanner and a C B radio does not insure you will not be one of the victims and part of the problem. The secret is experience and training. If you want to go out and spot these storms in a constructive manner the first thing you should do is attend a National Weather Service SKYWARN spotter’s class. These are offered free of charge by community organizations almost everywhere, usually in the end-winter, early spring time period before storm season starts. The next thing you should do is go out with EXPERIENCED spotters.

I have been spotting storms for over thirty years, have seen countless tornadoes, and have talked with the experts from the National Severe Storms Forecast Center and others, both in the field and in classes. I still don’t even come close to "knowing it all"! Even the researchers with Doctorate degrees in meteorology don’t claim to know it all. That’s why every year a lot of your tax dollars are spent funding this research, to try to learn more, to try and save lives!

We of the EOC are taught from day one that storm spotting is one of the most dangerous things we do. It is not a game to be taken lightly or in a foolhardy manner. To do so can be akin to suicide.

The movie depicted groups of chasers blasting about the countryside at racing speeds in competition with one another. Not to mention how illegal this is, it is already causing problems with the legitimate spotting groups and emergency response organizations. An example recently occurred around Tulsa, Oklahoma. There were so many "chasers" driving around at breakneck speeds, causing accidents and traffic problems, that local law enforcement officials considered petitioning their state legislature to outlaw all tornado spotting except by certified police and fire personnel!

This only serves to be an added burden to police and fire departments. As you can well imagine, in a severe storm situation they are overloaded to the extreme just trying to take care of their respective duties. They simply do not have the time to "baby-sit" a bunch of irresponsible thrill seekers! Harsh words, but true.

Please consider this the next time you here thunder in the distance and reach for that cold six-pack and video cam!

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