** This thread discusses the content article: Update from the April 14, 2012 tornado outbreak **

Big shoutout to my mod colleague Jcpalmer for seeing her first Tornado ever on this short chasing weekend! Good job!

And all-round high-fives to the rest for the awesome footage captured!

Hahahhaha Thank you, Sir Edward!

It was an awesome experience! I cannot WAIT to get back out there again!

Didn't know where else to put it, but did any body else see this?

www.salina.com/news/story/storm-chasers-41512
County officials critical of storm chasers on roads


www.saljournal.com/news/story/storm-chasers-folo-41612
Storm chasers in the crosshairs

Kudos to Jenn, Wes, Brian, Doug and his Mrs.!

My thoughts re: the Post-Chase-Whine-Fest articles linked here:



'Smith intends to draft an apology letter to those chasers who followed the rules, "the people who were truly out there doing a service. It's not the professional storm spotters. I'm talking about the idiots chasing the storm." '

Uh...what the blazes is a "professional spotter"??? And, the 'idiots chasing the storm' were the inexperienced weenies coming from all points to chase a practically sure thing. Calling Stooges who clogged up the roads, driving too slowly to keep up with the storms and jamming up the entire works, thereby forcing people to take risks by passing cars to get to the next target chasers is ridiculous. They're nothing more than gawkers.


"... I looked back in the rearview mirror and noticed a guy in a little car looking into the sky, not paying attention to his driving. You could tell he was not a chaser or a spotter."

Redundantly redundant.


"But right behind those guys were a bunch of amateurs, teenagers, hanging out of windows with video cameras."

That's where Stooges thrive - right behind the veteran chasers who know their way to the best position on any given storm.


"We try to police as best we can. You pull over for (emergency) vehicles. That's a given. This is a gentlemen's agreement," Dean said. "The problem is that storm chasing has become mainstream."

And, because of that, reliably responsible chasers are painted with a broad brush as reckless and idiotic. These very same 'legitimate' chasers were caught up in the back ups as well. Many had to simply turn around and give up any chance of getting to their position due to traffic safety concerns. This whole after-chase-whine-fest amps up a little more every season, because it truly has become mainstream. There were so many Spotter Network markers on radar, I was unable to view the storms. Ridiculous.

Anyone reading these articles might want to glance through the replies as well.

storm-chasing paparazzi
When you film it, They will come.

Chasing just is what it is now....

Just like anything else, dumb people ruin everything. We saw some dummies out there. Someone slammed on his brakes and did a u turn in the middle of the road. Several were not pulled all the way off the road and so many cases of seeing cars zipping down dirt roads that shouldn't be zipping down dirt roads. We were sure there were MANY who ended up stuck in the mud on Saturday.

Someone will be injured or killed.. it's just a matter of time, and every year we have this discussion. The yahoos out there are people who don't have any desire to learn, and every year there will be more. These people won't stick with the hobby for long, because these are the types that quit after a couple of busts. Unfortunately, there will be more waiting in line behind them.

I can imagine for people in the areas it can be frustrating. Dean was accused of making money off of others demise in that one article, and we all know that isn't true. But I'm sure it's a touchy subject for those who live in areas subjected to this weather. It's one reason why we made a conscious decision not to yell out HEY WE ARE STORM CHASERS EVERYBODY!!!

And now, back to our original topic: The April 14th outbreak.

Just for kicks (because I'm addicted to this video for multiple reasons, both meteorological and personal) I'll repost it and encourage some of you not to be influenced by many of the ridiculously ridiculous comments beneath. *yawwwwn*