Storm Spotting and Chasing: From the point of view of a SKYWARN Spotter.

After seeing the whole mess that has blown up over VORTEX 2 and Josh Wurman’s comments on The Weather Channel about chasers giving professional courtesy to them and move out of the way I thought it was time to give my 2 cents on spotting/chasing and what each of these mean to me.

I personally have two different definitions for what a spotter is and what a chaser is. Some people think that they are the same when really they aren’t. Chaser’s actually have 3 sub definitions, one of which VORTEX 2 (V2), Center for Severe Weather Research (CWSR), Reed Timmer (TVN), and Twistex falls under which is research teams. These guys are out there for the Science of severe weather and trying to improve our understanding of Super Cells and why tornado’s form. That being said TVN and the TIV2 Teams  also fall under the second category of chaser which encompasses the TV news people, thrill seekers, and companies that take people out on severe weather tours. I call these folks either Commercial chasers or thrill seekers.  They are out there for the hunt for the perfect shot or the ultimate rush, not the science or safety of others.  The third group is what I refer to as gawkers or Sunday chasers. They are the ones that have watched the movie Twister to many times or the Discovery Channels Storm Chasers and think they have a great understanding of Super Cells and can go out chasing. They end up tailing people like me or groups like V2 and get themselves either into harm’s way or cause other problems.

Spotters fall under one definition, and most other spotters I talk to agree with it. We are trained groups of Volunteer’s that either report to the National Weather Service Offices under SKYWARN or we are affiliated with our local Emergency Management offices as R.A.C.E.S. or A.R.E.S.  Most of us are Amateur Radio Operators (HAMS) and have local coordinators that keep track of where we are and continually feed information to us about the storms in the area and where they would like us to be located to be in position to intercept a storm and report back ground truth information.  We are funded by our own pockets not by a company or government grant. We are providing real time ground truth information to the NWS to keep people and our communities safe and respond  to disasters from the storms after they happen.

Now in saying all of this so far you might think I am picking on some certain groups of people. Well I am to a point. The groups of people that fall into the Thrill Seeker/Commerical Chaser and Casual Chasers categories really need to catch a clue. You as the thrill seekers and commercial chasers need to remember just like everyone else that you have to follow the law.  there is no reason you need to put youself or your paying customers in a dangerous situation by speeding or passing in a no passing zone. By doing this your just asking for law enforcement to keep us away from the storms (which they have that right under law). You should be also staying out of the way of science teams and spotters trying to do their jobs. Remember When you get your shot and move along we will still be there picking up from the storm, and comforting families that have lost everything.

Now, Casual chasers please just STAY HOME! There are other means to see the storms up close mainly the internet. With people streaming live video feeds while they chase, you have no reason to be out there and getting hurt or killed. you are the primary reason why Josh came out on The Weather channel and threw a fit. Becasue all of you deciding to tail V2 or some other known chaser or team you clogged the roads. the pictures I saw from Oklahoma it looked like 5:30 gridlock but on a 2 lane road. by doing what you did their in Oklahoma and what i have seen in Kansas you're going to get yourself or someone else killed. Then the spotting and chasing community as a whole are going to suffer because someone or some news station is going to blow it way out of proportion that we are all just crazy thrill seekers and should be kept off the road. Once that happens then they are going to want to regulate it and make us become licensed or worse we will have to become employee’s of some science or government group to be able to go out and spot or chase!  Now in saying that, if you want to become part of the professional chasing or spotting community educate yourself. Go through spotter classes, learn how to interpret radar and model data, become a HAM Radio Operator, and ride along with another experienced spotter or chaser and learn how to be safe while reporting information and enjoy mother nature’s beauty.

While I might seem hell bent on chasers I'm not. I have met several great ones over the last few years and even seen one of the DOW trucks while I am out on a storm. everyone just needs to give each other some room to breathe and run if a storm decides to turn on them.

To everyone reading this whether you take this seriously or with a grain of salt, please be safe in your chasing or spotting endeavors. We don’t need anyone killed or hurt while we are out under the storm.

Bill Gilliland Jr. KD0HMZ
Sedgwick County SKYWARN Spotter

NOTE: The views written in this article are not the views of the Wichita National Weather Service Office, Sedgwick County Emergency Management, SKYWARN, or any other groups affiliated with them. These are my personal views and opinions that should be treated as such.