Comments on: How three storm chasers died, and what to do about it

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By: Courtney Mitchell

Courtney Mitchell — Fri, 17 Mar 2017 10:08:10 +0000

The tragic circumstances that caused the deaths of Tim and Paul Samaras and Carl Young has been well documented. Skip Talbot did an excellent analysis and can easily be found on youtube. It was NOT caused by a traffic jam.

By: Greg Laden

Greg Laden — Fri, 03 Mar 2017 14:40:12 +0000

In reply to Tom McDonald.

We have many many laws that are more or less unenforceable.

But that is not a reason to not have the laws.

In many cases, a law is unenforceable at face value, but when something goes wrong it suddenly becomes part of the equation. For example, a highly irresponsible storm chaser endangers an innocent bystander, then that danger comes to fruition. The fact that they endangered something itself is a thing. The fact that they did so while committing a crime allows the system to hold their feet to the fire in a more meaningful way.

Also, believe it or not, people do follow “unenforceable” laws for the simple reason that they want to be law abiding citizens. Having a law about something means that society wants certain things to happen or not happen.

You do raise many good points about how such a law would be implemented, and some I can thing of answers to, some not so easily. It may well be that entirely different approaches are better.

As for the accuracy of the cause of death of the Twistex team, I report here what was said at the time. Since then, multiple versions of what happened have been claimed, and as far as I can tell, all of that is laid out in the various comments on this thread. And, as I think I’ve said several time, Tim and his crew were professionals, making an important contribution. This is not about them, it is about their death, which at the time it happened, was claimed to have been caused by a traffic jam caused, in turn, by thrill seekers jamming the roads, and thrill seekers jamming the roads is a thing that happens. I have suggested that such a thing should be worth, at least, a parking ticket.

Thanks for your insightful comments!

By: Tom McDonald

Tom McDonald — Thu, 02 Mar 2017 06:26:54 +0000

I recently found the article on the el Reno tornado you wrote several years ago and I was struck by the naivety of your arguments on laws banning chasing. I realize you say in general terms such laws probably aren’t enforceable and my question is then why make the laws?
Having been in law enforcement some years ago I don’t think you understand how unenforceable those laws would be. Law enforcement in a tornado emergency already has immense priorities safeguarding the areas affected, treating the injured, rescues, ascertaining what equipment is needed, etc who would be pulled off those duties to chase down minor traffic violators? Not to mention what small town or rural county has the manpower to do so when budgets are stretched so thin?
The complexity of the kind of law your advocating is also extremely hard to defend in court. Was the chaser causing harm? How close is too close?
Personally it does anger me when you see chasers, pro or amateur, driving past people who may be potentially injured and most certainly in need just to keep getting the shot. But that brings in another issue doesn’t it? There are many chasers who do stop to render aid and time and time again they are often the first to reach the victims in crucial first moments with skills to save lives.
So it’s quite the conundrum we find ourselves in. The chaser can be quite the problem but yet quite the provider of care in a situation where the emergency scene can span a few hundred yards to over a hundred miles.
I think one suggestion if such a law could ever be enforced to weed out the average thrill seeker is maybe require one, a first aid type certification. This would make it so a chaser has to stop to render aid along his path. That would stop several people right there. And two, the chaser would have to carry a business license on his person to prove he had a need to be there for whatever his business reason might be.
That’s really all I have to say on that issue. I do find it sad that that few if any of your statements regarding how the Twistex team was killed was accurate. Obviously it’s hindsight now that Tim and his crew were not caught up in any traffic jam and in fact the opposite. The other chaser killed was caught in traffic but I find it sad that the community never claims him as a chaser but rather a thrill seeker. Ironic how his own community of chasers would throw him to the wolves but won’t put themselves in that category. We all see our own causes as noble don’t we?
Good day to you sir. You’re an excellent writer.

By: Ben

Ben — Mon, 09 Jan 2017 02:58:52 +0000

1) “Three experienced tornado “chasers” … actual meteorological scientists … were killed when their truck (one of the vehicles depicted above, probably) was destroyed by the tornado.” >>> They were in a car, not a truck.

2) “But the hundreds, or even thousands of non-professional “storm chasers” are probably not contributing to the science of tornadoes and tornado safety.” >>> What they’re doing is seeking fame and fortune by selling their videos to various websites and television stations. None of them contributes to the scientific research and experimentation going on.

3) “I suggest that law makers in tornado alley states consider legislation making it a violation to intentionally drive into or near the path of known or likely tornados.” >>> I support this 100%. Storm chasing by amateurs needs to be outlawed.

By: Picture Of Basement Flooding In 90013 | Water Damage Los Angeles

Picture Of Basement Flooding In 90013 | Water Damage Los Angeles — Thu, 30 Jul 2015 12:23:22 +0000

[…] How three storm chasers died, and what to do about it – In his writeup of this event, meteorologist Paul Douglas made this point: Every time I went down to Oklahoma [with storm chasers] I was struck by the … to walk or drive up and down Main Street to take pictures of the event. Public safety officials … […]

By: Brainstorms

Brainstorms — Tue, 02 Sep 2014 22:22:03 +0000

Nooooooooooo!!! We MUST conserve every bit of helium that we can get our hands on.

Helium is a precious, non-renewable resource.

We cannot separate it from other compounds on earth (like we can, say, hydrogen), we cannot combine other elements to manufacture it (like we can, say, gasoline).

And we cannot “go to the sun” or other planets where it’s abundant and “scoop it up and bring it back to earth”. None of those fancy schemes work.

Once it’s used up and gone, it’s .. gone. Vented to the atmosphere, it eventually makes its way to the exosphere and is light enough to escape to space. Gone.

It’s a valuable industrial & research gas. An element. A finite resource. And we’re wasting it on stupid, silly things like party balloons.

Literally, “there ought to be a law”…