Storm Chasers

Storm Chasers

Storm chasing is broadly defined as the pursuit of any severe weather condition, regardless of motive, which can be curiosity, adventure, scientific exploration or for news / media coverage.

A person who chases storms is known as a storm chaser, or simply a chaser.

While witnessing a tornado is the single biggest objective for most chasers, many chase thunderstorms and delight in seeing cumulonimbus structure, watching a barrage of hail and lightning, and seeing what skyscapes unfold. There are also a smaller number of storm chasers who chase hurricanes.

Storm chasing is chiefly a recreational endeavor, with motives usually given toward photographing the storm for personal reasons.

Though scientific work is sometimes cited as a goal, such work is almost always impractical except for those participating in a university or government project Many chasers also are storm spotters, reporting their observations of hazardous weather to the authorities.

Storm chasers are not paid to chase, with the exception of television media crews in certain television markets, video stringers and photographers, and a handful of graduate meteorologists and professors. A few entrepreneurs, however, manage to sell storm videos and pictures or operate "chase tour" services. Financial returns are relatively meager given the expenses with most chasers spending more than they take in.

No degree or certification is required to be a storm chaser. The National Weather Service does conduct severe weather workshops and storm spotter training, usually early in the spring.

Chasing often involves driving thousands of miles in order to witness the relatively short window of time of active severe thunderstorms. It is not uncommon for a storm chaser to end up empty handed on any particular week. Storm chasers' degrees of involvement, philosophies, and techniques vary widely, but many chasers spend a significant amount of time forecasting; both before going on the road as well as during the chase, using a variety of sources for weather data.

Most storm chasers are not meteorologists, and many chasers expend significant time and effort in learning meteorology and the intricacies of severe convective storm prediction through both study and experience.

There are inherent dangers involved in pursuing hazardous weather. These range from lightning, tornadoes, large hail, flooding, hazardous road conditions (rain or hail-covered roadways), animals on the roadway, reduced visibility from heavy rain (often wind blown), and hail fog. Most directly weather-related hazards such as from a tornado are minimal, if the storm chaser is knowledgeable and cautious. Tornadoes affect a relatively small area and are predictable enough to be avoided if a safe distance is maintained. Lightning, however, is an unavoidable hazard.

The most significant hazard actually is driving, which, in itself, is a statistically dangerous activity that is exacerbated by the severe weather. Adding still more to this hazard are the copious distractions that can be vying for a chasers' attention such as driving, communicating to chase partners and to others with a phone and/or radio, navigating, watching the sky, checking weather data, and shooting photos or video. Again here, prudence is paramount in minimizing the risk. Chasers ideally work to prevent the driver from multi-tasking either with chase partners covering the other aspects or with the driver pulling over to do these other things if he/she is chasing alone.

Storm chasers are most active in the spring and early summer, particularly May and June, across the Great Plains of the United States with perhaps a few hundred individuals active on any given day during this period. This coincides with the most consistent tornado days in the most desirable topography of the Great Plains. Not only are the most intense supercells common here, but because of the moisture profile of the atmosphere, the storms tend to be more visible than locations farther east where there are also frequent severe thunderstorms. There is a tendency for chases earlier in the year to be farther south, shifting farther north as the season progresses. Storms occurring later in the year tend to be more isolated and slower moving, both of which are also desirable to chasers.

Chasers may operate whenever significant thunderstorm activity is occurring; whatever the date. This most commonly includes more sporadic activity occurring in warmer months of the year bounding the spring maximum, such as the active month of April; and farther north especially, the summer months. An annually inconsistent and substantially smaller peak of severe thunderstorm and tornado activity also arises in the transitional months of autumn, particularly October and November. Reference: Wiki