Storm chaser arrest triggers controversyPosted May10, 2008 at 10:33 AMAfter our 2007 storm chase trip, I wrote a Weather Journal column about the growing number of storm chasers in the central U.S. and the occasional tension with local aw enforcement officials. An incident in Crane County, Texas, earlier this week has brought that into the limelight. A man leading a commercial storm chasing tour, while also reporting storm information to the National Weather Service, was arrested by a deputy sheriff and charged with obstruction of a highway. (Click here for article, along with video clips and photos.) The storm chaser and at least one witness says he was safely parked in a roadside park, not obstructing anyone. The sheriff's office later issued a statement saying they were acting to protect the man and his tour group from tornadoes, and also that he wasn't reporting storm information to the local emergency office. The storm chaser community is outraged; a discussion thread goes on for many pages on the storm chaser Web site Stormtrack. It sounds as if there might be a protracted legal battle over this incident. Our dealings with law enforcement over the years have been, without exception, extremely positive. Most of the time, law enforcement officials in small towns throughout the central U.S. just come and chat with us when they see our vans with the magnets and the antennas. Faced with a similar situation, I have no doubt that we would have unquestionably complied with the officer's order to move to a different location, even if it meant sacrificing a better storm viewing spot. We want to be seen in the best light possible, and it certainly wouldn't be worth the trouble with two vanloads of college and high school students. |
About this blog
Kevin Myatt works on the copy desk for The Roanoke Times and is its principal weather geek, writing a weekly weather column and advising the newsroom on weather topics. He helps guide students on a storm chasing trip to the central U.S. each May and was an editor for "Hurricanes and the Middle Atlantic States." .....Advertisement.....
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Comments
[May 22, 2008 10:54 AM]
TeresaThis is a great article. You all have been in 'good light' and it should continue, but folks like Brian can harm the reps of all storm chasers/spotters. I have mixed feelings about those tours and, while they may contribute storm info., I don't see them in the same light as the professional weather folks or those others trained specifically to spot storms. The tours, to me, are more in the line of thrill seeking while those honest-to-goodness chasers/spotters with the training and experience, to me, are likened to scientists. Their goal is to gain as much info. as safely as possible about tornadoes so as to better prepare for them, have more warning time, and so forth.
I don't know about the rest of Texas, but around here in McLennan and surrounding counties there are Skywarn seminars each spring for both spotters and the general public so that those attending know the signs of storm and tornado development and what to do and how to report what they are seeing. For those who do spot regularly, the seminar is a refresher so as to stay abreast of any new information. I have attended a few in the past, and found it helpful. As a school bus driver, in the spring, I make sure along my route to note places of possible refuge and also keep an extra eye on the sky... all because I was paying attention to Gary Woodall and Al Moeller.
Those of you who work in a scientific realm of storm chasing/spotting, keep up the good work. We need you all out there. And it wouldn't hurt to suggest to the thrill seekers to attend a seminar like Skywarn.