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 skyscrapers unfold. There are also a smaller number of storm chasers who chase hurricanes.
Nature of and motivations for chasing
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.
History
The earliest recognized storm chaser is David Hoadley (1938– ), who began chasing North Dakota storms in 1956; systematically using data from area weather offices. Bringing research chasing to the forefront was Neil Ward (1914–1972) who in the 1950s and 1960s enlisted the help of Oklahoma state police to study storms. His work pioneered modern storm spotting and made institutional chasing a reality.
In 1972 the University of Oklahoma in cooperation with the National Severe Storms Laboratory began the Tornado Intercept Project, with the first outing taking place on April 19 of that year. This was the first large-scale chase activity sponsored by an institution. It culminated in a brilliant success in 1973, with the Union City, Oklahoma tornado providing a foundation for tornado morphology. The project produced the first legion of veteran storm chasers, with Hoadley's Storm Track magazine bringing the community together in 1977.
Storm chasing then reached popular culture in three major spurts: in 1978 with the broadcast of a segment on the television program In Search of... ; in 1985 with a documentary on the PBS series Nova ; and in May 1996 with the theatrical release of Twister which provided an action-packed but comically distorted glimpse at the hobby. Further early exposure to storm chasing encouraging some in the weather community resulted from several articles beginning in the late 1970s in Weatherwise magazine. Various television programs, increased coverage of severe weather by the media, and especially the Internet have also contributed to a significant growth of storm chasing since the mid-late 1990s. A sharp increase in the general public impulsively wandering in their local area searching for tornadoes similarly is largely attributable to these factors.
Typical storm chase
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.
Dangers
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.
Seasonal activity
Storm chasers are most active in the spring and early summer, particularly May and June, across the Great Plains of the United States (extending into Canada), 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.
Some organized chasing efforts have also begun in the Top End of the Northern Territory and in southeast Australia, with the biggest successes in November and December. A handful of individuals are also known to be chasing in other countries, including Israel, Italy, Spain, France, Belgium, Germany, Finland, the Netherlands, Switzerland and New Zealand; although many people trek to the Great Plains of North America from these and other countries around the world (especially from the United Kingdom).
Equipment
Most storm chasers will vary with regards to the amount of equipment used, some prefer a minimalist approach; for example, where only basic photographic equipment is taken on a chase, while others use everything from satellite based tracking systems and live data feeds to vehicle mounted weather stations.
Historic
Historically, storm chasing relied on either in field analysis or in some cases now-casts from trained observers. The first in-field technology consisted of radio gear for communication. Much of this equipment could also be adapted to receive radiofax data which was useful for receiving basic observational and analysis data. The primary users of such technology were university research groups who often had larger budgets than individual chasers.
Radio scanners were also heavily used to listen in on emergency services and storm spotters so as to determine where the most active or dangerous weather was located. A number of chasers were also radio amateurs, and used mobile (or portable) amateur radio to communicate directly with spotters and other chasers, allowing them to keep abreast of what they could not themselves see.
It was not until the mid to late 1980s that the evolution of the laptop computer would begin to revolutionize storm chasing. Early on, some chasers carried acoustic couplers to download batches of raw surface and upper air data from payphones. The technology was too slow for graphical imagery such as radar and satellite data; and during the first years this wasn't available on any connection over telephone lines, anyway.
Most meteorological data was acquired all at once early in the morning, and the rest of day's chasing was based on analysis and forecast gleaned from this; as well as on visual clues that presented themselves in the field. Occasionally chasers would make stops at rural airstrips or NWS offices for an update on weather conditions. NOAA weather radio could provide i
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