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Words/images COPYRIGHT © 2010 by Chris Kridler. All rights reserved. Do not use Sky Diary photos on other Web sites. Personal use as computer wallpaper is permitted, but do not distribute photos. Write for information about purchasing video, photographs or articles. | Frequently asked questions |
Tornado Alley update  Tornado southwest of Wakita, Oklahoma, on May 10. See more pictures from the 2010 chase.  Pretty sight: A tiny corkscrewing storm was compensation for a long day of chasing on May 11, 2010. See more photos.  Big night: There was an impressive parade of storms and lightning on July 24 on Florida's Space Coast. See the pictures, or see all the 2009 chase reports.
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DISPATCHES 28 JUNE 2010 Press vs. press: As a member of the dreaded media, a reporter in fact, I can't help but get annoyed when treated badly on the other side of the line. A new AP story on storm chasing makes us all sound like speeding idiots. Dude, I was not part of a "NASCAR-worthy sprint" to find an "EF2" (no one knows exactly what strength tornado they're looking for on any given chase). The story conveniently skips over the many, many chasers who do so safely and goes for every sensationalistic quote it can find. The story says: "Highways are increasingly clogged with storm chasers trying to beat each other in a risky race to capture the storms, and some have been killed." Um, we're not racing one another. And the three chasers it mentions who were killed at some vague point in the past 11 years, in a badly documented "fact"? I have never heard of any killed during a chase (would be glad to hear the facts on that point), though I have heard of perhaps that number dying in routine accidents while, say, driving home on a wet road - proving that the greatest dangers in chasing are probably the ones everyone faces on the road. I stand by my quote that the people who want to drive into the tornado might get killed, but they are not the majority of us. There's been a lot of chest-thumping about the dangers of storm chasers this year, but having been in one of those chaser traffic jams around an Oklahoma storm, I would say it's just a few bad apples who are making it worse - some of whom are locals who see shows like "Storm Chasers" on TV and assume anybody can drive up to a tornado safely, and who see the Oklahoma City TV stations and The Weather Channel doing live broadcasts of tornadic storms while specifying their exact locations on the air. Everybody needs to take a deep breath and target the problem - the driving lawbreakers, for instance (Sean Casey and the TIV, of "Storm Chasers" fame, did no favors for anybody when they were videotaped by many people driving recklessly during a chase). Even experienced chasers can get caught in a bad place or make a mistake, and yes, that's where some level of risk comes in. But most of us drive responsibly, chase because we love the weather (not the thrill), deliver warnings and documentation to the National Weather Service, and spend thousands of dollars each year in the little towns across the Plains. We are not the problem. blog index |
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 Portrait of Chris and Gracie by Lorene Prell of the Black Dog Gallery Thanks for dropping in! My name is Chris Kridler. I'm a journalist whose work includes articles and criticism, and I write fiction, poetry and other creative stuff, as well as take photographs and video. I live on the edge of Florida's Lightning Alley, and I love to chase the mighty thunderstorms of the Plains. For more info and credits, see my bio. |