Vortex2 has stalkers
Vortex2, the biggest tornado research project in history (as The Weather Channel reminds us every five minutes), is an armada on wheels that has been roaming the Central and Northern Plains in search of tornadoes this Spring. The amateur storm chase community is an armada on wheels that has been roaming the Central and Northern Plains in search of tornadoes this Spring.
It has been fascinating to watch both groups in their quests to spot tornadic supercells. While storm chasers claim to have scientific skill and predictive prowess, they seem to be more interested in stalking the scientists with Vortex2 than in using their own judgment in positioning. Whererever Vortex2 has deployed, a gaggle of storm chasers has been sure to follow – clogging the roads and byways in Tornado Alley.
One example occurred on Tuesday. Vortex2 was in the vicinity of Wichita, KS, in what the Storm Prediction Center identified as a 15% tornado risk area. Like flies attracted to meat, at least fifty amateur storm chasers converged on Vortex2′s location. Admittedly, everyone could see the east-west fine line on radar showing a boundary for potential storm initiation. But what was interesting was that while Vortex2 and the attendant chase community waited in frustration for the boundary to ignite, there were real tornado warnings posted right across the border in Missouri – with hardly any chasers paying attention to them.
I suppose it is okay for chase beginners to cling to Vortex2 in hopes of observing a tornado. Surely, with the cache of brain power involved in the project, they should be pretty good at finding twisters even in this “down year” for Plains tornadoes. But if I was a chaser, I would want to demonstrate my knowledge and skill by breaking away from the pack – to predict, identify, and chase a tornado that nobody else is on. That is the difference between a pro and a lookie loo.
