Some Overdue Good News About the Weather

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In no place in the U.S. does the tornado threshold reach 5% today.

We deserve the break.

For those in Missouri, Illinois, and Oklahoma who are cleaning up today we wish you well.

Comments

  1. Fazal AbbasJune 1, 2013 at 1:16 PM

    hey mike,

    thanks for writing this blog! i read it often and enjoy your insightful commentary.

    however, i wanted to make a comment regarding the post you made a couple days ago about storm chaser traffic. i think the recent events in the oklahoma city area show the dangers of having too many storm chasers out there, especially if the streets are already congested due to rush hour traffic. it seems to me like the added traffic from a glut of storm chasers can clog up roads and make it harder for people to reach safety when a storm is approaching.

    it's true that the situation yesterday was exacerbated by people trying to outrun the storms instead of staying where they were and taking cover. however, it's also fair to ask whether storm chaser traffic contributed to the congestion, especially when at least seven of the nine fatalities occurred on the roads.

    i understand that many storm chasers are collecting valuable data for scientific research and warning people about developing storms. but i also have a hunch that a number of them are chasing storms just in order to capture video and/or seek thrills. in my opinion, the thrill-seekers, video chasers and attention seekers should stay home.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Mike SmithJune 1, 2013 at 4:00 PM

    Certainly a fair comment. As I understand it, there were three chaser cars hit by the tornado. Two were on uncongested rural roads. The third (TWC) was on I-40 and was, apparently, speeding toward the tornado. The road did not appear congested but there were people pulled to the side.

    If you go back and read my original post plus comments: http://meteorologicalmusings.blogspot.com/2013/05/more-storm-chase-silliness.html

    You see that I call out media chasers as the worst offenders. Two of the three were media chasers yesterday.

    I'm not saying there aren't storm chasers behaving badly. There are sometimes. But, that wasn't the case May 19 near Clearwater and the idea that a drive should never be "impeded" is nonsense.

    There are a LOT of storm chasers soul-searching today -- as well they should.

    ReplyDelete

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