2011 has turned out to be one of the worst years for severe weather and tornadoes, and shows how powerful tornadoes can truly be even with modern technologies such as WSR-88Ds. However along the sidelines of this disastrous season, I've noticed a phenomenon among storm chasing that reaffirms why I wanted to pursue meteorology and chase storms in the first place.
The storm chasing community has changed since the time I was introduced to it in the mid 90s. Now besides the stories of Gene Rhoden, Warren Faidley et al. storm chasing has devolved into more of a" rat race". A large majority of storm chasing is, in my opinion, an extreme ego trip combined with pseudo-science. Anyone who can purchase a few pricey gadgets because of monetary advantages, but yet have little meteorological experience or real world forecasting experience, can fashion themselves into a chasing community fixture (P.T. Barnum horrendously out of control.)
What made me want to follow severe weather in the first place is the drive to explore a dynamic system that is difficult to understand. This is what has led me to pursue atmospheric science and research. The now ridiculously cutthroat nature of storm chasing, with its pointless arguments that secrete arrogance like tree sap, has strangely driven me back to these fundamentals. Besides worrying whether I have close enough video and extreme enough photos, I have returned to just wanting to experience the system that is in front of me. What tools or what clout that I have in storm chasing are only plastic juvenile illusions.
I believe that this terrible era of storm chasing will either end, or that chasing itself will dissolve into a thrill sport meant for the halls of Reality TV. I left high school for the attitude I see now in chaseworld and the best solution is to let those views be as they may. One thing that remains for certain for me is that science will be an integral part of my life and I will still take time to explore the makeup of the natural world.
Have a wonderful day,
Justin Reid
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