Basically the responsible and legit researchers have a code that they follow strictly: do your research but don’t impede traffic, don’t drive recklessly, don’t film people that are hurt (actually try to help them), respect the space of people who have lost their homes, are upset, are fleeing, etc. Chasers who break those rules pretty much get ostracized by the storm chasing community — e.g., the next time you show up to your local Weather Service office, they won’t share info with you to help your chase, and they might even report you to police if you’re being a real idiot.

Those rules generally apply to tornado chasing. Hurricane chasing … given that hurricanes are so big and relatively slow moving, and given that a lot of measurement stations already exist to measure them … I don’t know, as a rank but decently read weather buff, that any good reason exists for a bunch of people to run to the coast to “research hurricanes.” Usually all they want to research is a video of someone’s roof getting peeled off that they can market over the internet, under the label of “Helping people understand and respect the power of nature.” (For a price of course.)

And one of these days, one of these local TV “storm chasers” who don’t really understand storm structure and dangers will “core punch” an HP supercell and not live to tell the story. Film at 11. All in the name of ratings.

Sorry for the ramble but I just wanted to let you know that the weather community has thought about that issue a lot and desires to rein in those who are going overboard out there.

You hit the nail on the head with the weather forecasters. If a town is evacuated, what the heck do you need to be standing in the middle of street to show anyone over the age of 6 how bad the storm is? Have you ever seen the movie, Day After Tomorrow? The reporter gets creamed by debris while giving his report. What the heck happened to common sense? Are we going to have that happen in real life before these fools stop it?

As for Will – a long time ago I had read an article that explained how the father teaches the children by example the limits in getting physical with others. This article was explaining why boys over the age of eleven were not allowed in the womens shelter. It went on to say that by eleven the boys had learned to be abusive. In short, Paul’s good example as well as your Dads and brothers will be what impacts Wills behavior in the future. Kids are good at discerning pretend from reality.