2010 Perseids Meteor Shower

Judging by the amount of emails I received, it hasn’t gone unnoticed that I took a self-imposed Sabbatical toward the end of May. Thank you for all that wrote in concern!

Yes, I haven’t even posted on my blog here in nearly 3 months, and rarely on Facebook and Twitter during that time. What happened?

The 2010 chase season got into its stride and as many know, I opened Dryline Media up to representing other storm chasers video just before the season started. Without getting into all the dirty details of why, around mid-May I decided to shut down that extension of Dryline Media. There were a myriad of reasons, but the bottom line was that it was causing me an unreal amount of stress and taking it’s toll on me physically, emotionally and mentally. I have to take care of myself first, and although it was a hard decision, I realized that continuing the way things were was severely detrimental to my health and things had to change.

This all came along with what seemed to be a peak in stress with storm chasing in general. Some of it was self imposed, because of how hard I’ve been pushing the media aspect of it further and further. Other parts were allowing myself to get caught up in all the extensive drama in the storm chase “community”, which believe me, this year was in epic proportions. Due to the Storm Chasers TV show, the constant publicity of the Vortex 2 project and the constant and real time updates by the latter as well as most all other “storm chasers” has caused the ranks of storm chasers to grow exponentially. I put “storm chasers” in quotes in this context, because many of the people on the roads of late aren’t your typical dedicated storm chasers, but rather locals who saw all this coverage and wanted to get out and be a part of it I guess.

The end result is that it’s been a cause for some very frustrating and stressful chases for me, particularly in Oklahoma, but certainly not limited to there. While I recognize that everyone has the right to go out and look at clouds if they so choose, the sheer numbers have fundamentally changed what I loved for so many years about storm chasing. The lonely rural drives, sitting out on the side of a desolate highway, just me and perhaps a couple of other dedicated storm chasers, just enjoying the weather. Now it’s large traffic jams on those rural roads and some pretty terrific driving stunts by some of them. On bigger days it’s even getting difficult to find a place to pull off to the side of the road to watch a storm.

This growth has not been lost in the social aspect of storm chasing. It seems not a day goes by any more that some “chaser” isn’t bashing some other “chaser”. The Storm Track forums are now mostly populated by local storm spotters and weather enthusiasts, rather than the dedicated chasers that were there before. Well, some of them are still there, but you see them less and less. Especially veteran chasers who rarely post there any more, as well as many academic and professional weather folks who have left that venue. The staff at Storm Track are pretty quick to pounce on the flame wars that seem to start every few days, but now it just spills right over to facebook and blogs where it continues unmitigated. I used to post on Storm Track daily and was very active, but I’ve gotten to where I only breeze through Storm Track and read threads that interest me and rarely post there any more. I just want no part of all the drama.

Another element of storm chasing that seems to be growing is that of the fraudster. Websites and Facebook pages of “storm chasers” are popping up all over the place. In some cases well designed websites, even storm chase tour companies, all with almost NO experience, but yet proclaiming all sorts of untruthful things. I’m sorry, but if you have been chasing for 10 or 15 years like you say on your website, either you are a horrible chaser, or you would have at least one or two tornado pics to throw up on your site, rather than a crappy shot of a scud cloud misidentified as a wall cloud or a funnel cloud. Seriously, there is no shame in being new at an activity. We were all new once. This coming in making false proclamations about your chasing isn’t doing you any favors. Come in with a spirit of humility and learning and in 10 years you will have a REAL track record to be proud of, not some fake stuff you threw up on a website trying to garner some instant respect.

The point is that lying is a growing element in chasing and it’s getting harder and harder to know who you can trust. Some of these “chasers” are stealing photos and videos from one another, mooching off others to chase, etc etc. A large influx in recent years of some very negative elements in storm chasing to be sure.

Chaser drama…why? What is it about storm chasing that either causes the drama or attracts those types of people that have to continually start crap with people? I’ve never in my life been involved in any activity that has as much back-stabbing and attacking, often on those who are successful in the activity. In my struggle the last few years to learn why storm chasing is becoming so stressful to me, I’ve come to the conclusion that it is that very element that I hate so much about it and it is that same element that I need to distance myself from for my own sanity and well being.

This has caused me to have to block a few people on Facebook and unsubscribe to a few Twitter and blog feeds or set them to ignore status on Storm Track and other things. In some cases it meant distancing myself from some people I considered friends. I’m sorry guys, but I no longer want any part of all the drama and crap. If it comes my way, it gets an instant wall put in front of it. If you are the type of person that must generate or propagate drama, I’m not going to be associating with you. I’d rather have positive people around me.

Storm Chasing…the actual chasing of storms, I dearly love. The adventure on the plains, the drives, the crazy things I see. Witnessing up close the awesome power of nature. I love chasing for KCBD because I love the people there and l love helping the viewers be informed. But all this negative extra-curricular junk in chasing that is severely causing me to no longer enjoy storm chasing. The only way I can continue to chase is to block that stuff out and distance myself from those doing it.

Well, that went to a darker place than I intended when I started this post. I’m sorry about that, just letting my thoughts flow.

I’ve had a break from things now, had time to think outside the box for a while, and have reached some clarity and some level of peace with what I want in the future from storm chasing. In the end, it’s ingrained into me to the point it’s part of my identity. As such it’s not just something I can walk away from and not look back. That said, there are other things in life I want to explore, so storm chasing is going to start having to allow room for that.

So now I am back to keeping things updated again (not that there is anyone still checking for updates here heh). I have a lot of work ahead of me on some video and photography stuff I’ll be posting in the months to come. We’ll also have to see what happens on the hurricane front as well, so far it’s be relatively quiet. Since this is my personal website, you might see a few of those other activities pop up from time to time around here.

I will still be storm chasing when the opportunity arises, but things are going to be different where I am concerned. Let’s see where this adventure takes us now….