"Chaser Convergence" Is A Rising Tornado Death Risk

Tornado beginning to develop near Blue Rapids, Kansas on
May 18.  Hundreds of storm chasers converged on this twister.
Photo via Facebook, Live Storm Chasers

 On May 18, a huge supercell thunderstorm sent a tornado stabbing into the ground east of Blue Rapids, Kansas, population about 900. 

Beneath those roiling clouds, a convoy whose members might well have matched the population of the town gathered in roughly 500 vehicles on narrow rural roads, hoping for a glimpse, a photo or a video of the tornado. 

The tornado turned out to be relatively brief and harmless. 

It's called "chaser convergence," and it's dangerous. Converging air masses help produce tornadic storms. The chasers, in turn, converge on the tornadoes.

 Storm chasing has boomed louder than the thunder that supercells produce. Many of the storm chasers are experience and responsible. They know how tornadoes behave and what the safe distance is. They follow the rules of the road. 

Others...not so much.

"As I'm sitting on the highway, it was a continuous line of cars going east for 30 minutes. I mean it was crazy," said Blue Rapids Police Chief Ryan Woodyard. 

 That's a recipe for disaster. 

"There is a chance that there cold be, you know, a line of cars stuck in a traffic jam and that a tornado side swipes them can easily take out dozens of chasers and kill multiple, multiple people at one time," Darin Brunin, a local storm chaser told television station KSNT.   

Per Yahoo News:

"Storm chasers not only have to worry about tornadoes, but also other drivers. Storm chasers report driving is one of the greatest hazards of the job, while law enforcement said managing traffic  a become even harder for small towns with limited resources."

Storm chasers do die when chasing tornadoes, or heading home from or heading to or from the chasers. Four storm chasers died in two separate accidents during the 2022 tornado season. 

Some chasers near Blue Rapids were not obeying traffic laws. If emergency vehicles were needed, chances are they wouldn't be able to get through. The day the tornado touched down east of Blue Rapids, other storms threatened different parts of Kansas on May 18. By one estimation, there were 7,000 tornado hunters roaming the flat plains of the state. 

Commissioners in Marshall County, which includes Blue Rapids. are calling for some type of action  regarding uncoordinated storm chasers. The commissioners agree that chasers can provide life saving information for the public and initiate search and rescue since they are often on the scene before first responders get there. 

Chaser convergence isn't only a problem in Marshall County, Kansas, of course. Anytime there is a well-forecasted tornado outbreak, throngs of chasers are on the scene. 

There doesn't seem to be any calls to ban or seriously regulate storm chasers. But that day might come if there are more tragedies involving the chasers. 

 

Early Winter Storms Try Men and Womens' Souls (Not Yet, Vermont)

This February, 2019 ice storm in northwestern Vermont 
was treacherous enough under foot. But the roads became
skating rinks, causing hours long traffic jams.  In the past
couple of weeks, this type of thing happened in two places
that got hit by modest winter storms. 

We've had precious little snow here in Vermont so far this winter, but the flakes will surely fly.

We skated through the first snowfall of the season back in mid-November pretty well. We had our share of car crashes, but it seemed to me it wasn't as bad as I've often seen with the initial white day of the winter. 

Depending on the timing, the consistency and intensity of a snowfall or ice any time of winter, but especially early on, things can get really horrible fast. 

I remember an example back in February, 2019 when freezing rain suddenly began falling across northwestern Vermont just as the evening rush hour began. The ice, the sliding cars, the fender benders and all that had practically all area roads at a standstill. This included Interstate 89.

What was normally a half hour trip home from work turned into a four or five hour ordeal for many. 

Like I said, we've been lucky so far this early season. And aside from some light snow in the forecast for at least parts of Vermont Sunday and Sunday night, we're still not looking at any big winter storms. 

Other cities and regions have not been so lucky this winter.  

I've got two examples that will make you shudder and be very happy it hasn't really snowed much in Vermont this season, much to the chagrin of skiers and riders.

It snows in Vancouver, British Columbia every winter, but their Pacific Coast climate usually brings them a steady diet of rain, drizzle, fog and clouds.

When it does snow, it's often a wet slush, which is especially treacherous under the wheels of vehicles. 

As December opened, Vancouver received about four inches of wet snow. Not a biggie. But in that hilly city, with the storm timed with the evening commute, it caused chaos. Some people were trapped behind backups and fender benders on highways for eight hours or more. Yuck.

If you don't see the image below, click on this link to view the mess. Or, click on the image below if you see it. After that, scroll down, as I have another example, as I love to be cruel. 

Next up, we go to Minnesota, especially around the Minneapolis metro area.  As we well know, Minnesota is a wintry, snowy state.  You can make an argument that Minnesota is even more wintry and horrible in the winter than Vermont.

But, apparently, people can't drive in the snow in Minnesota, either. During a wintry period from November 29 to December 2, MDOT logged 506 crashes.

MDOT also has an amazing array of traffic cameras, which offer hours of entertainment showing us people not exactly being competent in winter weather. 

From the very worthwhile to subscribe to Wham Slam Traffic Cam channel on YouTube, here's a great compilation of the Fails of early winter in Minnesota, in and around the Minneapolis metro area. Again, click on this link if you don't see the image below, or if you do, click on that. 

Followup: Mid-Atlantic Snowstorm Travel Nightmare Fallout, Ice Causes More Fallout, EVs and Communications Failures

Near the start of the Great Traffic jam that stranded 
thousands of motorists on I-95 in Virginia Monday
to as late as Wednesday.

UPDATE 1 PM THURSDAY:

 Monday and Tuesday, it was Virginia that experienced a snow debacle on highways, especially I-95.  Wednesday, it was New York, Connecticut and New Hampshire dealing with icy road gridlock.

Today, it's Nashville, Tennessee that has fallen into gridlock as snow fell this morning at a rate of up to 2 inches per hour.

The Nashville snow is part of the storm system that could cause major traffic problems tomorrow morning along the I-95 corridor between New Jersey and Massachusetts.

PREVIOUS DISCUSSION

Interstate 95 in Virginia, where some people were stranded for up to or even more than 24 hours after Monday's snowstorm shut it down, is reopened, but things are just barely getting back to normal today, three days later.  

And more snow is due in that region tonight and tomorrow.

So far, I haven't seen any reports of deaths or serious injuries related to the disaster. If that state of affairs holds, it's great news. 

Radio station WTOP said traffic was indeed flowing if slowly on Interstate 95 by Wednesday afternoon, but major service roads nearby, like Route 1 were still hopelessly gummed up.  

The slowly easing mess in Virginia came as new travel troubles engulfed swaths of the Northeast on Wednesday.

Light freezing rain, enough to ice up the roads, led to the chaos of numerous crashes, slide offs and traffic jams Thursday. 

Roads throughout the New York City area were at a standstill or at best crawling along Wednesday morning. Several main thoroughfares closed for a few hours, which really snarled the traffic.  A 20-vehicle crash on the Hutchinson River Parkway killed one person, says the Washington Post.

Traffic was backed up for miles around Manchester, New Hampshire due to the icy roads. Video from Hooksett, New Hampshire showed stopped cars and trucks with semis sliding sideways and crashing into stalled cars.   Miles long backups also hit around Bridgeport and Waterbury, Connecticut.

It wasn't only in cars where people experienced nightmares this week. Aside from the highway delays, an Amtrak train in the same area got stuck by snow and especially numerous trees falling onto the tracks. 

According to the Associated Press: 

"Amtrak's Crescent, which left New Orleans on Sunday on its way to New York, got stuck north of Lynchburg, Virginia on Monday morning, returned to Lynchburg and remained there until finally eading northbound again late Tuesday afternoon."

Passengers complained of overflowing toilets, no food from midday Monday until McDonald's food was brought in midmorning Tuesday, and a lack of communication. 

It was the Northeast's turn on Wednesday to have traffic
 chaos and crashes on the highways due to light freezing rain.
This was the scene near Manchester, New Hampshire
Wednesday morning. 

Of all the many things that went wrong in this snowstorm, a lack of communication from state and local officials seems to be the worst problem. 

It had to be a frightening situation, made more unnerving due to a lack of information.  Humans generally do better with firm information, even if the news is really bad, than they are when they don't know what's going on

"Some callers (from their cars) were sobbing and scared. Psychologically, it is extremely distressing to be motionless on a highway for hours on end without knowing how much longer it will last," said WTOP traffic reported Dave Dildine. 

This is Monday morning quarterbacking, I realize, but I've seen over and over again how a lack of communication with the public and within agencies inevitably makes disasters worse. Even if you tell people you do not yet have all the information yet and are working on it, that's so much better than saying nothing at all. 

These epic traffic backups do happen from time to time in large winter storms. (Witness the New York City area during a November, 2018 winter storm).  They'll happen again. Possibly as soon as tomorrow with a snowstorm due from New Jersey to Boston during the morning commute. 

On another related topic, here's something I hadn't thought of until I read it in the Washington Post: We're not there yet with EV vehicles and winter storms. 

As this  Washington Post Op-Ed notes:

"It is a scientific fact that batteries of all kinds lose capacity more rapidly in cold weather, and that includes the sophisticated lithium-ion ones used by Teslas and other EVs. Carmakers can, and do, mitigate cold weather 'range anxiety' through various technologies; Tesla is touting a new 'heat pump' to extend winter range. Drivers can save battery power by say turning off the heat."

A lot of good turning off the heat will do you when stranded in a winter storm. 

It's also harder and more time consuming to re-charge an EV battery in cold weather. There's also still not all that many charging stations available for EVs when they're on a highway in a winter storm. 

Since EVs seem to be the future, we need to make sure the technology is advanced enough to keep people safe when things go wrong on the highways.  Life isn't always a sunny day with clear roads ahead.