This writer was 13 in 1996 when the summer blockbuster ‘Twister’ hit theaters. Ever since then, she’s always wanted to chase at least one storm and see a real tornado just once.
But she won’t be able to do that in Oklahoma if this proposed legislation becomes the law of the land.
Looks like Oklahoma is trying to pass a bill to require a license to storm chase and you can only get this license if you work for TV media or a University. This has to be the most in-American document I have ever seen! This is not an issue for me personally, but I will fight… pic.twitter.com/ucHIesB56U
— Reed Timmer, PhD (@ReedTimmerUSA) January 31, 2025
And here’s why Timmer opposes the bill:
The reasons I am not in favor of this bill are as follows:
1. Seems to define a professional storm chaser as one who works with legacy media or university. Most professional storm chasers are streamers through social media or work with radar/weather apps not with the FCC.
2. No… https://t.co/X3HdXiFhq0
— Reed Timmer, PhD (@ReedTimmerUSA) February 1, 2025
The entire post reads:
1. Seems to define a professional storm chaser as one who works with legacy media or university. Most professional storm chasers are streamers through social media or work with radar/weather apps not with the FCC.
2. No limit on the road closures. They could, in theory, close off a whole section of Oklahoma and only make it accessible by licensed storm chasers.
3. Many many Oklahomans get their severe weather information from non-legacy media storm chasers. We reach orders of magnitude more Oklahomans than many local news broadcasts.
4. This is step one toward broader regulation.
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It seems insane and dangerous to direct law enforcement to close roads during severe weather events.
According to Google, three storm chasers died in 2013 chasing an EF3 tornado. That seems to be the last storm-chase-related death in the state.
So if this is a question of ‘safety’, it seems misguided and unnecessary government overreach.
Don’t need no stinkin badges if we’re looking for birds dude. Those f**king storms always ruin my bird-watching experience though. I don’t know how many tornadoes have chased me off a good bird sighting spot but it’s more than I can count on my hands and feet.
— Ben (@oklahomachaser) January 31, 2025
See? There are ways around it.
‘We were birdwatching, sir. We don’t need a permit to birdwatch. That tornado just got in our our way.’
Storm chasers getting arrested in the middle of their “Gloss Mountain sightseeing roadtrip” pic.twitter.com/zjKsIR8xZU
— Ben Chernesky (@BenChernesky) February 1, 2025
This made us laugh out loud.
Would you be against this if it weren’t for the media/university requirement? Seems like it’s not a terrible idea to get some of the novices out of there but there’s definitely qualified persons without media/university affiliation
— Dustin (@d_st_n) February 1, » …