Storm chasers are used to thunderous reactions, but few would have predicted the raging tempest sweeping across the United States in the wake of Falcon Heene and the phantom balloon ride.

Furious recriminations are underway among the country's extreme weather chasers, after misplaced fears that the six-year-old boy climbed aboard a giant, helium-filled balloon and fell out somewhere along it's 10,000ft-high voyage. He was found in his parents' attic, but not before a desperate rescue operation by emergency services was broadcast live across America.

Falcon's parents now face accusations of staging a hoax, publicity seeking and exaggerating their extreme weather credentials.

Douglas Kiesling, the self-proclaimed “Weather Paparazzi” from Minneapolis, Minnesota, caught the mood of many storm enthusiasts who feel their reputation has been besmirched by the Heene family. “They are not storm chasers,” he said. “They’re idiots.”

The Heenes have never been afraid of the spotlight. They have filmed themselves in the eye of a hurricane, starred in a reality TV programme and experimented with a series of unusual inventions, including hovercraft, a weather-gathering flying saucer and a rocket launcher.

Mr Kiesling said: “The first time I have ever heard of them was when people told me to keep an eye out for the show ABC Wife Swap last year. I was told there was a storm-chasing family on it and they were nuts.”

Most other storm chasers do not seem to accept that Richard Heene, Falcon’s father, is a genuine weather expert.

Brian Barnes, one of the best-known storm chasers in the US, was so inundated with media requests yesterday that he was moved to place a disclaimer on his Stormchase.com website.

The cameraman, who works with National Geographic and The Weather Channel, said: “We would like to ask the media to acquire “complete facts” before making assumptions on the air or speculations about 'storm chasing' or 'storm chasers'.

“Please be careful when linking this family to actual storm chasers and/or scientists who conduct actual peer-reviewed science.”

Mr Heene did co-write an article that was published last year in the National Weather Digest, a quarterly scientific journal, but even this has now been queried.

“He apparently measured the pressure of a dust devil using a Weather Watch Barometer?” said Tony Laubach, a storm chaser from Denver. “Not sure exactly what he means by that, but it doesn’t sound very scientific to me. He isn’t a storm chaser… just a yahoo who took his kids on a hurricane chase."

Mr Laubach seized on a television interview given live on CNN once Falcon had been found, in which the child tells his father: "You said that we did this for a show."

He said: “I’m sad that someone would have to stoop so low in order to get publicity for himself and his worthless experiments.”

Another member of the “mainstream” storm-chasing community in Colorado agreed that Mr Heene was not a regular contributor. Scott Hammel, 30, said: “I’m not even really sure if this guy is a storm chaser as I’m familiar with or know most of the Colorado chasers and I’ve never heard of this dude. . . ever.”

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