Storm chasers, TV personalities among Oklahoma fatalities

[Omaha Steve]

Source: CNN

Three storm chasers were among the nine people killed in powerful storms that struck Oklahoma on Friday night, relatives told CNN on Sunday.

Tim Samaras, 55, his son Paul Samaras, 24, and Carl Young, 45, died while chasing a tornado in El Reno, relatives said.

"Thank you to everyone for the condolences. It truly is sad that we lost my great brother Tim and his great son, Paul," Jim Samaras wrote in a statement posted on his brother's Facebook page.

"Our hearts also go out to the Carl Young family as well as they are feeling the same feelings we are today. They all unfortunately passed away but doing what they loved," he wrote.


FULL story at link.


Read more: http://www.cnn.com/2013/06/02/us/midwest-weather/#1

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TWISTEX team member Carl Young was killed along with Tim and Paul Samaras while chasing a tornado

[Cooley Hurd]

1. Keep in mind these people were professionals...

...trying to aid science in understanding tornados. Unfortunately, there's a lot of amateurs out there doing the same thing for the thrill of it.

Cross gently Gentlemen, despite your furious ends.

[CatWoman]

3. lovely post, Cooley

[Cooley Hurd]

4. Hiya my friend!

I was in aviation for many years (most of it in the Midwest), and have crossed paths with both professional meteorologists and the thrill-seeking amateurs. The amateurs treat "storm-chasing" as a hobby and care little about the climate science behind it all. They're usually the ones who get bit square in the ass.

Sadly, actual researchers were killed in this instance.

[murielm99]

6. This is sad.

My son is a storm chaser. He travels with a meteorologist from a community college and a few others. In twenty-five years, their group has had one injury. Someone twisted his ankle when he stepped backwards on a set of stairs leading down into a storm cellar.

I know what you mean about careful and professional.

[Aviation Pro]

9. +1000

At the last flight school I instructed at I taught basic through advanced meteorology including the required material for PPL, IR, CPL and ATP ground schools. I've met the thrill seekers and found them to be adrenaline junkies who are looking to become TV celebrities and dismissed them as lunatics.

And with radar, LIDAR and dropsondes their usefulness to science is negligible.

[GreenStormCloud]

13. Professional tornado chasers are very valuable.

They provide up to the second, visual information that electronics just can't get, about what is happening. That can be extremely valuable to the TV stations in providing accurate warnings to people.

The thrill seekers are a danger to themselves and others.

[still_one]

2. It is too bad, however, when you play with fire you can get burned

[hrmjustin]

5. So sorry to hear this. They do a service by tracking and studying these things.

May they rest in peace.

[Pragdem]

7. RIP... I have much respect for storm chasers.

Some of the comments I've seen about this around the Internet... ugh...

Many professions have their dangers. And a lot of what we know about tornadoes are because of brave people like this.

[kestrel91316]

8. FWIW: I have heard legitimate meteorology experts say that none of

these tornado chasers/"researchers" provide data of any value to legitimate research studies. Those get far better data from their radar.

I am of the camp that says these guys are, by and large, thrill seekers who have found a way to make money at risk taking.

If the guys in the vehicle on camera during the chase are doing much, if any, yelling and screaming - they are probably not legitimate researchers.

[ThoughtCriminal]

10. Radar has limitations

It can't get data below a hundred meters or more (depending on topology). I don't think it can determine if a funnel clod has reached the ground.

"Although scientific work is sometimes cited as a goal, direct participation in such work is almost always impractical except for those collaborating in an organized university or government project.[6] Many chasers also are storm spotters, reporting their observations of hazardous weather to the authorities. These reports greatly benefit real-time warnings with ground truth reports as well as science by increasing the reliability of severe storm databases used in climatology and other research.[7] Additionally, many recreational chasers submit photos and videos to researchers as well as to the National Weather Service (NWS) for spotter training."

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Storm_chasing

There is more in the wiki article about ethics, safety issues and "Yahoos".

I think there is a growing issue of non-professional chasers getting involved and creating traffic problems and taking stupid risks just for thrills.

[bvar22]

11. Unfortunately, the availability of inexpensive Video Cams,

the explosive growth of YouTube,
the popularity of the TV show "Storm Chasers" over the last few years,
plus the ability to SELL the videos,
has precipitated and explosive growth of amateur Thrill Seekers that were a direct threat to the handful of professionals.

I was hooked on the show Storm Chasers,
but the last season showed massive Traffic Jams of IDIOTS combined with maniac drivers who would do ANYTHING to Get the Shot,
or appear on TV shows like Americas Most Stupid Idiots.

I thought then, "Nothing good will come from this.
People are going to die."

Condolences to the families.

[Tx4obama]

12. .. hours before the tornado, Samaras had been a guest on MSNBC’s 'The Cycle' - video/audio link

Discovery Channel’s Storm Chaser Tim Samaras Killed In Oklahoma Tornado: Heartbreaking Final Interview

Tim Samaras and Carl Young, stars of Discovery Channel’s Storm Chasers, along with Samaras’s son Paul, were killed during Friday’s horrific tornado in El Reno, Oklahoma, just hours after appearing on MSNBC’s the Cycle. Tim was 55, his son 24.

Samaras had been involved in severe weather research for three decades, having founded TWISTEX (Tactical Weather Instrumented Sampling in Tornadoes EXperiment), a system for predicting and tracking storms. Since ending Storm Chasers, he was a frequent go-to expert for reporting and commenting on extreme weather events.

Just hours before the tornado, Samaras had been a guest on MSNBC’s The Cycle, now his last recorded cable news appearance, to discuss the coming storm.

-snip-

VIDEO/audio here: http://www.mediaite.com/online/discovery-channels-storm-chaser-tim-samaras-killed-in-oklahoma-tornado-heartbreaking-final-interview/

[davsand]

14. My deepest sympathies to the families and those who mourn.

In no way do I feel these men did anything to cause this. They were, by all accounts, scientists working to expand knowledge about violent storms.

However, I have wondered before that this kind of thing hasn't happened more frequently. Every time there is a storm event it seems like the weather coverage has become more extreme and more intense--often with the reporters placed right in the middle of it. It's one thing to joke about Jim Cantore being the one guy you don't want to hang out with during a storm, but he's going places that most people really do need to avoid.

I wonder sometimes if our society's desire for a vicarious thrill is going too far.



Laura

[kentauros]

15. Dr. Jeff Masters talks about them in his latest blog:

Tornado Scientist Tim Samaras and Team Killed in Friday's El Reno, OK Tornado


Tornado science loses a pioneer
Tim Samaras had been a tornado scientist for over 25 years. He was the founder of TWISTEX, the Tactical Weather Instrumented Sampling in Tornadoes Experiment, a 2011 field experiment designed to help learn more about tornadoes and increase lead time for warnings, which resulted in many peer-reviewed publications and conference presentations. One of Tim Samaras' most widely recognized contributions to tornado science is his placement of an aerodynamically-designed probe in the path of an EF-4 tornado near Manchester, South Dakota on June 24, 2003. The probe measured a world-record pressure fall of 100 mb over a 40 second period.

One of the publications from the TWISTEX program, "Near-Ground Pressure and Wind Measurements in Tornadoes" recounts this close call Tim had in a tornado in 2011: "As the storm approached, the crew noted that the supercell was moving more sharply to the right of its former course, placing them near the projected path of the low-level mesocyclone. The crew drove south on Highway 259, attempting to position south of the low-level mesocyclone before it crossed the highway. With considerable tree cover in this region hampering the visual observation of the storm's features, TWISTEX crews could not position south of the mesocyclone on Highway 259 before the mesocyclone reached this road. Thus, the two mobile mesonet stations, M2 and M3, had an unplanned tornado encounter with a developing tornadic circulation while the mesonet was traveling south on Highway 259."

Much more at the link.