Colorado storm chaser Tim Samaras killed in Oklahoma tornado along with son, longtime partner


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Posted: 06/02/2013
Last Updated: 10 minutes ago

Anica Padilla  | Email Me
Colorado storm chaser Tim Samaras, his son Paul Samaras, and longtime chase partner Carl Young were killed in the EF-3 tornado that tore through El Reno, Oklahoma Friday.

Tim and Paul were both born and raised in Lakewood, Colorado but most recently were living in Bennett.

Tim Samaras was considered a leader in storm chasing expertise and worked with 7NEWS, National Geographic, the Discovery Channel, Boeing, and the federal government.

A family member posted this statement on Tim Samaras' Facebook page at 5:30 a.m. Sunday morning:

"I'm Jim Samaras - Tim Samaras's brother. Thank you to everyone for the condolences. It truly is sad that we lost my great brother Tim and his great son, Paul. 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. Chasing Tornado's. I look at it that he is in the 'big tornado in the sky...' We (the family) will keep folks aware of what the funeral estrangements are, but please in the meantime keep Tim and Paul in your thoughts and prayers."

More:http://www.thedenverchannel.com/news/local-news/colorado-storm-chaser-tim-samaras-killed-in-oklahoma-tornado-along-with-son-longtime-partner

it then no one can blame them.

and I heartily offer my fully extended middle finger to the first 'wit' who evokes the Darwin Awards.

a lot to the science also. One of the initial chasers. I have no issue with it. People die doing what the love all the time.

foolish, maybe, or maybe it was just their 'time' to go.
My dad went sailing one day and never came back.
I always thought, he followed his crazy love to the end.

Much of the science of tornadoes over the past 20 years was from hobbiests.

The kind of science that maybe saved hundreds of lives in Moore a couple of weeks sgo.

ESPECIALLY if it's 'reality tv'

So you hate volunteer science. got it.

hyping shit for a TV show is science. It is to make money.

They did sink in some hard facts about tornadoes. I imagine they saved lives. They got caught and died.

You do realize that not all 'reality tv' is the same, right?

Or do you simply prefer to make sweeping generalizations and dismiss anyone who takes part in a reality show?

Tim Samaras was in this business to advance science. My condolences to family and friends of all three men.

I'm only surprised it hadn't happened sooner.

It seems these people have been pushing the envelope as of late.

I've always been aware the job is a dangerous one but, up until lately, I've always assumed the danger was mainly traffic related - I remember some chasers being killed several years ago in a roll over accident.

I attended OU in Norman for one year (transferred because I couldn't stand the bible thumpers) and learned to fly at the school's Max Westheimer Field.

I had exactly ONE experience with storm chasing. Some meteorology majors from my meteorology class wanted to chase a storm one night so I, the only one with a car, went along as the wheel-man.

After getting the data from the lab computers, we headed out to the edge of nowhere and waited. I, being an inquisitive sort, asked how are we going to see this thing coming at night. Look for the sparks from power lines and transformers they said. Hmmm.

Well, it wasn't too long before the sirens went off. Fuck this!, I said, stay or come along but me and my car are out of here. I don't remember any resistance. In to the car we jumped and flew back to the dorm where we found everyone out on the lawns.

IIRC, the tornado was a killer that hit not too far away from Norman.

...situations like that. My son is 11, LOL, so I guess it's pretty hard to imagine him as an adult. But still. How horrible. Just goes to show you how even experienced people can get into situations they can't get out of. I have no doubt they all knew they were going to die before they died, and as a father I couldn't imagine anything worse than knowing my child was probably going to die and not being able to do anything about it.

This is so dangerous I can't even pretend it's a passtime. I'm not trying to harsh on stormchasers, but this is just delayed suicide under almost all conditions:

From this thread.

Edit: BTW, that video above. I had to redefine my concept of what the word "maelstrom" meant after watching it. I would probably do 10 seconds naked in outer space than 10 seconds in that.

PB

Tim Samaras was one of the more conservative chasers - didn't take chances like some of the others. Very calm guy (on tv anyway). I know a few chasers were 'caught' with this particular tornado - I wonder what happened with this one that was different from other tornadoes (other than the fact it was massive - my guess is the area of circulation was bigger than they thought and they were caught by surprise suction vortices dropping where they weren't thinking the area of circulation was. Again, just my guess) So sad, Tim was a true scientist.

Storm chasers figure to be on the south side of a tornado, because 99 times out of 100, tornadoes move north and east. This tornado moved to the southeast where usually they'd be safe and in a good place to observe. This tornado was an anomaly.

Died doing what they loved protecting others.

they were always very careful.

That is so sad.

Some of those storm chasers are seen as the 'cowboys' of storm chasers - doing more and more dangerous things trying to get super close to tornadoes. Tim Samaras wasn't of THAT group, he was far more careful. This tornado made a couple of sharp turns and seeing as he didn't have an armored vehicle as some do, it was bad luck for him. It is a hazard of the job, however, one I'm sure he was well aware of.

of these deadly storms, this was bound to happen, sooner or later. I mean no disrespect to these men or their families, but they knew they job was dangerous when they took it.

When I think of storm chasing...I dunno. Like fighting a herd of elephants all at once and being able to continually sneak out through their trampling legs each time before getting a paycheck. There are a lot of things in life you arguably "roll the dice" when you do. Hell, crossing the street is rolling them dice. But with storm chasing...I mean...Damn.

It's like storming Omaha Beach for a living.

PB

... was seriously injured when his vehicle was thrown by the storm.
He was the photographer and the two others with him in the vehicle
were not hurt much.

I think they're all crazy.

The one that did the most damage was hidden in torrential downpour.
I have actually driven thru those kind of monsoon type rains, and can attest visibility is like being in a car wash.
Actually, I am surprised there were only 9 deaths attributed to the Oklahoma twisters friday night.

May they rest in peace.

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

Contains a list of their publications.

This would seem like a great application for a rugged, high-performance drone. I've seen a lot of video shot from helicopters of tornados near Oklahoma City. Choppers are fast enough and maneuvable enough to maintain safe distances apparently. They have the advantage of not having to follow roads.

Guy was publishing in peer-reviewed professional scientific journals. Engineering and meteorology journals.

This is a sad loss. I'm pretty sure he wasn't the sort to be melodramatically screaming for the camera like some other storm chasing clowns.

There are a few storm chasers that are perhaps in it for the thrill, but the vast majority (even one of the most well known 'screamers') are meteorologists or scientists. Most of them carry along a photographer/videographer because selling the videos is how a lot of them make enough money to chase.

That said, I do believe it's likely an addiction for some - like any other activity that produces an adrenaline rush. But even the thrill seekers serve a purpose - most of them are always calling in what they see, and it gives many communities a lot more lead-time during warnings, saving lives.

But the loss of Tim Samaras is a big loss for the science community. Huge. It's also the first big loss in the chasing community, and I don't think it'll ever be the same again.

Apparently the fact they took part in a reality show means they lose all credibility.

melodramatic screaming for the camera, I would agree. But apparently they weren't.

condolences to the family, and my thanks to these men who gave their lives to help others.

It's a shame for this guy and his son but this was kind of inevitable.

So do we call them storm catchers now?

I apologize, I simply couldn't resist. I hope they rest in peace and those whose lives they touched find peace. I hope they have inspired researchers who help us cope with these storms.

Storm chasers are on the front lines of that research--and they accept that the risks they take will, eventually, mitigate the risk suffered by society in areas prone to tornadoes.

Their work has contributed substantially to a tripling (or more) of average warning time, from barely five minutes when the first serious research began half a century ago to, in the case of the recent Moore tornado, 16 minutes. Though I no longer live in an area that sees many tornadoes, I have the utmost respect for the dangers they confront, so that the rest of society might one day have more time to flee from them.

http://www.thunderchase.com/about

All 3 sets of initials of the chasers killed by Friday's #tornado are now spelled out by spotters across the Plains:

http://www.spotternetwork.org/google.php

Tim pieced together support for his research from publishing, from video, from grants that included National Geographic, from the engineering design of weather recording devices, and even from the Discovery Channel. He did that because we cannot simply fund more than a few researchers through universities, federal research, or the National Weather Service. He did it anyway.

His latest project was the purchase of a war surplus high-speed, one million pictures per second camera originally built for filming nuclear explosions. He converted the 6000 pound camera to digital and mounted it inside a van, attempting to be the first to capture images of lightning in such detail.

*******************

I was a spotter back in the 1970's and some in the 1980's. It wasn't chasing back them, more like sitting on a hill and waiting to get pounded. Always calm and collected, there just never seemed to be a reason to get upset. Hail dents will pound out and you can always get unstuck tomorrow.

But the first tornado I had to call in, I sounded like an over-caffeinated seven-year-old girl on fright night. I hope no one kept a tape.