A small tornado in Kansas, photographed during Tim Samaras's lightning expedition in August 2009. And two, the chaser would have to carry a business license on his person to prove he had a need to be there for whatever his business reason might be. I made the decision to go home since I have a shelter, and i was able to leave work and be home close to 4pm. But what I would really like to ask is this. Terrible things they are! Damage: An Oklahoma home destroyed, its roof partially torn off after the tornado rips through, Salvaging: Residents retrieve belongings from a home destroyed by the tornados that tore through central Oklahoma. The debris field created by Samaras' wrecked car, the report concludes, corroborates the footage, which shows the subvortex moving across the face of the larger tornado at about the time Samaras' headlights disappear. Say you are sitting in your home and you know there is a tornado coming and you are watching TV and the following breathless reporting is happening. The scene was eerily like that from last week, when blackened skies generated a top-of-the-scale EF5 storm with 210 mph winds. Oklahoma Highway Patrol Trooper Betsy Randolph heard the panicked voices of the crew over her patrol radio right before the storm turned into their car. An image taken from video shows the vehicle that longtime storm chaser Tim Samaras, his son Paul and colleague Carl Young were killed when a powerful tornado hit near El Reno, Okla. on May 31. More than 100 people were injured by swirling debris, most with puncture wounds and lacerations, authorities said. Our hearts also go out to the Carl Young family as well as they are feeling the same feelings we are today. Rather, they are jamming roads in the very places where a traffic jam can be deadly if a tornado happens to pass over the gaggle of cars stuck in place. I remember my wife telling me a few years ago about her retail stores tornado policy which was contrary to everything I knew about safety during a storm. and help keep the future of the Observer, Use of this website constitutes acceptance of our, Dallas Observer's The Morning After Brunch, The Last Ride of Legendary Storm Chaser Tim Samaras. Driving away several hours ahead of time is one thing, but this guy was telling people to drive at the same time he was saying the tornado was impending! the same thing happens every year with both tornadoes and hurricanes, how many people ignore the wanings and do not evacuate coastal areas, to only try to call 911 in the middle of the storm panicking and 911 tells them sorry cant help you. Which travel companies promote harmful wildlife activities? . Apply that technology to license plates instead of faces. Countless hikers have fallen to their deaths from cliffs. In fact, one could argue that a new law is not needed and this power is already available to police and emergency response agencies. Some of my colleagues stayed, where there is a basement. Tim Samaras' Death - Cause and Date Born (Birthday) Nov 12, 1957 Death Date May 31, 2013 Age of Death 55 years Cause of Death N/A Place of Death May 31, 2013 Profession Meteorologist The meteorologist Tim Samaras died at the age of 55. In this country, if a cyclone alert is issued, all roads are closed. Sheriff Cody Carpenter and a wildlife officer had been checking on houses that were in danger of being flooded. This is a free country and public space is public. This is an enormous loss for his family, his wide circle of friends and colleagues and National Geographic.'. 'For reasons that are not clear to me, more people took to the roads, more than we expected. CBS from Dallas agrees with Dorothy from KC and OL from OKC. There is a great irony to the deaths of the three storm chasers from Twistex. Tim Samaras, his son Paul and colleague Carl Young died Friday night when an EF3 tornado with winds up to 165 mph turned on them near El Reno, Okla. After years of sharing dramatic videos with. Debris: This aerial photo shows damage in the Rolling Meadow Estates neighborhood on Friday in Broken Arrow, Okla. after a tornado had passed the area, Dangerous: Forecasters warned of a 'particularly dangerous situation,' with ominous language about strong tornadoes and hail the size of grapefruits 4 inches in diameter. I don't know what they were thinking in a state packed with cars and almost no other transportation options and few shelters. His pioneering work included the development of probes which when left in the path of a tornado, can measure pressure drops. Samaras acknowledged the dangerous weather conditions Friday in his final tweet before his death: Individuals and institutions across the fields of storm-chasing, meteorology, and media expressed their sorrow and condolences to the victims' families Sunday. A storm chaser who heeded the bad feeling in his gut and decided to hang back that day told me the tornado was "designed to kill storm chasers." 'I'm a seasoned tornado watcher but I just could not see staying and waiting for it to hit,' she said. Jim Samaras said his brother, nephew and their colleague were dedicated to avoiding trouble while chasing storms, and that the family wasn't worried about whether he was taking care of himself. Photo by George Johnson. Standing water was several feet deep, and in some places it looked more like a hurricane had passed through than a tornado. For example, most storm chasers are individuals or small teams, and they benefit with direct contacts with actual tornadoes, and often fund their work this way as they sell their video to news outlets. Also, their data helps us to better understand the dynamics of what happens in tornadoes which can help make safer structures. Actually, to get my point all you really have to do is read the post but to restate the idea: Jamming a county road or a state or federal highway during an emergency is a public danger. The seasoned storm chaser had dedicated his life to extreme weather, following storms for a quarter of a century. This was the case with Mt. The point of this post is to note two things that I can't prove are relevant in this case but certainly are relevant generally. Samaras was killed along with his son Paul and storm chaser Carl Young in Friday's tornado. The worry soon turned to flash flooding and floodwaters topped four feet in Oklahoma City on Saturday morning. In the future I will be blogging at Greg Laden's blog, located at its original home at gregladen.com. Long story short, I and many others took cover in the hotel bathroom as the tornado headed straight toward us (to hit at 7:05). Anything else is just going to lead to panic like the panic that killed people on the 31st. His video consisted of really high quality camera work of weather and the focus wasn't on him. The newscaster's advice was appalling. 'I started seeing power flashes to the north, and I said "screw this." ", In reply to by Danny Caputi (not verified). They were caught off guard not by traffic, but by an extremely powerful and erratic multi vortex tornado that grew from a mile wide multivortex into a 2.5 miles in diameter behemoth as it also accelerated and turned north toward the ill fated chasers. The three had no chance, said Tim Samaras brother, Jim. In fact, it isn't just the mathematical curiosity known as the Mandelbrot set that's full of irregularities and ever, How three storm chasers died, and what to do about it, http://news.yahoo.com/tornado-coming-grab-helmet-084500057.html, http://www.youtube.com/user/TheTornadoChaser, http://www.slate.com/blogs/future_tense/2014/06/19/pilger_nebraska_torn, The Lab Leak Theory Was Dismissed As Trump Xenophobia - Now Deniers Say It Was Not Accepted Because of Trump Xenophobia, DAN5/P1: Homo Erectus Early Cranial Capacity Was More Like Australopiths Such As 'Lucy', DART Made A Big Difference In Ability To Accurately Calculate Asteroid Deflections, The Subsidies Paradox: Affordable Food Versus The Environment, Degrowth communism as asolution for climate change, On that chilling law suit against the environmental groups, Watch Jeff Merkley Wipe Floor With Trump's William Wehrum, "Transparency" should not equal a license to harass scientists. One is that people may have been encouraged via chatter in a number of places to use "driving away" as their strategy for getting away from this particular tornado. The tornado then hurled the light Chevy Cobalt to the ground, leaving it looking as though it had been rammed through a trash compactor, police said. He set a world record in 2003 which still stands today when he recorded an 100 millibar pressure drop from an F-4 tornado. .". I'm one state north from tornado alley, and I can't imagine anyone from my state saying that it's okay to drive during a tornado alert. Tim Samaras was found inside his car with his seat belt still on. Numerous vehicles were damaged in the storm and that many motorists were left stranded. The Storm Prediction Center in Norman, Okla., said it believed the deaths were the first time scientific researchers were killed while chasing tornadoes. Gone. Reed Timmer and Sean Casey and their crews modified vehicles that successfully survived being in powerful tornados (for Mythbusters fans, you may have seen these two teams vehicles go head to head with a jet engine to see how they would survive tornado strength winds on the episode Storm Chasing Myths). Caught in the midst of the gigantic storm was a group of storm chasers who had nowhere to hide. Twistex Memorial dedicated to 3 killed in El Reno. I have suggested that such a thing should be worth, at least, a parking ticket. Of those areas mentioned in this quote, Downtown OK city has about 7,600 people living in it. He almost certainly didn't know that the rain-shrouded vortex was hooking toward him, to the northeast, and that he had entered its circulation. We all see our own causes as noble don't we? 'Use a telephoto lens for gosh sakes. Contrast that, as bad as it was, with Dan Robinson's video from the El Reno, OK tornado that killed Tim Samaras, his son Paul and his long-time chase partner Carl Young. I dont think they realize how lucky El Reno was.. In other words, it is now probably legal and appropriate for police or fire departments to close off roads or direct traffic or tell people not to drive in a particular area where there is currently a major fire, explosion, storm devastation, and so on. There is only so much space to get away and so many roads to use, many in poor repair. Big blue trash cans were being tossed around like a piece of paper in the wind. What do you think? Mr. Robinson also had forward and side facing dash cams operating that day and the Twistex crew's Chevy is the only other vehicle visible in any direction on Reuter Rd for the last 15 or 20 minutes of the chase. I will not comment at all in regardess to the death of Tim, Carl, or Paul, as they were close personal friends of mine and I am not reading to speak on that subject currently. I also heard mention of a storm chaser who, attempting a U-turn to avoid a flooded stretch of road, went off a hidden embankment and was lucky to avoid drowning. That's why safety experts say you need a plan. The apparent fact that individuals don't take on the personal responsibility of doing the sensible thing is a tragedy. When she emerged from the freezer her car windshield had been shattered by the hail. But, since we (we here discussing this) don't really know the laws and how they work regarding emergency response, traffic, etc. In tribute to his brother, Jim Samaras posted on Facebook: Thank you to everyone for the condolences. >>> I support this 100%. The three storm chasers Tim Samaras, his photographer son Paul Samaras, and meteorologist Carl Young were killed when the twister they were pursuing made a sudden left turn and slammed into their car, sending it flying through the air like a toy. I think it's an abomination that news forecasters suggested people drive away that temporally close to a suspected tornado touchdown. Flash floods: Two pickup trucks are pictured stuck in high water along NW 23rd Street in El Reno. Several parents in the group I was with decided to drive south, away from the storm. But I'll just say that I think there are less extreme solutions than putting a ban on all amateur storm chasing. It is emotional to posit "people died, let's make a law" without really identifying a true cause. Make a one-time donation today for as little as $1. Sometimes accidents happen. Having been in law enforcement some years ago I don't think you understand how unenforceable those laws would be. Then he yelled "get your ass back down there, boy!" Tornadoes do neither. Myers said the man left for work early Saturday and his vehicle was found empty near East Hefner Road and Dobbs Road just after 6 a.m. 'His vehicle was found washed off the road,' Myers said. I don't think the scientists who died in this storm would agree with you on that.