Inside was Tim Samaras, one of the country's most respected tornado scientists, who had built his career by placing sophisticated probes in the paths of oncoming tornadoes. Flash floods: Two pickup trucks are pictured stuck in high water along NW 23rd Street in El Reno. Del City has 21,000 people in it. So, the driving away several hours in advance isnt really smart, because you dont know that far in advance where away might be. Debris was tangled in the median's crossover barriers, including huge pieces of sheet metal, tree limbs, metal pipes, a giant oil drum and a stretch of chain-link fence. Saying "Stay out of moore" wold just turn the would-be chasers in another direction that a storm or twister could emerge from. Tim Samaras Cause of death Tornado incident Known for Tornado field research Spouse(s) Kathy Samaras. I agree, we only need laws if we need laws. Paul is right. Hail and high winds were the chief threat, though a tornado could not be ruled out, forecasters said. The thing is, this tornado was heading roughly from west to east into a highly populated area. "Tim was a courageous and brilliant scientist who fearlessly pursued tornadoes and lightning in the field in an effort to better understand these phenomena," the society said on its website. Storm chasers should absolutely pull off the road and yield to emergency vehicles as well as people trying to escape. Storm chaser Tim Samaras died Friday doing the work that made him so well-known: following tornadoes. You can also shop using Amazon Smile and though you pay nothing more we get a tiny something. These devices, which he . I can't imagine the trauma of living through a tornado strike. Were all the people blocking the road amateur chasers? 564K views 9 years ago June 3, 2013Tim Samaras spent more than 30 years researching tornadoes. Let me post a reply to many of the above comments and suggestions. Terry Garcia, executive vice president of the National Geographic Society, said: 'We were shocked and deeply saddened by the news that longtime National Geographic grantee Tim Samaras was killed in a tornado in Oklahoma on Friday, along with Tim's son Paul and their colleague Carl Young. You have to sensor the state. The tornado was unpredictable. Today three brave, highly experienced, storm chasers were honored in El Reno. Closing all of them strains law enforcement. An engineer by training, Samaras was known for devising instruments that offered the first views inside live tornadoes. In fact, while writing this post I wondered what the three scientists were thinking as their car, and other cars, were hemmed in with a traffic jam that seems to have been caused by inappropriate reactions by a large number of people. If you watch the Discovery Channels Storm Chasers show, you will notice that as the seasons progress the professional storm chasers encounter more and more traffic as they try to move to the predicted path of oncoming tornadoes to drop data collecting probes or carry out direct intercepts (where the specially modified vehicles equipped with data collection devices are directly hit with a tornado). One thing in your favor: Tornadoes do not have politically powerful, wealthy backing, so it should be easy to enact laws regulating how people enjoy them :-), "I suggest that law makers in tornado alley states consider legislation making it a violation to intentionally drive into or near the path of known or likely tornados. After seeing last month's tornado also turn homes into piles of splintered rubble, Ms Black said she decided to try and outrun the tornado when she learned her southwest Oklahoma City home was in harm's way. I have not suggested that storm chasing be illegal. I won't be joining them on the roads. This kind of movement is nearly unheard of in a tornado and that paired with the fact that the tornado was 2.6 miles wide, moving at an accelerating speed, turning 45 degrees suddenly, and had recorded winds of up to 295mph in it created the perfect scenario that no one could have predicted. In Missouri, areas west of St. Louis received significant damage from an EF3 tornado Friday night that packed estimated winds of 150 mph. It's not safe to get out and drive, but I can tell you from having lived in Oklahoma for 37 years, people drive away from tornadoes on a regular basis. The Storm Prediction Center in Norman, Okla., said it believed the deaths were the first time scientific researchers were killed while chasing tornadoes. In the freezer some people were freaking out and crying, while some comforted others and few told jokes, revealed Beverly Allam, 57. We have many many laws that are more or less unenforceable. So, lets go back to the advice again. Also, read the wikipedia on Tim Samaras for more details, and watch this YouTube video (embedded below as well). What's eerie is that the subvortex becomes stationary on the road, like it chose to stop right on top of them. Trooper Randolph said roadways quickly became congested with the convergence of rush-hour traffic and fleeing residents. After the devastation of the Moore tornado, many residents who had experiences the storms before decided to ignore advice to stay home and tried to seek shelter elsewhere. In reply to by Tom McDonald (not verified). Storm chasing by amateurs needs to be outlawed. Sometimes accidents happen. It was a shock this morning to learn from an editor at National Geographic that Tim Samaras had been killed by a tornado in Oklahoma. With all due respect, Mr. Laden's article suggesting outlawing or making storm chasing illegal and only permissible for the "authorities" is a typical misguided response after a emotional tragedy. For the record, an "enigmatic" lack of shelter in Oklahoma has to do with cost. Mr West guessed the experienced storm chasers were attempting to parallel the storm on the county road and it either changed course or another vortex appeared. If they had tried to drive away their cars would have surely been torn apart, and again just last summer a tornado ripped through the forests close to home demolishing hill sides and houses in its path. It's just news. 'They were screaming, "We're going to die, we're going to die,"' she recalled to USA Today. This is an enormous loss for his family, his wide circle of friends and colleagues and National Geographic.'. Tim Samaras sits with instrument probes he used as part of his TWISTEX field research program. They didn't happen to be overrun by a killer tornado at the time. >>> What they're doing is seeking fame and fortune by selling their videos to various websites and television stations. Storm Chaser Tim Samaras Dies; His Last Tornado Footage . This in the super rare category because we dont deal with things like this often.. The tragic circumstances that caused the deaths of Tim and Paul Samaras and Carl Young has been well documented. At the end of the day this is just a silly notion. " But what about big storms that dont drop tornadoes? However, people are not immortal and sometimes die doing the very thing live for, you simply can't legislate that human desire for adventure out of existence, nor should you try to. To me the real imperative is to get a tornado shelter in most homes and businesses and educate the general public about what to do and what not to do. She quickly regretted it. Photo by George Johnson. 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). The cause of his death remains unclear at this time, but several of his friends shared the sad news on social media, commemorating the. Of those who did I dont know how many of them were primed to use drive away as a strategy by earlier chatter in major media outlets, and elsewhere such as twitter and other social media. 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. Take note at 3:09 - that's the edge of the tornado visible in the right side of the frame as it grows to nearly 2.6 miles across - the largest ever recorded. His website Twistex has been integral to understanding how tornadoes work and improving warning times for those living in Tornado Alley. Was El Reno a giant tornado populated with powerful subvortices? Jim Cantore, a Weather Channel meteorologist, tweetedSundaythat meteorologists were in mourning. - IMDb Mini Biography By: Anonymous. Interestingly motorcycle helmets are cheaper than football helmets due to liability reasons. Officials added five victims on Monday to the confirmed list of dead from the tornadoes and from storms that caused severe flooding: three adults and two unidentified children, the medical examiner's office said. Flash flooding accounted for some of the deaths, such as that of a 65-year-old man who died on Saturday when his car drove off a damaged bridge in eastern Oklahoma County. Meteorologist Mike Bette is nursing minor injuries after his 'tornado hunt' car was thrown some 200 yards by the storm. tornado disbursement tactical teams should be flown in by helicopter and then flown out after the job is done, its much safer this way. Run them through the DMV and send out those tickets. If you must call out Mike Morgan, then you must also call out Marc Dillard and Reed Timmer from KFOR for also suggesting people drive south. Please be respectful of copyright. The violent winds enveloped Tim Samaras, 55, his son Paul Samaras, 24, and his colleague Carl Young, 45, toppling their car like a toy in a breeze. Missouri and Illinois around St. Louis were also hit by 12 tornadoes, at least 100 people are injured and 'numerous homes' have been damaged. So when an alert is issued the authorities only have a few roads to close, and not much population to evacuate. He had a road map spread across the kitchen table! The spot a few yards off Reuter Road where the body of Tim Samaras was found inside the crushed vehicle (his son. But it is a free country, and if people want to be foolish then so be it. Absolutely educate people on the safest way to ride out a storm. The rain was coming down horizontally in front of my car.'. Im not sure how many people actually got in their cars and drove south. We do know, however, that the highways in the area became jammed with cars, and the vicinity around the intersection of I35 and I40 was described as a parking lot. One thing we do know is that many people who drove south to get away from the tornado in fact drove directly into its path, created a traffic jam, and most of the deaths associated with this tornado were among those people in those cars. You're an excellent writer. Then we get the micro information they are hunting, reliably and in a timely manner. On the other hand, it means they are intentionally bringing civilians into the danger zone, and these civilians don't always know how to react if the situation gets out of hand. Of the 60 EF5 tornadoes to hit since 1950, Oklahoma and Alabama have been hit the most - seven times each. Lighting up the sky: The storm chasers work was featured on National Geographic and the Discovery Channel as they tracked violent weather systems, 'Tim's research included creation of a special probe he would place in the path of a twister to measure data from inside the tornado; his pioneering work on lightning was featured in the August 2012 issue of National Geographic magazine. I also think that storm chasing is not necessarily a bad idea, of course it has its risks but imagine the benefits we could reap if we understood these monsters enough to harness the energy they release rather than letting it do nothing but cause a mess. In fact, the general wisdom is that if you are unlucky enough to be in a car when a tornado hits, you should pull over, get OUT of the car, and find a low place to hide. Actually there were other comments that could even make an above ground room safer. Law enforcement in a tornado emergency already has immense priorities safeguarding the areas affected, treating the injured, rescues, ascertaining what equipment is needed, etc who would be pulled off those duties to chase down minor traffic violators? People who tried to get away in their cars faced potential dangers from flash flood waters as well as tornado-force winds. >>> I support this 100%. Pre-school teacher, 29, who lost one of her legs in Boston TIM SAMARAS: THE VALUABLE LEGACY OF A STORM CHASER, Isabel Oakeshott receives 'menacing' message from Matt Hancock, Dozens stuck in car park as staff refuses to open gate for woman, Incredible footage of Ukrainian soldiers fighting Russians in Bakhmut, Pro-Ukrainian drone lands on Russian spy planes exposing location, 'Buster is next!' The scale is based on observable destruction, and little was damaged as it tracked through the remote, relatively featureless farm country. For example, it used to be hard to catch motorists running red lights in NYC. 2023 NYP Holdings, Inc. All Rights Reserved. The National Weather Service said the severe weather threat would shift into neighboring Illinois and Missouri, where Governor Jay Nixon declared a state of emergency on Friday. An outright ban is prolly a bad idear too. @Hamish: One reason that can work in Australia is because most of the region that is vulnerable to tropical cyclones (a hurricane is a tropical cyclone with sustained winds of at least 64 kts/74 mph/118 km/h) is sparsely populated. 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. But once your car is inside an F3 or F4 tornado, that is no longer your problem alone. Yes, they died, but there is ZERO evidence this law, if passed, would have prevented even one of them. Christopher, I've heard from their own lips complaints by professional storm chasers about the looky-lous that clog up the roads, so probably both. Big blue trash cans were being tossed around like a piece of paper in the wind. Also, hurricanes tend to follow predictable paths and show up on sattelite. Specious arguments at best. Friday night's victims included a mother and a baby sucked out of their car as the EF3 hit near El Reno. Having been in law enforcement some years ago I don't think you understand how unenforceable those laws would be. And what of its width? Public safety officials have the right and responsibility to restrict access to Main Street and areas nearby in order to save lives and property. I think it's an abomination that news forecasters suggested people drive away that temporally close to a suspected tornado touchdown. I don't know what Reed has ever done for science with his stuff. Mike Bettes, a member of the Weather Channel Tornado Hunt Team, was driving in his SUV when it was picked up and thrown 200 yards by the monster rain-wrapped tornado near El Reno. I don't think so! 'What got me scared was being stuck in traffic with sirens going off,' she said. That's two more vehicles going into the danger zone. 'He was either washed off the road or tried to get out of his car. It is not inforceable. Because of your action, your car has become a very large and dangerous projectile. 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. It is emotional to posit "people died, let's make a law" without really identifying a true cause. In the future I will be blogging at Greg Laden's blog, located at its original home at gregladen.com. Thankfully, I got out of it with just a few minor injuries and broken windows, but if a monster tornado happens people will not be as lucky as I was. But if the Acme Office Building, on Main Street, is on fire, broken glass is blowing out of windows and fire trucks and other emergency vehicles are trying to gain access to the building and nearby fire hydrants you cant walk down Main Street you are not really free to walk or drive up and down Main Street to take pictures of the event. The authors conclude, "it is likely that no clear direction to safety was apparent.". Take multiple pictures of vehicles "in the way" of emergency responders at tornado or other emergency sites. Roughly speaking, this is the equivalent of driving down the highway at several tens of miles an hour and suddenly flipping, three or four times. He said "you need to be below ground [pause] if you can drive south bla bla bla", Does this mean "you need to be below ground, but if you are in you car in the path of the tornado you can drive south", Or does this mean "you need to be below ground or if you can drive south, go and drive south". They can easily cite or arrest anyone they need to, and even temporarily imprison them, without charging them with anything. Damage from Friday night's severe weather was concentrated a few miles north of Moore, the Oklahoma City suburb pounded by an EF5 tornado on May 20 that killed 24 people. When the winds were at their most powerful, no structures were nearby, said Rick Smith, chief warning coordination meteorologist for the weather services office in Norman. 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. Washington, DC: National Geographic. Samaras holds the Guinness World Record for the largest measured pressure drop inside a tornado. 10th St. and Radio Rd. 'I started seeing power flashes to the north, and I said "screw this." They were just miles from the city of Moore, which was devastated by a massive tornado that killed 24 people on May 20. The apparent fact that individuals don't take on the personal responsibility of doing the sensible thing is a tragedy. I have suggested that such a thing should be worth, at least, a parking ticket. Keith: I know, I hate words! In his twenties, he began to chase tornadoes for the science and humanity's safety every spring all over the United States until his tragic death. An element. Skip Talbot makes this point. 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. And that traffic jam was probably caused by the exodus of people following very bad advice, and possibly as well as non-professional storm chasers moving in on the likely path of the storm. It still came down to the fact that you have to do what you feel is right (especially if it conflicts with what you are being told to do) and not just become a helpless lemming during an emergency. There was no place to hide.'. At Will Rogers World Airport, 2,000 people spent the night sheltering in underground tunnels, reported News 9. This is an . A man's body was found about 1 p.m. on Saturday in a creek just east of Dobbs Road in Harrah, said Mark Myers, a spokesman with the Oklahoma County Sheriff's office. If you want to walk down Main Street, in downtown America, you can do that, because it is America. 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. It may be only a matter of seconds before you have time to find shelter. The gas you'd save would easily pay for a shovel. We are still burying children and victims, so our emotions are still strong,' he added. They need to better forecast for a chaser convergence and prepare to block roads. I have a feeling that Scienceblogs will not last long without me. - Toxicology results have revealed the cause of death of a well-known storm chaser. It isn't just the clouds that appear smooth, but aren't if you zoom in close. Being stuck in traffic during a tornado outbreak is obviously unfortunate, but unless you can find a way to outlaw tornado formation in cities during rush hour, sporting events, concerts, accidents,or anything else that causes traffic to snarl, getting hit by a tornado while stuck in traffic is simply a risk one assumes by living in tornado alley and choosing to drive a car. 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 television viewers and weather researchers, they died chasing a storm that killed 13 in Oklahoma City and its suburbs. On one hand, there's a robust set of predictions for what the behavioral motion of these bodies ought to be, while on the other there's what we actually observe. Certainly broadcast public service announcements discussing the danger of chasing storms. The other victims' bodies were found half a mile to the east and half a mile to the west, Canadian County under-sheriff Chris West said. Or, amateurs could get to a good viewing area well ahead of anticipated severe weather, and then stay put and off the road. Sun rise: Tornado debris hangs from a destroyed billboard sign along Interstate-40 Westbound after violent thunderstorms spawned tornadoes that menaced Oklahoma City and its already hard-hit suburb of Moore on Friday, Air chaos: At Will Rogers World Airport, 2,000 people spent the night sheltering in underground tunnels, Overturned: Authorities say people ignored advice to sit tight and attempted to leave the area - perhaps as a reaction to the previous tornado almost two weeks ago, Lightning: A storm chaser in Cushing stopped to take photos of the dramatic moment two lightning strikes hit the ground, Tragic: Oklahoma Highway Patrol troopers found the bodies of a woman and an infant near their vehicle. It is not like the Tornadoes have a rule book that if we follow we are safe. This report indicates he's more right than he could have known. ", The 'extreme cruelty' around the global trade in frog legs, What does cancer smell like? I suggest that law makers in tornado alley states consider legislation making it a violation to intentionally drive into or near the path of known or likely tornados. On May 13, 2012 Norman PD blocked off roads and literally put me in the path of the tornado. Storm chasing is definitely in the "Don't try this at home, kids!" If you are worried about the roads being clogged during a tornado then don't drive or don't live in tornado alley. Why not outlaw sky diving too? Also my brother was forced to move to Oklahoma for a job just last week only days after the tornado in this article struck Oklahoma city. Thats just my speculation, Smith said. More cars on the roads also meant more trouble for Highway Patrol officers responding to automobile accidents during the storm, Randolph said. Getting into a ditch can apparently also be fatal. Lucky escape: A meteorologist from The Weather Channel was injured after his car (seen here) was thrown 200 yards by the storm, Waterway: A man uses a jetski to travel between his home and Osage City, after Missouri was affected by severe flooding, Storm damage: Navy veterans inspect the washed out road where they pulled a woman and her daughter to safety after their car flooded, A family in El Reno, Oklahoma inspect what is left of their home after Friday night's tornadoes battered the local area, Rain: Parts of Oklahoma City experience extreme flooding after multiple tornadoes passed through Central Oklahoma, For more videos, please go to the Long Center Austin.