Posted on 06/02/2013 9:29:32 AM PDT by jimbo123
Storm chaser, Tim Samaras, his son Paul and crew member, Carl Young were killed Friday in a tornado that ripped through El Reno, Oklahoma.
Samaras followed storms for over 30 years. His fascination with tornadoes began when he was about six years old and saw the tornado in The Wizard of Oz. Samaras once stated, “My passion for storm chasing has always been driven by the beautiful and powerful storms displayed in the heartland each spring."
(Excerpt) Read more at examiner.com ...
[singing] Twistin’ by the pool...
Thanks jimbo123.
You always wonder what will happen if that dog actually catches up with the car it is chasing.
RIP.
~~~~~~~~~
And here's Samaras' vehicle:
Tim was apparently found seatbelted in the truck. The other 2 were sucked out by the tornado.
One of the ones sucked out of the truck was found 1/2 mile away.
I worked one season for Severe Storm Laboratories just east of El Reno, in Piedmont, OK. One close call with a tornado was enough for me. First the missiles are flying; rocks, wood, garbage....then the wind stopped suddenly. Huh? And then it starts raining doors, rocks, fencing, dirt...once is enough.
Oftentimes scientific research isn't for the faint of heart.
Count me as hiding in the bathtub when tornados are around.
/johnny
I was face down in a ditch in a driving rainstorm at night and could hear the roar of a nearby tornado. That has a tendency to make one pucker up. I moved out of tornado country.
Those bigger chunks flying around in the debris ball of a big one are often cars.
Not much I can do but notify the neighbors when bad winds are coming through and hunker in the bathtub or go outside and do the last great act of defiance toward the storm cloud.
I'm about 50-50 on that. Depends on how close to the weekend it is.
/johnny
The Sububan/Yukon was the TWC vehicle. Samaras had a white pickup when he was on the Discovery show.
What happened to the TIV and Dominator? I saw a picture that is supposedly of Tim’s truck. The bed is gone, front end gone and the cab has much more more damage than the TWC SUV.
Growing up in NYC and now on Long Island, we don’t see too many twisters.
Oh, every once in a blue moon we’ll get a small one touching down, and we do have those microburst storms...but never ANYTHING like what’s been going on out in the Heartland. I’m not sure a twister like that is even possible around here. (Perhaps a weather FReeper can educate me about that.)
Still, I’d always thought that sheltering under an overpass was the proper thing to do if caught out on the road when one of these monsters approaches.
Thank you for setting me straight. Your experience may save my life one day.
Regards,
I remember watching them on the Discovery Channel show “Storm Chasers.” Of the three teams, they were always the ones who were the most careful and didn’t push the boundaries.
They tried to predict where the storm was going, drop some probes, and get out to a safe distance to shoot video. It seems the storm was paralleling a highway and basically took a 90 degree turn to said highway.
RIP
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