Get the latest updates in news, food, music and culture, and receive special offers direct to your inbox. Then we get the micro information they are hunting, reliably and in a timely manner. They look up that license plate in the DMV database and conveniently send the summons to you in the mail. And, how exactly is an officer supposed to know the area to keep any car (stormchaser or not) out of? Why not outlaw sky diving too? The police can close off that street and nearby streets and as annoying or inconvenient as that may be, they are not taking away your rights. You're an excellent writer. 'Somebody driving along really not familiar with what's going on can basically drive into it.'. Five tornadoes battered the Oklahoma City area on Friday, while another tornado hit the Tulsa area early Saturday. Storm chasers with cameras in their car transmitted video showing a number of funnels dropping from the supercell thunderstorm as it passed south of El Reno and toward downtown Oklahoma City. Take your time.'. This is a reasonably important job that concerns many aspects of the environment. 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. Dan Robinson had a clear view of their white Chevy Cobalt in his rear facing dash cam as they pulled up to and crossed Hwy 81 until their headlights fade behind the outer wall of the suction vortex that killed them. Ironic how his own community of chasers would throw him to the wolves but won't put themselves in that category. In Missouri three people died in three counties after rivers rose to dangerous levels, and in Arkansas a sheriff was killed by flooding in Scott County on Friday. This spring's tornado season got a late start, with unusually cool weather keeping funnel clouds at bay until mid-May. October 1, 2013 Storm chasers being killed by storms isn't even a problem. 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. However the generic advice makes a lot of sense. Chaser traffic, maybe. 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. The season usually starts in March and then ramps up for the next couple of months. I am thinking these scientists were blaming the storm track far more than the traffic. Thacker, as you might recall, wrote a highly biased article with Charles, Every timeyou follow the motion of a spacecraft, moon, planet or other object through the Solar System, you're putting the theory of gravity to the test. Samaras was killed along with his son Paul and storm chaser Carl Young in Friday's tornado. According to meteorologists about six to eight inches of rain fell in a 12 hour period between 7 p.m. Friday and 7 a.m. Saturday. One might argue that if someone wants to drive their car into the path of a tornado they should be allowed to do so because it is a free country. Perhaps, the day before tornado-warned storms are expected, you could fly to France, but that is not really an option for most people. I don't think people realized how deep and strong the water was.'. Were all the people blocking the road amateur chasers? Meteorologist Mike Bette is nursing minor injuries after his 'tornado hunt' car was thrown some 200 yards by the storm. The authors are Joshua Wurman, Karen Kosiba and Paul Robinson with the Center for Severe Weather Research, and Timothy Marshall of Haag Engineering, a damage-path surveyor from Flower Mound whom I interviewed for our cover story on the tornado. I remember Pa wearing this Civil Defense helmet and he was chirping on this big ol' walky talky! I would like to point out that Mike Morgan, the meterologist at KFOR, did what he's done successfully many times since May 24, 2011. That's why safety experts say you need a plan. The shredded pieces of the car hook to the south then across the road to the northeast: I have difficulty fathoming the violence implied in that paragraph. I'm reminded of Grand Island, NE in 1980, when the tornadoes defied everything we supposedly know about them. Anyone can be wrong and that includes forcasters on tv, government and business emergency policies. Also, their data helps us to better understand the dynamics of what happens in tornadoes which can help make safer structures. 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". His body was found but the wildlife officer is still listed as missing. This is not an especially enforceable regulation". Several parents in the group I was with decided to drive south, away from the storm. The bodies of another motorist and the Discovery Channel storm chasers, Tim Samaras, his son Paul, and Carl Young, were found in a three-mile diagonal path near N.W. 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. In Canadian County, Okla., where the men died, Undersheriff Chris West noted the three were hoping to help understand violent storms. They said to stay at work if you had better shelter there. He was best known for being a Meteorologist. Here is all you want to know, and more! Waiting: Oklahoma City's Will Rogers World Airport was evacuated. October 31st 2015, 7:11 PM PDT. Because of the circumstances on the two-lane road, it appears that he could not get out of the way, and, basically, the tornado picked up his vehicle, Jim Samaras told the Today show. Here is a compilation of broadcasts and events documenting this: I have no idea how many of the people in the viewing area of this station saw or heard this report and responded by driving into the path of the tornado. We have many many laws that are more or less unenforceable. 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. I was visiting OKC from Kansas City that day. This storm was erratic and there will be more storms just like it in the future. Nine were confirmed dead in the Oklahoma City area on Friday evening, though the death toll has since risen, and flash floods in Arkansas caused additional fatalities, including a sheriff trying to rescue people from rising waters. Missouri and Illinois around St. Louis were also hit by 12 tornadoes, at least 100 people are injured and 'numerous homes' have been damaged. Also, read the wikipedia on Tim Samaras for more details, and watch this YouTube video (embedded below as well). Three experienced tornado chasers actual meteorological scientists were killed when their truck (one of the vehicles depicted above, probably) was destroyed by the tornado. I do not understand the need for 'storm chasers' when we have the 503 WRS that routinely punches holes in tornados and drops sondes. 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. The storm path could have gone many other directions. Will Rogers World Airport was evacuated as Oklahoma City braced for the tornado, that was moving at 40mph. 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. The traffic could have been created for any number of reasons. 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. At the time that Samaras, his son, and his colleague, were crushed to death inside their tornado-chasing car, which was apparently rolled by the force of 200-300 mile an hour winds over a. The latter group tend to get in the way. 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. We cannot separate it from other compounds on earth (like we can, say, hydrogen), we cannot combine other elements to manufacture it (like we can, say, gasoline). Oklahoma County sheriff's office has identified the victim as James Talbert, according to NewsOk. Tornadoes do neither. With better data, we could get better forecasts of Southern Hemisphere storms. "He looked at tornadoes not for the spotlight of TV but for the scientific aspect. 'Mile Wide Tornado' originally aired Sunday and focuses on the May 20 tornado that devastated a wide swatch of Oklahoma. Which travel companies promote harmful wildlife activities? How close is too close? Common sense will tell you to collect the data that meteorologist have had for years about how tornado's form and come up with an idea that makes these conditions less favorable maybe even do tests on a smaller scale. This advice sounds reasonable, but it really isnt. Too many words! The elder Samaras' body was still belted into their Chevrolet Cobalt, which was found on an unimproved county road parallel to Interstate 40. The roughly 5,000-year-old human remains were found in graves from the Yamnaya culture, and the discovery may partially explain their rapid expansion throughout Europe. Regarding the rest of your comment. Sheriff Cody Carpenter and a wildlife officer had been checking on houses that were in danger of being flooded. They should not drive where they will not be able to pull over safely to allow emergency traffic and other traffic to flow. 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. Unauthorized use is prohibited. Here's a new law we can make: Whenever there is an emotional tragedy, no laws related to it can be made for at least 5 years. Once it's used up and gone, it's .. gone. This is not about them, it is about their death, which at the time it happened, was claimed to have been caused by a traffic jam caused, in turn, by thrill seekers jamming the roads, and thrill seekers jamming the roads is a thing that happens. Tim Samaras of Storm Chasers 5 7 (1.70 m) Born November 12, 1957 Lakewood, Colorado, USA Died May 31, 2013 El Reno, Oklahoma, USA (tornado) Spouse Kathy Samaras? Tim Samaras, a native of Lakewood, Colo., holds the Guinness World Record for the greatest pressure drop ever measured inside a tornado. But volcanoes usually give fair warning that an eruption is likely to occur in the next several weeks, and in most cases (at least in First World countries) authorities can control the few access routes to the volcano. So, lets go back to the advice again. But that. None of those fancy schemes work. I know this from my own children being in Norman public schools. He was killed because an unusual and unprecedented tornado acted in an unpredictable manor and sadly cost him, his son, and chase partner their lives. The last people out will be stuck in traffic. 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. So it's quite the conundrum we find ourselves in. They were probably thinking, "somebody should do something about this situation.". Its a free country - youre obviously free to drive when and where you want, and I certainly dont want that to change, but something has to be done to avoid another tragedy like the one that killed 9 motorists Friday evening, including 3 professional tornado researchers Tim Samaras, his son, and intercept partner. Do it right now,' local news forecasters told viewers. The storm was headed toward Oklahoma City, which has more than a million people in the metro area. Carl Young, a California native, joined Samaras in the field in 2003. Hail and heavy rain pelted the metro area to the point that emergency workers had trouble responding to 'widespread' reports of injuries. 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. Timothy Michael Samaras (November 12, 1957 May 31, 2013) was an American engineer and storm chaser best known for his field research on tornadoes and time on the Discovery Channel show, Storm Chasers. Probably not. Sher told ABC News: 'When the troopers found them, they were both deceased.'. Tornado warnings were also posted Friday night near Tulsa and near St. Louis. Here is what the tornado did: It grew from a big tornado to a bigger tornado, to what might be the largest tornado ever observed with instruments, in a matter of seconds, and it made a fast jog to the right, not an unusual thing for a tornado to do, but unanticipated by the storm chasers. I was streaming the weather warnings at work throughout that afternoon, and the KOCO weather forecasters distinctly advised driving home if you could make it by 4pm and if you had a sturdy shelter at home. Tim Samarass strategy was never to get into the direct path of a 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. How did this mountain lion reach an uninhabited island? The interstate was shut down due to the storm, with multiple crashes and injuries. 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. Dallas' independent source of Getting into a ditch can apparently also be fatal. I know cyclones are slightly more predictable than tornados (but much less predictable than hurricanes) they also have the habit of suddenly randomly changing direction. A finite resource. There is a large university team with a NASA/NOAA grant that I know of, and a number of professional chasers are grad students at a university, but that is not the same thing. They went in the field focused on collecting data to enable meteorologists to further the science behind tornadoes which we know has and will help to save countless lives. This storm changed track. Sheltering in place should always be recommended. "Though we sometimes take it for granted, Tim's death is a stark reminder of the risks encountered regularly by the men and women who work for us.". 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. But that is not a reason to not have the laws. BTW, here is Bart's Youtube channel: http://www.youtube.com/user/TheTornadoChaser. In a separate incident, Brandon Sullivan and Brett Wright captured heart stopping footage of their exploits getting too close to the powerful twister near Union City, in southwest Oklahoma City. Plain and Simple what needs to be done now is EDUCATION. I doubt that the new law would save lives. He knew what to look for. 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. state by state the possibility that some kind of adjustment must remain open. Actually there were other comments that could even make an above ground room safer. Probably many thing contributed to what happened. Writing new laws on the books is useless, even before the news agencies started this new trend which is disturbing you have people hiding under overpasses and pulling stupid stuff, Chasers have complained about this issue for years, notice numerous videos of truck drivers who even drive into the funnel, enforcement will be non existent because this puts law enforcement in a position of risk and is irresponsible, i agree with the tours, but again many people cannot afford the tours that are out there now and so they figure its cheaper to go it themselves, we can blame people for the groups death but the fact is that there were several unusual factors that caused this. 'I'm wondering if the tornadoes from a couple of weeks ago didn't frighten people so badly that this time they were taking no chances and trying to evade it by car,' said Oklahoma City Mayor Mick Cornett. Renowned researcher and storm chaser Tim Samaras, 55, his son Paul Samaras, 24, and his chase partner Carl Young, 45, passed away after they were overtaken by the multiple-vortex tornado,. It will NEVER happen. I don't know all that much about chasing so I recognize that there could be some logistical problems with my above statements. Nooooooooooo!!! She quickly regretted it. Birth Name: Tim Samaras Occupation: Meteorologist Place Of Birth: Colorado Date Of Birth: November 12, 1957 Date Of Death: May 31, 2013 Cause Of Death: N/A Ethnicity: Unknown Nationality: American Tim Samaras was born on the 12th of November, 1957. Excluding the one thrill seeker and the three professionals that were killed in this event there has not been another incident. 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. I answered in good faith. Anything else is just going to lead to panic like the panic that killed people on the 31st. The apparent fact that individuals don't take on the personal responsibility of doing the sensible thing is a tragedy. Old cells hang around as we age, doing damage to the body. This is an enormous loss for his family, his wide circle of friends and colleagues and National Geographic.'. >>> They were in a car, not a truck. All rights reserved. Storm chaser Tim Samaras died Friday doing the work that made him so well-known: following tornadoes. 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). That would stop several people right there. 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." This would make it so a chaser has to stop to render aid along his path. But forecasters could pinpoint a relatively compact geographical region that would feel the effects of the hurricane, and they could do so with 24-48 hours notice. 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. From the Texas border to near Joplin, Mo., residents were told to keep an eye to the sky and an ear out for sirens. It isn't just the clouds that appear smooth, but aren't if you zoom in close. Tim Samaras, 55, was found dead still belted into the mangled wreck, while the bodies of his son, 24, and Young, 45, were flung a quarter-mile away in opposite directions. They were probably thinking, somebody should do something about this situation.". #2. the storm went from a mile wide wedge to a 2.6 mile record breaking monster in an extremely rapid time, usually people 1 mile away from the storm would be safe or even 2 miles away but in this case it dropped on people 2 miles away, more so i don't believe it was a traffic jam as opposed to the rapid size increase and the sudden change in course. 'He was either washed off the road or tried to get out of his car. Injuries that were INCOMPATIBLE WITH LIFE. The result, even in dry, acronym-heavy academic language, manages to serve as both an enlightening and horrifying account of storm chasing's worst day. "This is a very sad day for the meteorological community and the families of our friends lost. Yes, they died, but there is ZERO evidence this law, if passed, would have prevented even one of them. 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. There is no certainty. I doubt it. Now they've got cameras that take a picture showing the red light, showing your car going through the red light, and showing the license plate on your car going through the red light. Caught in the midst of the gigantic storm was a group of storm chasers who had nowhere to hide. 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. It needs to be taught in public schools, teachers also need to take these courses. If you are directly hit by a strong tornado, ending up in the vortex, and you are in the bathtub of your home on the lower floor, youve got a pretty good chance of survival. I've always been told never to try and outrun a tornado, it is one of the most dangerous things you can do. But the hundreds, or even thousands of non-professional storm chasers are probably not contributing to the science of tornadoes and tornado safety. Personally it does anger me when you see chasers, pro or amateur, driving past people who may be potentially injured and most certainly in need just to keep getting the shot. The network said though Betts was hurt, he and the car's two other occupants were wearing safety belts and were able to walk away from the banged-up vehicle. The fact of the matter is, you just never know where they're going to hit. Many still believe mountains and rivers save towns. The complexity of the kind of law your advocating is also extremely hard to defend in court. And now 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. Apply that technology to license plates instead of faces. Even if we could predict hours in advance that the storms would hit a particular county (and as you correctly point out, this is not true--there may be several distinct tornadoes in a single outbreak, so it's quite possible that Oklahoma City and Enid could both be hit the same day), this would not help in a major metro area like Oklahoma City. If you want to walk down Main Street, in downtown America, you can do that, because it is America. Another two sets of storm-chasing meteorologists had lucky escapes on Friday night after their vehicles got too close to the multiple tornadoes that hit the Oklahoma City area. Why wetlands are so critical for life on Earth, Rest in compost? A new book chronicles his harrowing last days Maya Wei-Haas April 4, 2018 The tornado that touched down near El. A small tornado in Kansas, photographed during Tim Samaras's lightning expedition in August 2009. tornado disbursement tactical teams should be flown in by helicopter and then flown out after the job is done, its much safer this way.
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