« Tornados and Climate Change: Impossible (for now) to connect. | Main | Divestment as a means to get to real Climate Change influence. »

The recent outbreak of tornados in Oklahoma has delivered devastating news:

Tim Samaras, one of the world's best-known storm chasers, died in Friday's El Reno, Oklahoma tornado along with his son, according to a statement from Samaras's brother.

"They all unfortunately passed away but doing what they LOVED," Jim Samaras, Tim's brother, wrote on Facebook, saying that storm chaser Carl Young was also killed. "I look at it that he is in the 'big tornado in the sky.'"

Tim Samaras, who was 55, spent the past 20 years zigzagging across the Plains, predicting where tornados would develop and placing probes he designed in the twister's path in to measure data from inside the cyclone.

Read National Geographic's last interview with him.

It was this sudden left (northern) turn of the tornado that killed them all:

Tim was an engineer by training, and the loss is just horrible for the scientific community:

"Data from the probes helps us understand tornado dynamics and how they form," he told National Geographic. "With that piece of the puzzle we can make more precise forecasts and ultimately give people earlier warnings."

Samaras's instruments offered the first-ever look at the inside of a tornado by using six radially placed high-resolution video cameras that offered complete 360-degree views. He also captured lightning strikes using ultra-high-speed photography with a camera he designed to 1 million frames per second.

Apparently it was the same tornado that almost killed three storm chasers from The Weather Channel as it threw their SUV into the air:

Here's the video of inside this SUV as it drives into the tornado and starts rolling (note: the meteorologists talk about being airborne for a time during this horrific experience):

And this chilling video of Tim Samaras' team, taken 10 years ago, captures how hairy it can get out there:

And here is Tim, just 10 days before he died, taking amazing footage of the birth of a tornado:

The Spotter Network of spotters and storm chasers punch in their coordinates on North Dakota to make a large T.S. to pay tribute to their fallen:

Tim Samaras:

US

Name (required)
Email
Website
Remember personal info? Yes   No
Comments

home | music | democracy | earth | money | projects | about | contact

Site design by Matthew Fries | © 2003-23 Consilience Productions. All Rights Reserved.
Consilience Productions, Inc. is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization.
All contributions are fully tax deductible.