Ten Years Ago · 4:03pm May 31st, 2023
It was ten years ago on this day, May 31, that an unthinkable and unbelievable tragedy befell the tightly knit community of meterology and storm chasing. On that day, the first ever fatalities to be associated with storm chasing unfolded, when chasers were caught off guard by the widest tornado ever recorded: The El Reno multiple-vortex tornado. Between its massive size, deceptively large windfield (winds extended far beyond the visible circulation funnel), erratic movement pattern and complex mult-vortex structure, not to mention it being rain wrapped for much of its lifespan, even professional and experienced storm chasers had difficulty keeping track of it. And sadly, four storm chasers were killed when they were overtaken by the tornado.
One of the deaths was an ameatur storm chaser who took a picture of the tornado as it bore down on him. The other three were part of a research team called TwistEX: They included its founder Tim Samaras, his son Paul and their friend and TwistEX cohort Carl Young. Tim had become widely known in the meterological community for his daring, ambitious and controversial work that involved placing instrumented probes directly in the path of approaching tornadoes: A task that required him to get out ahead of tornadoes, deploy his probes and then drive to safety at the last minute. Despite this, Tim was known to be really cautious. He did everything he could to minimize the risk to himself and others: He practiced deploying his probes in stress-free conditions so he could do it by routine, he always mapped out escape routes ahead of time and many times he would override those who thought he could go after a tornado, because he didn't think it was safe. He was also known to express his worry that someone would get hit by a tornado while storm chasing, though he never considered it happening to him.
Even professional meterologists and storm chasers were fooled by the El Reno tornado on that day. Reed Timmer of Discovery Channel's Storm Chasers fame actually had the hood of his tornado intercept vehicle blown clean off by the tornado as it passed just in front of him, and his car was tangled in power lines. And the Weather Channel's Mike Bettes and his colleagues had a near death experience when their chase vehicle was caught by the tornado when they misjudged its proximity to them, their SUV being thrown and rolled end over end multiple times. The driver of the vehicle would be hospitalized for his injuries, but the rest of the crew (Mike Bettes included) escaped without serious injury. The following day, Mike Bettes gave an emotional interview in which he said he was giving up storm chasing because of what had happened.
Yes, what Tim did was inhertently risky. It violated the golden rule all stormchasers had sworn by. But Tim was not unaware of the risks, and he didn't do it for thrills or to prove a point. He did it to advance the study of tornadoes, to better understand how they form, are maintained and ultimately decay. His success convinced others that field probes could work. And in the end, Tim died doing what he loved.
I remember hearing that story and Weather Channel that those guys got too close to the tornado and got them self killed it was very unfortunate what happened to them
Just out of curiosity, Why are you bringing up something that happened a decade ago?
5731147 Because I feel like it is a very important and significant thing to mention. Tim's death forever changed the world of storm chasing, even leading some to say it should be regulated to prevent another tragedy from occuring. And in the time since, there's been many storm chasing near misses, further reigniting the debate over whether storm chasing and field probes are worth the risks to life, limb and property.
Yeah, I heard about that. What a rough break.