Tim Samaras & rest of team dead after chasing EF3 Twister

[ZONA]

Hard to say I'm stunned given the line of work they were in but he always struck me as one of the more safety conscience chasers. Tim and his team were one of the featured teams on Discovery Channels 'Storm Chaser'.

Apparently it was a multi-vortex tornado and it picked up the car and threw it 1/2 mile. Tim was still seated in the car and the other 2 bodies were thrown from the car, each 1/2 mile away from where the car landed. There were other chasers in the area who also got caught in the storm, one car driven by a team from The Weather Channel was thrown 200 yards and each person in that car ended up with only minor injuries (video taken from inside that car - http://bcove.me/v8z5a58b). It's hard to imagine a car being picked up and thrown the distance of 2 football fields and the occupants only sustaining minor injuries.

RIP Tim and to the rest of your team. They were definitely in this field for the science to help understand tornados in order to help people. They weren't in it for the thrill of the hunt like some. Tim was a native of Lakewood, CO.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/arti...half-mile.html

[broncswin]

Ya this happened over a year ago didn't it?? Anyways, he was always the one they said was too safe...would never get close enough to the action...but he also chased in a regular pickup instead of the terminator or other armored vehicles

[ZONA]

Ya this happened over a year ago didn't it?? Anyways, he was always the one they said was too safe...would never get close enough to the action...but he also chased in a regular pickup instead of the terminator or other armored vehicles

Yeah I guess it did. I wonder why TWC still has it as one of the featured links, usually that's pretty recent stuff. Anyway, none the less, it's a shame. I do remember watching that show and many times I even said to myself, wow, that guy is so much more cautious then the others. Yes of course he didn't have a tank like the TIV and he also wasn't trying to get 'inside' a twister like Reed and some others. He just wanted to lay his probes in the path and get out of there.

Did what's his face ever finish that IMAX film he was working on. I remember looking for it a few years back but never saw anything. That would have been cool to see.


EDIT - well I guess he did. Looks damn cool. I sure wish I would have saw that in the IMAX theater.

<iframe width="560" height="315" src="//www.youtube.com/embed/Y3uNBXMSJ9I?rel=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

[Bronco]

Play stupid games win stupid prizes.

[ZONA]

Play stupid games win stupid prizes.

You must not have read anything above. Tim was not playing stupid games. He wasn't a chaser out there for the thrill of the chase so he could upload videos and what not. He was an actual scientist trying to do serious work so that one day it could help save lives. Not sure where you get off calling what he did a stupid game.

[errand]

You must not have read anything above. Tim was not playing stupid games. He wasn't a chaser out there for the thrill of the chase so he could upload videos and what not. He was an actual scientist trying to do serious work so that one day it could help save lives. Not sure where you get off calling what he did a stupid game.

Well then his work is done....and he will save lives as this should serve as a public safety announcement - " ****ing tornadoes are dangerous"

[Kevin8Nine]

Yeah I guess it did. I wonder why TWC still has it as one of the featured links, usually that's pretty recent stuff. Anyway, none the less, it's a shame. I do remember watching that show and many times I even said to myself, wow, that guy is so much more cautious then the others. Yes of course he didn't have a tank like the TIV and he also wasn't trying to get 'inside' a twister like Reed and some others. He just wanted to lay his probes in the path and get out of there.

Did what's his face ever finish that IMAX film he was working on. I remember looking for it a few years back but never saw anything. That would have been cool to see.


EDIT - well I guess he did. Looks damn cool. I sure wish I would have saw that in the IMAX theater.

<iframe width="560" height="315" src="//www.youtube.com/embed/Y3uNBXMSJ9I?rel=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

Yes he did finish the film. It was called "tornado alley" and was in the Imax for quite some time. I also saw it on TV a while back. Im pretty sure you can buy it on the internet somewhere. And ya, this happened over a year ago

[Brohemoth]

You must not have read anything above. Tim was not playing stupid games. He wasn't a chaser out there for the thrill of the chase so he could upload videos and what not. He was an actual scientist trying to do serious work so that one day it could help save lives. Not sure where you get off calling what he did a stupid game.

Mankind always believes it can control everything. The best "science" to avoid tornado deaths is to not live where there are tornadoes.

[Rohirrim]

I would think we would be able to now do this work with drones, rather than human beings.

[ZONA]

Mankind always believes it can control everything. The best "science" to avoid tornado deaths is to not live where there are tornadoes.

I don't think any scientist trying to study these tornados thinks they can control them. They're just trying to find better ways of how to detect when they will happen and to be able to warn people faster.

And seriously, you don't think people should live where they happen? So nobody gets to live in KS, OK, TX, NE, MO, IA, AR? What about earthquakes, I guess that means nobody gets to live in CA. What about hurricanes, I guess that means nobody is living in FL, NC, SC, GA, NY, NJ, RI, etc. Where should we all live?

[ZONA]

I would think we would be able to now do this work with drones, rather than human beings.

Not sure how you fly a drone in 200+ MPH winds. Tim was placing probes in the path of them. He'd get a few hundreds yards away, guess the angle the tornado was going, and leave his probes on the ground. As Casey pointed out, he spent 8 years TRYING to get hit by a tornado before he finally made it happen. It's not an exact science, where they will pop up, where they are going, how fast they move, etc. You need people out there. They have their standard rules most of them follow. They normally don't like to chase in heavy tree coverage because they can't see them. Nor do they usually chase at night. And most of them do try to stay at least several hundred yards away. If it's a big boy, like an EF4 or EF5, they usually stay quite a bit further away then that.

[wolf754life]

old news is old...

[ghwk]

Mama nature doesn't win every time but eventually she always wins.

[Dr. Broncenstein]

RIP Spring of 2013.

[Brohemoth]

I don't think any scientist trying to study these tornados thinks they can control them. They're just trying to find better ways of how to detect when they will happen and to be able to warn people faster.

And seriously, you don't think people should live where they happen? So nobody gets to live in KS, OK, TX, NE, MO, IA, AR? What about earthquakes, I guess that means nobody gets to live in CA. What about hurricanes, I guess that means nobody is living in FL, NC, SC, GA, NY, NJ, RI, etc. Where should we all live?

There were 673 tornado deaths in the US from 2011-2013.

There were 0 earthquake deaths in the US from 2011-2013.

There were 118 hurricane deaths in the US from 2011-2013.

Yes, GTFO of KS, OK, TX, NE, MO, IA, AR.