'Use a telephoto lens for gosh sakes. We were fine. Hail and high winds were the chief threat, though a tornado could not be ruled out, forecasters said. I answered in good faith. With all due respect, Mr. Laden's article suggesting outlawing or making storm chasing illegal and only permissible for the "authorities" is a typical misguided response after a emotional tragedy. Road closures exist now, but there are lots of roads. 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. Hoadley has been in the business for 57 years and pursued the El Reno twister. Sometimes accidents happen. I live in a rural town in southern West Virginia, however we are no strangers to tornadoes in 2001 a tornado ripped several close friends houses to shreds and they were only saved by using the old bath tub trick. I have heard that some professional storm chasers offer package tours. At the end of the day this is just a silly notion. " state by state the possibility that some kind of adjustment must remain open. 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. -Benoit Mandelbrot This was one of the highways that really did have a traffic jam thanks to the TV people who encouraged locals to attempt to flee in their cars. Were looking at extremes in the rare EF5 category. On May 13, 2012 Norman PD blocked off roads and literally put me in the path of the tornado. Second, the point is still valid. I started driving on the shoulder. Often scores, even hundreds of chasers would converge on the same cell by late afternoon. I am stunned that that any forecaster indicated people should drive anywhere after 5pm that day. Sun rise: Tornado debris hangs from a destroyed billboard sign along Interstate-40 Westbound after violent thunderstorms spawned tornadoes that menaced Oklahoma City and its already hard-hit suburb of Moore on Friday, Air chaos: At Will Rogers World Airport, 2,000 people spent the night sheltering in underground tunnels, Overturned: Authorities say people ignored advice to sit tight and attempted to leave the area - perhaps as a reaction to the previous tornado almost two weeks ago, Lightning: A storm chaser in Cushing stopped to take photos of the dramatic moment two lightning strikes hit the ground, Tragic: Oklahoma Highway Patrol troopers found the bodies of a woman and an infant near their vehicle. 'I think we are still a little shaken by what happened in Moore. Getting into a ditch can apparently also be fatal. "They put themselves in harm's way so that they can educate the public about the destructive power of these storms," he said. The scene was eerily like that from last week, when blackened skies generated a top-of-the-scale EF5 storm with 210 mph winds. The other hit Moore, a city about 25 miles away from El Reno, on May 20, killing 24 people and causing widespread damage. Pay special attention to what the weather forecaster says starting at 4:35: if you can drive south, anywhere around Whitewater Bay, State Fair Park, the Ballpark, downtown Oklahoma City, southwest Integres, US Grant District, Rose State college, Midwest City regional medical center, Midwest City, and Parts of Del city, you need to drive south now. (approximate transcript). 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. 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. Closing all of them strains law enforcement. ScienceBlogs is a registered trademark of Science 2.0, a science media nonprofit operating under Section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code. Heres why each season begins twice. They are pictured along with fellow storm chaser Tony Laubach, Avid explorer: Emotional tributes have been made to scientist and storm chaser Tim Samaras, who died doing what he loved, friends said, Destroyed: The Chevrolet Cobalt, pictured, driven by Tim Samaras was thrown half a mile in the terrifying storm, Tragic: Tim Samaras was found dead inside the car, pictured, while the other storm chasers' bodies were discovered half a mile in either direction. He skipped out on chasing the massive tornado that flattened Moore, Okla., because it was too dangerous. Tim Samaras sits with instrument probes he used as part of his TWISTEX field research program. 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. He did not say "don't get in your car" and he did not say "a car is a bad place to be, and if you find yourself in a car do this and that" which is what he should have said. They didn't happen to be overrun by a killer tornado at the time. They were killed near El Reno in an EF3 tornado with winds up to 165 mph that ripped through the Oklahoma City area during rush hour. Note the comments that 22% of the fatalities at Tuscalousa were head injuries and in general a majority of tornado fatalities where head injuries. More cars on the roads also meant more trouble for Highway Patrol officers responding to automobile accidents during the storm, Randolph said. I was visiting OKC from Kansas City that day. "We still don't know why some thunderstorms create tornadoes while others don't," he told National Geographic last month. For example, it used to be hard to catch motorists running red lights in NYC. North Atlantic hurricanes sometimes do unexpected things as well, such as acquire a forward speed of nearly 100 km/h (the 1938 "Long Island Express" hurricane) or cross Florida twice (I'm forgetting which of the hurricanes in the last ten years did this). Unauthorized use is prohibited. 'For reasons that are not clear to me, more people took to the roads, more than we expected. 'I started seeing power flashes to the north, and I said "screw this." Regarding emotional tragedy and responding to the thing that caused the emotional strategy, no, you've got that wrong. Take multiple pictures of vehicles "in the way" of emergency responders at tornado or other emergency sites. You do raise many good points about how such a law would be implemented, and some I can thing of answers to, some not so easily. In the area of voting, the main problem seems to be the expenditure of great amounts of outrage and, which I've posted on before there are new developments, summarized at Inside Climate News: Also, their data helps us to better understand the dynamics of what happens in tornadoes which can help make safer structures. Why are you so quick to blame the TV and not the idiots living in the heart of tornado alley who chose to get in a car when they knew there were already tornadoes in the area? The three had no chance, said Tim Samaras brother, Jim. Excluding the one thrill seeker and the three professionals that were killed in this event there has not been another incident. Education may help, but first we need to educate Meteorologists in the media, the brilliant minds out there need to come up with a set of definitive standards on what to do and what not to do and hold the TV weather accountable, develop an educational program for the public, but most of all give people a place to go, public shelters or something for safety, if people have a shelter they more than likely wont get in their car in the first place. So, regarding the question of traffic: first, I know. The storm path could have gone many other directions. The Storm Prediction Center in Norman, Okla., said it believed the deaths were the first time scientific researchers were killed while chasing tornadoes. It gets logistically harder to do this if the affected area includes Cairns or Brisbane, because if you are evacuating people from low-lying areas you have to leave the roads open long enough for them to get out. 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. At the same time, many helpful comments have been added to the post. Dallas' independent source of At least six semis on their side at a weight station on I-40 near Oklahoma City, photographer Jim Beckel reported. In his writeup of this event, meteorologist Paul Douglas made this point: Every time I went down to Oklahoma [with storm chasers] I was struck by the number of people tagging along. That might be preferable because making a new law to address particularistic new circumstances that are already covered by existing law, regulation, and best practice is probably a bad thing. His pioneering work has made it easier to warn people about tornadoes. But telling everyone to leave their homes and drive is not advised, if that is actually what the newscaster did. Greg is definitely right about the distinction between researchers who need to be close to the storm to do their research (people like Samaras) and people who are doing it just for fun. Their car was found. This is not an especially enforceable regulation". The sudden acceleration to NE caught several folks by surprise. 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. Samaras' Chevy Cobalt was traveling east down a dirt road with the tornado to his south. 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. 'I'm not sure why people do that sort of stuff, but it is very dangerous. This probe registered a world-record 100-millibar drop in pressure inside the twister. Along with his son, Paul, and storm chaser Carl Younghis longtime. We need sensors in place, in advance of the storms. October 1, 2013 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. 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. Another two or three miles east and we would have been looking at a death toll in the hundreds. People were going southbound in the northbound lanes. On Tuesday, Storm Chasers star Joel Taylor died at 38. In 2013, Tim Samaras died in one of the epic storms he'd spent decades chasing. Until I see good evidence to the contrary, I will be strongly against regulations on this activity. I'm not saying these circumstances are sensible or humane, but they are the case nonetheless. In many cases, a law is unenforceable at face value, but when something goes wrong it suddenly becomes part of the equation. But seriously, I'll be talking about the story of the current, In every area of life, but especially in the overlapping realms of technology, science, and health, misunderstanding how things work can be widespread, and that misunderstanding can lead to problems. 'They had no place to go, and that's always a bad thing. And we're wasting it on stupid, silly things like party balloons. 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. Those media outlets need to do a more professional job and take their responsibility as journalists rather than entertainers more seriously (generally, not just with respect to tornadoes). 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. - May 31, 2013 (his death) Other works book: "Tornado Hunter: Getting Inside the Most Violent Storms on Earth". 2) "But the hundreds, or even thousands of non-professional storm chasers are probably not contributing to the science of tornadoes and tornado safety." Samaras, his son Paul, and colleague Carl Young died in late May in El Reno, Okla. while chasing an EF5 (winds above 200 miles per hour) tornado, which was later estimated to the be the widest . He had a road map spread across the kitchen table! The . Three veteran storm chasers were among the 10 people killed, Dallas Area Storms Cause Power Transformer To Explode. They were screaming, Were going to die, were going to die,' Randolph told USA Today. Following their passion: Storm chasers Tim Samaras (right), his son Paul Samaras (left) and Carl Young (second left) were killed on Friday by a tornado. "I don't know if I would say I worried about it because one of the biggest things he stressed was safety. I'm Sooner born and Sooner bred and I learned early that a car is one of the most dangerous places to be in a tornado. The US has several cities along hurricane prone coasts which are larger (including Houston, Miami, and New York). The other victims' bodies were found half a mile to the east and half a mile to the west, Canadian County under-sheriff Chris West said. I could not agree more with the statement in this article saying that driving away is not the best option. I do find it sad that that few if any of your statements regarding how the Twistex team was killed was accurate. Certainly broadcast public service announcements discussing the danger of chasing storms. His website Twistex has been integral to understanding how tornadoes work and improving warning times for those living in Tornado Alley. The new year once started in Marchhere's why, Jimmy Carter on the greatest challenges of the 21st century, This ancient Greek warship ruled the Mediterranean, How cosmic rays helped find a tunnel in Egypt's Great Pyramid, Who first rode horses? Scientists have to accept that. Such a law or regulation could be more general, specifying that police have the authority to direct people generally in relation to emergency disaster zones that have not happened yet. Tornadoes happen in bunches and clusters. For those suggesting regulation on storm chasing. Okay, fair enough. We have strong public service announcements for months before and during fire season about making a fire safety plan for your household and how to listen for public safety messages on high fire risk days - and those announcements for the duration of the fire are very cautious about advising people to get away only if it is safe to do so. If it was two more miles this way, it would have wiped out all of downtown, almost every one of our subdivisions and almost all of our businesses, White said. National Geographic storm chaser Tim Samaras gave an interview on the day of his deathspeaking to National Geographic radio host Boyd Matson from the road on May 31 about his attempts to study . An element. Perhaps, the day before tornado-warned storms are expected, you could fly to France, but that is not really an option for most people. It is fairly safe to say, that Mr. Samaras, his son, and Mr. Carl Young, sustained injuries when the sub-vortex of the El Reno storm directly impacted their vehicle on Reuters Road, west of the intersection with Radio Road. 'Our hearts also go out to the Carl Young family as well as they are feeling the same feelings we are today. That sort of delay could have been the difference between the Samaras team escaping and being caught in the tornado. This story has been shared 160,448 times. Will Rogers World Airport was evacuated as Oklahoma City braced for the tornado, that was moving at 40mph. Oklahoma Highway Patrol Trooper Betsy Randolph heard the panicked voices of the crew over her patrol radio right before the storm turned into their car. That is the speed at which they rotated around the tornado, not their recorded windspeed. 'There was just no place to go. And again. A tornado could hit Oklahoma City, or it could hit Enid. Stop having idiots chase things. I don't know what they were thinking in a state packed with cars and almost no other transportation options and few shelters. Roughly speaking, this is the equivalent of driving down the highway at several tens of miles an hour and suddenly flipping, three or four times. Some of my colleagues stayed, where there is a basement. 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. Storm chasers should absolutely pull off the road and yield to emergency vehicles as well as people trying to escape. 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. They sheltered at St Anthony's Hospital which was only about 1/4 mile from where the tornado touched down. His video consisted of really high quality camera work of weather and the focus wasn't on him. 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? It was NOT caused by a traffic jam. Using the unfortunate but unrelated deaths of well known storm chasers to rail against people trying to seek safety from a storm by getting out of the way strips any slight merit or credibility from your already weak and less than well thought out argument. It still came down to the fact that you have to do what you feel is right (especially if it conflicts with what you are being told to do) and not just become a helpless lemming during an emergency. Carl Young, Timothy Samaras and his . The traffic could have been created for any number of reasons. 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. I havent seen any good arguments yet that storm chasers and others on the road during a tornado are posing a danger to anyone but themselves. People who are paying for the storm chasing experience are expecting to do pretty much the same thing. Laws are really challenging to enforce. Long-time friend of Tim Samaras, meteorologist Mike Nelson, told the Denver Channel: 'I have known Tim for over 20 years, he was the most brilliant and most careful severe weather researcher of them all. I dont think they realize how lucky El Reno was.. We've received your submission. ISBN 978-1426203022 Did you know Edit I have a feeling that Scienceblogs will not last long without me. Even with interstate highways out of town in six different directions, you wouldn't be able to evacuate all those people in a few hours. I've always been told never to try and outrun a tornado, it is one of the most dangerous things you can do. Since then, multiple versions of what happened have been claimed, and as far as I can tell, all of that is laid out in the various comments on this thread. That is a real problem and has increased over time. They said to stay at work if you had better shelter there. One of the first rules you hear about what to do in a tornado is "Do not try to outrun it." In some but not all cases, this advice was qualified; If you know several hours in advance that there is a high probability that a tornado will come through your area, then it is a good idea to just go away and be somewhere else. This report indicates he's more right than he could have known. If you want to walk down Main Street, in downtown America, you can do that, because it is America. In the future I will be blogging at Greg Laden's blog, located at its original home at gregladen.com. And for several minutes you car is shoved around on the surface like you were a puck in a game of air hockey, with the car slamming into other cars and other cars slamming into you, and each car being turned over now and then. At Will Rogers World Airport, 2,000 people spent the night sheltering in underground tunnels, reported News 9. An outright ban is prolly a bad idear too. It is also true that the relatively cautious drop and run strategy meant that they missed getting their equipment in the direct path of a tornado more often than not. Storm chaser Tim Samaras died Friday doing the work that made him so well-known: following tornadoes. Get the latest updates in news, food, music and culture, and receive special offers direct to your inbox. Of those areas mentioned in this quote, Downtown OK city has about 7,600 people living in it. Either prospect is equally remarkable. Large, long-lasting thunderstorms known as supercells are responsible for producing the strongest tornadoes, along with large hail and other dangerous winds. But I'll just say that I think there are less extreme solutions than putting a ban on all amateur storm chasing. Don't create a law just to feel better because people died. It encouraged all, including the media and amateurs, to chase safely to avoid a repeat of Friday's deaths. How did Matt die in Storm Chasers? 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. (Though I'm not so sure that restrictive law re tornadoes is the first or best strategy - simply ensuring that emergency personnel of all kinds have the authority to control traffic might be OK so long as they are adequately trained and backed up with good links to forecasters.) The Storm Prediction Center said scientific storm chasing is performed as safely as possible, with trained researchers using appropriate technology. "Samaras was a respected tornado researcher and friend who brought to the field a unique portfolio of expertise in engineering, science, writing and videography," the center's statement said. This, in turn, would require storm chasers to make their case that they are professionals that are doing something worthwhile, and that they take appropriate action related to their own safety and the safety of others. Are they going to fire that weather reporter who told listeners to drive into the tornado? They did not discuss the details but I would suspect you would want a helmet that comes down to the jaw line, which sort of eliminates a lot of bicycle helmets, although likely the bike helmet is better than a bare head. 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. One thing that makes tornadoes so dangerous is the speed at which they hit. Since I wrote this post, I've received many emails telling me that the premise is wrong, that traffic from too many storm chases did not contribute to the death of Samaras and others. Since this post went live Jeff posted about another storm chaser, an amateur, who was killed in this tornado. #1. the storms path was extremely erratic and it made a sudden turn that surprised even veteran forecasters. I've heard horror stories about the attempt to partially evacuate Houston in advance of Hurricane Ike. Mr West guessed the experienced storm chasers were attempting to parallel the storm on the county road and it either changed course or another vortex appeared. More than 210,000 customers lost electricity in the areas affected by the storm. Doppler imaging pegged the tornado's width at 2.5 miles, the widest ever documented. If you want to walk down Main Street, in downtown America, you can do that, because it is America. Storm chasers being killed by storms isn't even a problem. Here's the before photo, of Mr. Samaras' car. In tribute to his brother, Jim Samaras posted on Facebook: Thank you to everyone for the condolences. OKLAHOMA CITY The deadly tornado that struck near Oklahoma City late last week killing 18, including three storm chasers, had a record-breaking width of 2.6 miles and was the second top-of-the-scale EF5 twister to hit the area in less than two weeks, the National Weather Service reported Tuesday. To make this point, here are photographs from major media of a handful of examples of cars that got hit with the vortex, most but not all from this latest tornado: I admit that a flattened house may look pretty bad, may even look worse than a mushed up car, but generally speaking the interior lower floor room in a house that is badly messed up by a tornado is a survivable shelter, while there is no such shelter in your car. Public safety workers already enjoy wide latitude in the execution of their jobs. 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. In closing it should be important to note that Tim and crew did not get killed because of the traffic that was present on that day. They can't have this, because the traffic is a factor, but yes, Samaras and his crew were not killed this way. 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 Samaras' and Young were pursuing an EF3 tornado as it bore down on a metropolitan area of more than 1 million people. They all unfortunately passed away but doing what they LOVED. ScienceBlogs is where scientists communicate directly with the public. I'm reminded of Grand Island, NE in 1980, when the tornadoes defied everything we supposedly know about them. Of those who did I dont know how many of them were primed to use drive away as a strategy by earlier chatter in major media outlets, and elsewhere such as twitter and other social media. Amateur chasers don't want there to be strong evidence that what they do endangers themselves or others, so they want chaser-enhanced traffic jams to be taken out of the picture. Police/authority do have the power to stop vehicles/storm chasers from continuing down a road if there is an immanent threat. This is not an especially enforceable regulation but having such a thing on the books would probably encourage amateur storm chasers to think twice about putting others in danger by contributing to blocked roads. Many of us were fortunate to have worked with them and have great admiration for their work. Unless you wish to legislate God, I recommend you rethink your proposal. Oklahomans can handle a day or two of this, but after a week plus of watching families with lost loved ones on the news they start getting jumpy. But what I would really like to ask is this. But a law or explicit regulation, or even a well publicized set of best practices in the interest of public safety, might make the point that needs to be made, thus discouraging people from making decisions that endanger others. Thus the bigger the projectile you will make, the worse the fine. Even if the people who are at risk of vehicular projectiles are innocent bystanders, chances are they're at more risk from the tornado than the cars in them. One minute you're sitting there watching TV, the next minute your whole neighborhood looks like it was jammed through a meat grinder. Scientists just confirmed a 30-foot void first detected inside the monument years ago. These conditions being a tornado being the widest in history (with only one other tornado in recorded history coming close to the same size) and the abnormal path the tornado took. Thats just my speculation, Smith said. In Fridays storm, many of the deaths were caused by heavy flash flooding following the storms. 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. There are many chasers who do stop to render aid and time and time again they are often the first to reach the victims in crucial first moments with skills to save lives. I dont think there has been a single case (correct me if im wrong) of external injury or property damage due to a chasers car getting picked up by a tornado. Three veteran storm chasers were among the 10 people killed following Friday's EF3 tornado in El Reno, Okla. I think that Tim Samaras knew what he was doing. Once it's used up and gone, it's .. gone. Chasing Tornado's. The apparent fact that individuals don't take on the personal responsibility of doing the sensible thing is a tragedy. Oklahoma County sheriff's office has identified the victim as James Talbert, according to NewsOk. What this weather forecaster just did was to advice a couple/few tens of thousands of people in the path of a tornado to get in their cars and drive in the same direction. That would stop several people right there. Making a law which makes it illegal to chase storms will make it practically impossible to get enough data to understand tornadoes. Part of the Daily Mail, The Mail on Sunday & Metro Media Group. 'He was either washed off the road or tried to get out of his car. Jim Cantore, a Weather Channel meteorologist, tweetedSundaythat meteorologists were in mourning. In 2012, storm chaser Andy Gabrielson died while driving home from a chase when a wrong-way driver struck his vehicle on Interstate 44 in Sapulpa, Okla. Finally do what we did in California for earthquakes. The one thing in your article I see that you failed to address is the number of chasers in the past that have been killed by the storm while chasing them. The views expressed in the contents above are those of our users and do not necessarily reflect the views of MailOnline. Most tornadoes in the United States are relatively small. I would just add that other media outlets had apparently been talking about "outrunning" as a strategy for a couple of days before this particular tornado, so the idea was perhaps already in people's minds. But, since we (we here discussing this) don't really know the laws and how they work regarding emergency response, traffic, etc.
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