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Strom Chasers killed by OK Tornado

W

weadjust

Senior member
Tim Samaras (once a part of Storm Chasers, and a longtime wind engineer), his son and Carl Young ( a meteorologist also on the Twistex team and Storm Chasers) are among the fatalities in OK yesterday. This is a truly horrible blow to the chaser and tornado research community. He was one of the most knowledgeable in his field and he and Carl died doing what they loved.

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Why did the word Darwin just pop into my mind?

I love driving around with my seat belt off because it feels better. But I know one day I might die doing what I love to do...driving around with no seat belt. 🙁
 
Mixolydian said:
Because storm chasers are idiots. They purposely put themselves in harm's way just to get a thrill.
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Everyone puts themselves in harm's way every day. Thousands of opportunities to die are narrowly avoided, but are unrecognized due to being routine.
 
I always thought it would be awesome to do what they do, but I'd want to do it in one of the special cars that is aerodynamic and weighs like 5 tons, and the glass is like 3 inch thick plexi. Even then, nothing will really save you if a semi truck and trailer full of fuel or a whole brick house lands on you.
 
lxskllr said:
Everyone puts themselves in harm's way every day. Thousands of opportunities to die are narrowly avoided, but are unrecognized due to being routine.
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lol not even sure how to respond to this...

All those average joes out there chasing after tornadoes...
 
Red Squirrel said:
I always thought it would be awesome to do what they do, but I'd want to do it in one of the special cars that is aerodynamic and weighs like 5 tons, and the glass is like 3 inch thick plexi. Even then, nothing will really save you if a semi truck and trailer full of fuel or a whole brick house lands on you.
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Same here.
 
pcslookout said:
Exactly. Just waking up is putting yourself in harm's way.
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Yep. Waking up and doing your daily routine, following most safety precautions equates to heading into/towards a massive wind storm that has been known to destroy everything in its path -- and 99.9% of people are trying to get away or seek shelter.
 
Mixolydian said:
lol not even sure how to respond to this...

All those average joes out there chasing after tornadoes...
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All those average Joes driving to work, walking to the store, plowing the field, cleaning the roof gutters, cutting the downed tree in the back 40...
 
lxskllr said:
All those average Joes driving to work, walking to the store, plowing the field, cleaning the roof gutters, cutting the downed tree in the back 40...
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is the same thing as intentionally driving into a deadly storm. yep. makes perfect sense.
 
lxskllr said:
While I realize you're trying to be clever and sarcastic, if you gave it a gram of thought it would make perfect sense...
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so a person walking to the store thinks, "I think I'll walk right into traffic". Or the guy cleaning his gutters, "I hope I fall off the ladder." etc....

People use common sense for every day tasks to minimize danger. There is no common sense in chasing a tornado.
 
Mixolydian said:
so a person walking to the store thinks, "I think I'll walk right into traffic". Or the guy cleaning his gutters, "I hope I fall off the ladder." etc....

People use common sense for every day tasks to minimize danger. There is no common sense in chasing a tornado.
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I disagree.
 
Mixolydian said:
lol not even sure how to respond to this...

All those average joes out there chasing after tornadoes...
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Average Joes chasing for a cheap thrill - yeah, I see where you're going with that.

But there are also many experienced and expert-class chasers, who actually know a thing or two about what they are doing. Many are meteorologists, for example; the one who died was a wind engineer... weather is a fickle beast though. Even seasoned experts get it wrong; we as a species rely heavily on computational models that also can't get it right all the time. The best chasers out there can read the atmosphere just by looking, feeling, and seeing some real-time radar and other weather data, and make some calls that decide where they need to be based on what they read says the storm will go "that way."
But we're still at the point that we can't predict weather, even down to the next minute, with 100% accuracy, especially for monumental weather events like tornadoes and other extreme atmospheric events.
The best of the best have put themselves, accidentally, in the wrong place on more than one occasion. Sometimes the timing is right and they get out of there or otherwise get lucky, but sometimes its the wrong place at the wrong time.

Regardless, don't short the chasers - we really rely on that human experience at the ground level more than you realize. They gather a ton of data and help get us, ever so slowly, to a point where we may be able to better understand these weather patterns. The experts can and have died doing this, and it's not entirely about the thrill. Sure, the ones who do it aren't being hog-tied and told they will cooperate... they usually are doing it with the reward of the thrill of the chase fully in mind, but the experts are doing it for bigger and more lasting reasons, and the thrill of the chase is simply a background element.
 
destrekor said:
Average Joes chasing for a cheap thrill - yeah, I see where you're going with that.

But there are also many experienced and expert-class chasers, who actually know a thing or two about what they are doing. Many are meteorologists, for example; the one who died was a wind engineer... weather is a fickle beast though. Even seasoned experts get it wrong; we as a species rely heavily on computational models that also can't get it right all the time. The best chasers out there can read the atmosphere just by looking, feeling, and seeing some real-time radar and other weather data, and make some calls that decide where they need to be based on what they read says the storm will go "that way."
But we're still at the point that we can't predict weather, even down to the next minute, with 100% accuracy, especially for monumental weather events like tornadoes and other extreme atmospheric events.
The best of the best have put themselves, accidentally, in the wrong place on more than one occasion. Sometimes the timing is right and they get out of there or otherwise get lucky, but sometimes its the wrong place at the wrong time.

Regardless, don't short the chasers - we really rely on that human experience at the ground level more than you realize. They gather a ton of data and help get us, ever so slowly, to a point where we may be able to better understand these weather patterns. The experts can and have died doing this, and it's not entirely about the thrill. Sure, the ones who do it aren't being hog-tied and told they will cooperate... they usually are doing it with the reward of the thrill of the chase fully in mind, but the experts are doing it for bigger and more lasting reasons, and the thrill of the chase is simply a background element.
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The experts are usually smart enough to stay far enough away from danger. Sounds like these guys weren't.
 
Mixolydian said:
so a person walking to the store thinks, "I think I'll walk right into traffic". Or the guy cleaning his gutters, "I hope I fall off the ladder." etc....

People use common sense for every day tasks to minimize danger. There is no common sense in chasing a tornado.
Click to expand...

The guy walking to the store has no control over the asshat playing with her phone and driving on the sidewalk. The ladder will fall regardless of your desires...

If someone enjoys chasing storms, it's no less valid than other activity. I don't feel like researching it, but I'll bet a cookie that a higher percentage of people die driving nowhere in particular than people who intentionally chase storms.
 
lxskllr said:
The guy walking to the store has no control over the asshat playing with her phone and driving on the sidewalk. The ladder will fall regardless of your desires...

If someone enjoys chasing storms, it's no less valid than other activity. I don't feel like researching it, but I'll bet a cookie that a higher percentage of people die driving nowhere in particular than people who intentionally chase storms.
Click to expand...

Bingo
 
lxskllr said:
The guy walking to the store has no control over the asshat playing with her phone and driving on the sidewalk. The ladder will fall regardless of your desires...

If someone enjoys chasing storms, it's no less valid than other activity. I don't feel like researching it, but I'll bet a cookie that a higher percentage of people die driving nowhere in particular than people who intentionally chase storms.
Click to expand...

If you seriously think walking to the store carries the same risk as driving into nature's most powerful phenomenon, you need to get your head examined.
 
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