Strom Chasers killed by OK Tornado

[postmortemIA]

glad he didn't leave his kid behind ...

 

[BUTCH1]

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.

It was their form of " adrenaline rush", driving a 5 second nitro car is dangerous, skydiving is dangerous, hell I got hit in the face with a golf ball one day, (the guy did yell "FORE" but it was too late), hang gliding, rock climbing, you name it, at least he died having fun, most of us won't..

 

[SP33Demon]

Care level = zero, build a drone idiots.

 

[NikolaeVarius]

Tornadoes can do unexpected things.

There were multiple professional crews that got caught in the tornado. I believe the Weather channel lost three vehicles in the same storm. One of their cars was picked up and thrown 200 yards.

It's not just unexpected, its unexpected and FAST. A tornado can change directions on a dime and be barreling toward you with no warning at all whatsoever and cover a TON of ground before you realize it.

That's exactly the sort of phenomena that these people are trying to study, how to predict and study the behavior of tornadoes.

 

[weadjust]

Care level = zero, build a drone idiots.

A drone would be a light snack for a tornado.

 

[Mixolydian]

A drone would be a light snack for a tornado.

and could provide even more accurate measurements if sucked up the funnel.

 

[SheHateMe]

you should see the video and see as his son is being sucked out of the window opening from inside of the car. He is slowly being folded in half due to the power of the suction, the screams he makes as it occurring are horrifying until he is finally pulled out in parts. disturbing.

I'm intrigued.

 

[weadjust]

 

[SheHateMe]

Hugo should have atleast hinted at where this video is...

 

[pcslookout]

He did.

 

[KeithTalent]

So who's this Strom fella they were chasing?

KT

 

[phucheneh]

Damn. That truck looks a lot more simplistic and to-the-point than the 'tornado tanks' that I was referring to. I always thought it was funny seeing their random poorly-welded bits of steel tubing and sheetmetal, and was honestly surprised that they seemed to hold together.

But for what it has in professional appearance (i.e. looks like it might be driven by a scientist instead of a crazy person), that truck doesn't look like it was ever meant to be near an actual tornado. Holy slab-sided death machine...surely they must have felt crosswinds in that before that would make a normal person say 'maybe this isn't the most aerodynamic configuration...'

 

[Red Squirrel]

Yeah no kidding looks like a standard pickup truck with instruments on it. THIS, is a proper tornado chaser vehicle: http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=Y3yHe30z_ow

 

[rh71]

Everyone puts themselves in harm's way every day. Thousands of opportunities to die are narrowly avoided, but are unrecognized due to being routine.

If you become a cop, I think the chances are greater. If you chase tornadoes, your chances... ARE GREATER.

 

[lxskllr]

If you become a cop, I think the chances are greater. If you chase tornadoes, your chances... ARE GREATER.

Greater than sitting in your bomb shelter, and not as great as other activities, just like the rest of life.

 

[DrPizza]

Yeah no kidding looks like a standard pickup truck with instruments on it. THIS, is a proper tornado chaser vehicle: http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=Y3yHe30z_ow

Those people aren't serious, are they? If there's anything more dangerous than trees flying around in the high wind, it's the hunks of sheet metal that'll be torn off those vehicles if someone passes gas, let alone a tornado.

 

[phucheneh]

'swat I was saying. But that one looks like it may be okay, wavy sheet metal aside. I would hope those panels are all fully welded at the edges. It would definitely be dangerous as hell to build a vehicle like that, and then let any decent amount of air get behind the bodywork. Then it becomes a big metal balloon waiting to pop (pop is read as 'decapitate'...).

The only thing that jumps out on that is that they should probably get better hood latches.

A quick GIS shows examples of varying build quality and design. This seems decently thought-out:

This seems like it should have a standing 'tow away to crusher' bounty on it:

 

[ScoobMaster]

Say what you will about their construction, but Sean Casey's TIV 2 (the 2nd generation of the top picture in the post above mine) just survived an intercept with a EF3/EF4 tornado just a few days ago on 5/27 in Kansas.

Check out this INSANE footage from inside the TIV2: INSIDE A TORNADO - FULL VERSION - TIV2 INTERCEPT

That hydraulic machinery noise you hear at 0:52 as Sean yells "go floor!, go floor!" are hydraulic cylinders driving large metal spikes into the ground at all four corners of the vehicle while it simultaneously lowers to the ground so no air can pass underneath it and create lift.

 

[SP33Demon]

A drone would be a light snack for a tornado.

And a lot faster than a stupid pickup truck, and can still take the same measurements that any human could.

 

[NikolaeVarius]

And a lot faster than a stupid pickup truck, and can still take the same measurements that any human could.

And expensive... and impossible to figure out on the fly current wind conditions, and also extremely expensive.

 

[Sulaco]

you should see the video and see as his son is being sucked out of the window opening from inside of the car. He is slowly being folded in half due to the power of the suction, the screams he makes as it occurring are horrifying until he is finally pulled out in parts. disturbing.

..uh...what? Are you making a joke?

 

[weadjust]

family and scientific community are asking if anyone should find the data/video recording equipment to please return/contact authorities immediately...to better understand "what went wrong"

 

[Red Squirrel]

Those people aren't serious, are they? If there's anything more dangerous than trees flying around in the high wind, it's the hunks of sheet metal that'll be torn off those vehicles if someone passes gas, let alone a tornado.

They were on mythbusters and also have a show on Discovery so think they have a pretty good track record. Though it did kinda sound like cheap tin metal when they closed the hood. D: I recall them having some more serious armor than that.

 

[ElFenix]

are these the guys that were watching one tornado when another one dropped down on top of them?

 

[Spectralwolf]

They were on mythbusters and also have a show on Discovery so think they have a pretty good track record. Though it did kinda sound like cheap tin metal when they closed the hood. D: I recall them having some more serious armor than that.

Reed who has the vehicles in the first pic got in the outskirts of a couple on the show. It held up well though early on they had one bad time when he couldn't get the lexan up over the drivers side window and the wind blew it out cutting his face.

The TIVs that Casey made were built for direct impact so he could film the tornado going right overhead. He had a couple direct hits on the show iirc and his original imax movie is interesting. Now he's working on a 3d I think?

Samaras from the show seemed to be about pure science. He wasn't trying to see how close he could get. He was dropping probes in the path then getting to a safe (relatively) vantage point. He seemed very committed to increasing understanding of tornados for things like increased warning times or better construction practices. Its unfortunate what happened