Today, interest in storm chasing has surged, and a preponderance of amateurs with video cameras and a thirst for YouTube fame now jockey with seasoned professionals to see who can get the closest and most dramatic images of churning storms, causing some veterans to worry about a growing safety threat.
The risks became apparent on Sunday when relatives confirmed that Mr. Samaras, 55, along with his 24-year-old son, Paul, and his colleague, Carl Young, 45, were killed while chasing the storms that ravaged parts of Oklahoma on Friday.
They were among at least 13 people killed in the storm, which spawned several tornadoes and caused flash flooding in the region around Oklahoma City. A tornado also picked up a truck carrying several storm chasers, including a meteorologist for the Weather Channel, and tossed it into a field, causing injuries but no deaths.
The deaths come as storm chasers have reached a kind of pop-culture zenith, similar to that achieved by celebrity chefs and interior decorators on numerous reality shows. Mr. Samaras was well known for his appearances on the reality show “Storm Chasers,” on the Discovery Channel, which ended in 2011.
Many other networks use vivid footage of storms. The Weather Channel has programmed regular series like “Full Force Nature” with storm chasers providing video of severe weather.
Advancements in video and Web technology mean storm chasers are now able to provide a live play-by-play of a tornado’s destruction. But with Friday’s deaths, the first in many years, veteran chasers said, some experts question whether the push to get closer and closer to storms has dimmed perceptions of the dangers they pose.
“When a veteran storm chaser as cautious and experienced as Tim Samaras dies, I hope it is a lesson to all the storm chasers of just how potentially dangerous storm chasing is,” said Greg Forbes, a meteorologist with the Weather Channel. “There is some chance you could die.”
The circumstances surrounding the deaths were still unknown Sunday. Dr. Forbes said the tornado Mr. Samaras was tracking made a sudden left turn, perhaps catching him and his team unaware and leaving them nowhere to run. Others speculated that engine trouble or perhaps a traffic jam could have left them stuck in the tornado’s path.
Mr. Samaras’s brother Jim posted a statement on his brother’s Facebook page expressing sadness but giving no details. “They all unfortunately passed away, but doing what they loved,” the statement said.
Colleagues who worked with Mr. Samaras described him as extremely cautious and more apt than most to abandon a storm in the face of obvious danger. He was a scientist first and foremost, colleagues said, whose interests traveled far beyond the hunt.
He founded an organization called Twistex to study the births, lives and deaths of tornadoes. With probes of his own design that he would place directly in the tornado’s path, he measured wind speeds and barometric pressure at the base of the storm, where such data are hardest to get. Another probe was equipped with video cameras capable of providing detailed imagery from inside the tornado cone.
He contributed research to organizations like the American Meteorological Society and National Geographic.
“He was out there for the science and he was going to get that,” said Tony Laubach, a meteorologist and friend of Mr. Samaras. “He wanted to answer the questions people thought were impossible.”
Others said Mr. Samaras had expressed concern about the increase in amateur chasers on roads, and had occasionally called off a chase if he thought traffic would be too heavy.
Over the last decade, the number of chasers converging on the Great Plains for the start of tornado season has exploded, particularly in Oklahoma, where the first devilish wisps of a new tornado can cause traffic jams as chasers race into position.
Ginger Zee, a meteorologist and veteran storm chaser with ABC News, said the number of storm chasers had “boomed” in the last decade. “Any time you’re in Oklahoma and you have an outbreak, you have chaser convergence,” she said “And it’s gotten bigger and bigger and bigger.”
Some referred to the emergence of a “Twister” generation of chasers inspired by the 1996 movie starring Helen Hunt and Bill Paxton as swashbuckling storm chasers in a pickup truck.
Tornado tourism is also on the rise, with several tour companies offering to bring paying guests into the churning heart of dangerous storms. At least one, called Extreme Chase Tours, allows guests as young as 12.
Experts said so many eyes trained on the storm could have benefits. Most warnings are issued based on Doppler radar readings without visual confirmation and frequently cause false alarms, leading to complacency among residents, Dr. Forbes said.
“The more human verified it is, the more people are likely to take shelter,” he said.
Mr. Samaras was on the lookout on Friday. He sent out a Twitter message at 4:50 p.m. shortly before the storm hit along with a photo of ominous, thickening white clouds.
“Storms now initiating south of Watonga along triple point,” he wrote. “Dangerous day ahead for OK — stay weather savvy!”
Bill Carter contributed reporting.
Article source: http://www.nytimes.com/2013/06/03/business/media/storm-chasers-among-those-killed-in-oklahoma.html?partner=rss&emc=rss
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