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Storm Chasers’ Deaths Show Dangers of an Exploding Field

June 2, 2013 by Leave a Comment

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

Filed Under: Media Business Tagged With: , ,

Chasing the Storm, but Hoping Not to Catch It

June 2, 2013 by Leave a Comment

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

Filed Under: Media Business Tagged With: , ,

PBS Presents a Sober Brand of American TV in Britain

November 28, 2011 by Leave a Comment

As Britain takes its news media to task, an American import, the Public Broadcasting Service, hopes to make a name for itself by offering a sober antidote to the tales of tabloid newspaper excesses that have been leading the news bulletins of late.

This month, as a public inquiry delves into the intrusive Fleet Street reporting techniques that have shocked many Britons, PBS introduced a new channel in Britain, its first international television venture.

Does Britain, home to the BBC, one of the most respected broadcasters in the world, really need to import serious television from the United States? When many Britons think of American television, they imagine silly sitcoms or the “fair and balanced” output of Fox News — owned by the same company, News Corporation, whose newspapers are first in the firing line in the investigation into the hacking of celebrities’ mobile phones.

“It’s very different from people’s perception of what an American TV channel is like,” said Richard Kingsbury, general manager of the new channel, called PBS UK.

The channel is available on British Sky Broadcasting, a satellite TV system with 10 million customers, where it joins more than 700 other channels. PBS is also available via a cable system, Virgin Media, with four million customers.

PBS has moved into Britain after other United States channels made the leap, and it has entered a crowded market. In the category that analysts refer to as factual programming, United States imports like the Discovery Channel, the History Channel and National Geographic have long been available in Britain, alongside myriad offerings from local broadcasters.

“That’s the question that you have to ask, really — is there a market for it or for channels like it,” said Tim Westcott, a senior analyst at Screen Digest in London. “What will set PBS apart is that it has a different perspective. It is maybe slightly more in tune with European tastes than some U.S. programming.”

PBS UK came about largely because of the persistence of David Lyons, a Canadian entrepreneur who founded the Quadra Group, a company with investments in the energy and media industries. While growing up in Calgary, he watched PBS because the feed from one of the network’s member stations was offered by a local cable system.

“Everyone always marveled at it,” he said. “I think it is the most extraordinary American archive, detailing the life of the country and the continent.”

After moving to Britain 16 years ago, Mr. Lyons said, he missed the channel.

“As part of a wider civilization of English-speaking people, it was important that we understood each other better,” he said. “There were a lot of misunderstandings.”

A few years ago, he started speaking to officials at PBS, which is based in Washington, about setting up a channel in Britain. Eventually, they agreed to create a joint venture between Quadra and PBS Distribution, which oversees international sales of PBS shows to other broadcasters.

“We did not have the financial resources for such a venture, so we are fortunate to have David Lyons as a partner,” said Jan McNamara, a spokeswoman for PBS in Washington.

The new channel is basically an edited version of the PBS that American viewers see, and also has programming on science, history and other topics. It differs in one significant way, though. PBS UK is a commercial venture and, as of the new year, it plans to include advertising.

The channel in the United States has no ad breaks and is financed by the United States government, corporate sponsorships and viewer donations.

Other public broadcasters use similar arrangements to try to generate revenue internationally. The BBC, which is financed mostly by a license fee on British television-owning households, sells ads on its channels outside Britain, for example, even though its domestic outlets are ad-free.

Gareth Hutchins, business director at MindShare, a media-buying agency in London, said PBS UK would “have its work cut out for it” to attract advertising, which is being sold for it by a mainstream British broadcaster, Channel 4. But he added, “There is certainly room within the market for a channel tailored for reaching an upmarket, cultured audience.”

Even though the channel is only a few weeks old, Mr. Lyons is already thinking about enhancements. One option, he said, might be to create a British version of the “PBS NewsHour,” complete with a London studio and staff of journalists.

Britons already have a number of options for television news, including 24-hour news channels from the BBC and from the satellite broadcaster Sky, as well as the nightly bulletins from the BBC and commercial channels. Yet there is no American-style cable-TV free-for-all; unlike Fleet Street newspapers, British television news shows operate under a regulatory requirement for fairness and evenhandedness.

“I think England, even though there are all these media here, has an appetite for this kind of journalism — totally straight and objective,” Mr. Lyons said.

Mr. Lyons said he was also considering bringing PBS to other regions where English is widely spoken, including Africa, India and Scandinavia.

Article source: http://www.nytimes.com/2011/11/28/business/media/pbs-introduces-new-television-channel-in-britain.html?partner=rss&emc=rss

Filed Under: Global Business Tagged With: , ,