RIP Tim Samaras, Paul Samaras, and Carl Young ~ Team Twistex
Discovery Channel Storm Chasers Tribute Premieres
Wednesday, June 5, 2013 at 10e|9c
From the Twistex Facebook
Information about the funeral services for Tim, Paul, & Carl -- and where to send sympathy cards:
The service for Tim and Paul will be held Thursday at 1pm at Mission Hills Church, 620 SouthPark Drive in Littleton, CO.
Sympathy cards should be sent to Jim Samaras, 7985 Witney Place, Lone Tree, CO 80124.
Carl's service will be held Saturday at 12 with burial at 3pm at McFarlane Mortuary in South Lake Tahoe, CA.
Sympathy cards should be sent to Bob Young, Box 8604, South Lake Tahoe, CA 96158.
Memorials for Carl should be sent to Ventana Wildlife Society.
From Discovery Channel:
We are deeply saddened by the loss of Tim Samaras, his son Paul and their colleague Carl Young who died Friday, May 31st doing what they love: chasing storms.
Chasing storms had been a part of Tim Samaras's life for over 25 years. Ten years ago, Tim developed his own tornado probes to record meteorological data inside of tornadoes.
Inspired by a two-month adventure chasing storms across the Great Plains, Carl Young left a career in Hollywood to study tornado dynamics and ultimately earn a masters degree in atmospheric science from the University of Nevada, Reno.
While attending a meteorological conference, Carl met Tim, who encouraged him to collect meteorological data from inside tornadoes as the principal focus of his thesis research.
Every spring since 2003, the two headed out together and tracked down over 125 tornadoes. Their mission was to help understand why tornadoes form in order to increase warning times in Tornado Alley.
Tim and Carl's work was the subject of Discovery Channel's Storm Chasers series, which premiered on October 17, 2007 and ran for five seasons.
Our thoughts and prayers go out to Tim and Carl's friends and families.
From National Geographic
Tim Samaras, one of the world's best-known storm chasers, died in Friday's El Reno, Oklahoma, tornado, along with his 24-year-old son, a gifted filmmaker, according to a statement from Samaras's brother.
"They all unfortunately passed away but doing what they LOVED," Jim Samaras, Tim's brother, wrote on Facebook, saying that storm chaser Carl Young was also killed. "I look at it that he is in the 'big tornado in the sky.'"
. . . Samaras's interest in tornadoes began when he was six, after he saw the movie The Wizard of Oz. For the past 20 years, he spent May and June traveling through Tornado Alley, an area that has the highest frequency of tornadoes in the world. He worked with his son Paul, who was known for capturing cyclones on camera.
From CNN
Friday's tornado took a sudden turn that surprised many observers, CNN meteorologist Chad Myers said.
"It was a wobbler. And it was big. ... I think the left-hand turn made a big difference on how this thing was chased as well and why people were killed and why people were injured in their vehicles," he said. "A vehicle is not a place to be in any tornado, especially a big one like that, and those men doing their job, those field scientists out there doing their jobs, were killed in the process."
Tim Samaras founded TWISTEX, the Tactical Weather Instrumented Sampling in Tornadoes Experiment, to help learn more about tornadoes and increase lead time for warnings, according to the official website.
. . . Doug Kiesling, a videographer who chases storms and calls himself "The Weather Paparazzi," said the three men were more than storm chasers. "They're researchers," he said.
"This thing is really shaking up everyone in the chasing community," he said. "We knew this day would happen someday, but nobody would imagine that it would happen to Tim. Tim was one of the safest people to go out there. ... He's had close calls, but he's always had an escape route."
