Oklahoma City has a similar population level to Cairns and Brisbane. You're an excellent writer. El Reno Mayor Matt White said that while his city of 18,000 residents suffered significant damage including its vocational-technical center and a cattle stockyard that was reduced to a pile of twisted metal he said it could have been much worse had the violent twister tracked to the north. As the author admits early on, tornadoes change course and skip. That is not my argument either, it is simply what all the experts say. His pioneering work included the development of probes which when left in the path of a tornado, can measure pressure drops. To me the real imperative is to get a tornado shelter in most homes and businesses and educate the general public about what to do and what not to do. I've been in a tornado, when I was six! In fact, while writing this post I wondered what the three scientists were thinking as their car, and other cars, were hemmed in with a traffic jam that seems to have been caused by inappropriate reactions by a large number of people. The one thing in your article I see that you failed to address is the number of chasers in the past that have been killed by the storm while chasing them. You are absolutely right, that this tornado was a particularly monstrous one. Keith: I know, I hate words! The morning after: Wilburn Shaw looks for personal items in the remains of his kitchen the morning after Friday night's storm that passed through St. Charles, Mo, Power outages: Tornado-damaged power lines hang separated from its pole after tornadoes that swept through central Oklahoma on Friday, Shattered dreams: A couple in St. Charles embrace as they look over their destroyed home after a violent burst of thunderstorms and tornadoes swept across the Midwest, Together: A mother holds her three children after fans at the Barons game were evacuated to the parking garage under the Cox Convention Center due to severe storms in Oklahoma City on Friday. Like wadded up,' he told the Washington Post. Say you are sitting in your home and you know there is a tornado coming and you are watching TV and the following breathless reporting is happening. Samaras' Chevy Cobalt was traveling east down a dirt road with the tornado to his south. Shooting tournament: People search a field for guns near a destroyed RV at a state shooting tournament that was destroyed in El Reno, Weapons displaced: Shotguns recovered from a field lay against a overturned trailor at a state shooting tournament that was destroyed in El Reno, Devastation: When the storm passed between El Reno and Yukon, it barreled right down Interstate 40 for more than two miles, ripping billboards down to twisted metal frames. For example, the requirement to hold a permit to chase could be limited within a certain radius of a city or residential area, where congestion is more likely to create a danger to public safety. He said "you need to be below ground [pause] if you can drive south bla bla bla", Does this mean "you need to be below ground, but if you are in you car in the path of the tornado you can drive south", Or does this mean "you need to be below ground or if you can drive south, go and drive south". The last people out will be stuck in traffic. Timothy Michael Samaras (November 12, 1957 May 31, 2013) was an American engineer and storm chaser best known for his field research on tornadoes and time on the Discovery Channel show, Storm Chasers. Paul (1925-2005) was a photographer and model . I am not a believer in public shelters, so we need more people to take advantage of state and county rebate programs to get their own shelters. With better data, we could get better forecasts of Southern Hemisphere storms. I also heard mention of a storm chaser who, attempting a U-turn to avoid a flooded stretch of road, went off a hidden embankment and was lucky to avoid drowning. If you know several hours in advance that there is a high probability that a tornado will come through your area, then it is a good idea to just go away and be somewhere else. If it was two more miles this way, it would have wiped out all of downtown, almost every one of our subdivisions and almost all of our businesses, White said. How a zoo break-in changed the life of an owl called Flaco, Naked mole rats are fertile until they die, study finds. I don't think the scientists who died in this storm would agree with you on that. Standing water was several feet deep, and in some places it looked more like a hurricane had passed through than a tornado. Getting into a ditch can apparently also be fatal. If you want to walk down Main Street, in downtown America, you can do that, because it is America. Chaser traffic, maybe. Northeast of St. Louis and across the Mississippi River, the city of Roxana was hit by an EF3 tornado, but National Weather Service meteorologist Jayson Gosselin said it wasn't clear whether the damage in both states came from the same EF3 twister or separate ones. The roughly 5,000-year-old human remains were found in graves from the Yamnaya culture, and the discovery may partially explain their rapid expansion throughout Europe. He attempted to take his own life and spent several days in intensive care before ultimately succumbing to his injuries. He designed, built, and deployed instrument probes to measure atmospheric variables such as pressure and wind in the path of tornadoes. For the record, an "enigmatic" lack of shelter in Oklahoma has to do with cost. A storm chaser who heeded the bad feeling in his gut and decided to hang back that day told me the tornado was "designed to kill storm chasers." You can read the preliminary version here. And, just like a tornado, the last place you want to be caught in a fire is in your car. Turner High School, Texas Bill Would Make Illegal Voting a Felony, City Council To Discuss Allowing Neighborhoods To 'Opt-In' for Short-Term Rentals in Dallas. None of those fancy schemes work. I agree, we only need laws if we need laws. That would stop several people right there. Deadly profession: Storm chasers Tim Samaras (center) and crew member Carl Young (right) were killed on Friday in a tornado that ripped through El Reno, Oklahoma, Dangers: Paul Samaras, 24, (left) and Carl Young, 45, (right) were killed as they conducted research during the tornadoes in Oklahoma this weekend, On the edge: The storm chasers were killed as they followed the tornado in Oklahoma on Friday as the death toll rose to 18 today, Deadly twister: Three storm chasers were among at least 18 people killed following the tornado which touched down near El Reno on Friday. Another two or three miles east and we would have been looking at a death toll in the hundreds. But yes, I agree that people deliberately in the wrong place at the wrong time should be penalized. I don't think so! Ironic how his own community of chasers would throw him to the wolves but won't put themselves in that category. Probably many thing contributed to what happened. It's just news. But let us not let the fact that Samaras and his crew were killed in a manner that did not relate to traffic obviate further consideration of the "drive to the fire" problem. >>> They were in a car, not a truck. But volcanoes usually give fair warning that an eruption is likely to occur in the next several weeks, and in most cases (at least in First World countries) authorities can control the few access routes to the volcano. The news comes as the death toll from Friday's tornadoes and storms in Oklahoma has risen to 18 people, including six children and 12 adults, the Oklahoma chief medical examiner said on Monday. I recently found the article on the el Reno tornado you wrote several years ago and I was struck by the naivety of your arguments on laws banning chasing. Regarding the rest of your comment. Here is what the tornado did: It grew from a big tornado to a bigger tornado, to what might be the largest tornado ever observed with instruments, in a matter of seconds, and it made a fast jog to the right, not an unusual thing for a tornado to do, but unanticipated by the storm chasers. 'It was chaos Everybody was running for their lives,' Terri Black, who lives in Moore, said. Emergency officials reported that numerous injuries occurred in the area along I-40, and said the storm's victims were mostly in cars. This is a free country and public space is public. Heres why each season begins twice. Like diving into the bath tub with a mattress on top for cover. As of this writing, the death toll stands at 13 with another 6 (though Ive also heard 7) people still missing. 'Our hearts also go out to the Carl Young family as well as they are feeling the same feelings we are today. Yes, they died, but there is ZERO evidence this law, if passed, would have prevented even one of them. https://twitter.com/SenJeffMerkley/status/, While perusing the New York Times over the weekend, I was disturbed to see an article by Paul D. Thacker that basically advocated using the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) to request e-mails from scientists in search of undisclosed industry ties. Was the chaser causing harm? Contributions are fully tax-deductible. The update from the National Weather Service means the Oklahoma City area has seen two of the extremely rare EF5 tornadoes in only 11 days. October 1, 2013 Amateur chasers don't want there to be strong evidence that what they do endangers themselves or others, so they want chaser-enhanced traffic jams to be taken out of the picture. and help keep the future of the Observer, Use of this website constitutes acceptance of our, Dallas Observer's The Morning After Brunch, The Last Ride of Legendary Storm Chaser Tim Samaras. (Though I'm not so sure that restrictive law re tornadoes is the first or best strategy - simply ensuring that emergency personnel of all kinds have the authority to control traffic might be OK so long as they are adequately trained and backed up with good links to forecasters.) Brandi Vanalphen, 30, was among the hundreds of drivers trapped on traffic-snarled roads as she attempted to flee the tornado system menacing the suburb of Norman. There is a great irony to the deaths of the three storm chasers from Twistex. That is a real problem and has increased over time. Just then the power went out and I heard what sounded like a freight train. I think this tornado did some stuff we didn't expect. Skip Talbot did an excellent analysis and can easily be found on youtube. I won't be joining them on the roads. With the regulation that you are proposing, what would you suggest to someone who doesn't have the tools or money to contribute their chasing to science, but simply would like to witness the beauty of mother nature, and is educated enough on storms to make smart decisions to not pose a danger to others? On May 13, 2012 Norman PD blocked off roads and literally put me in the path of the tornado. I've always been told never to try and outrun a tornado, it is one of the most dangerous things you can do. "We're trying to collect as many observations as possible, both from outside and from the inside. It would have been a major problem. Or, perhaps, you are driving down the highway at 40 mph along with a dozen other cars also driving down the highway and suddenly you are all flipped. When the winds were at their most powerful, no structures were nearby, said Rick Smith, chief warning coordination meteorologist for the weather services office in Norman. But that brings in another issue doesn't it? Scientists have to accept that. Sheriff Cody Carpenter and a wildlife officer had been checking on houses that were in danger of being flooded. Here's the before photo, of Mr. Samaras' car. 'Somebody driving along really not familiar with what's going on can basically drive into it.'. Let me post a reply to many of the above comments and suggestions. Local news reported an estimated 1,200 people were at the airport and were herded to the basement to wait out the storm. Tim Samaras, 55, was not known to be risky. Please make a tax-deductible donation if you value independent science communication, collaboration, participation, and open access. The result, even in dry, acronym-heavy academic language, manages to serve as both an enlightening and horrifying account of storm chasing's worst day. In a tribute, Mr Samaras' brother Jim wrote on Facebook: 'Thank you to everyone for the condolences. independent local journalism in Dallas. The fact that they endangered something itself is a thing. But that. Once it's used up and gone, it's .. gone. Such a law or regulation could be more general, specifying that police have the authority to direct people generally in relation to emergency disaster zones that have not happened yet. I dont think they realize how lucky El Reno was.. "We still don't know why some thunderstorms create tornadoes while others don't," he . I've had grown adults that have lived in Oklahoma their entire lives ask me what the difference between a tornado watch and a tornado warning is. We are part of Science 2.0,a science education nonprofit operating under Section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code. Actually, to get my point all you really have to do is read the post but to restate the idea: Jamming a county road or a state or federal highway during an emergency is a public danger. Pay special attention to what the weather forecaster says starting at 4:35: if you can drive south, anywhere around Whitewater Bay, State Fair Park, the Ballpark, downtown Oklahoma City, southwest Integres, US Grant District, Rose State college, Midwest City regional medical center, Midwest City, and Parts of Del city, you need to drive south now. (approximate transcript). Debris was tangled in the median's crossover barriers, including huge pieces of sheet metal, tree limbs, metal pipes, a giant oil drum and a stretch of chain-link fence. I do find it sad that that few if any of your statements regarding how the Twistex team was killed was accurate. tornado disbursement tactical teams should be flown in by helicopter and then flown out after the job is done, its much safer this way. A new law or regulation merely needs to specify that tornado-related disasters that have not happened yet (because the tornado hasnt formed or has not yet arrived) can be considered in this public safety action. The latter group tend to get in the way. 'What got me scared was being stuck in traffic with sirens going off,' she said. His website Twistex has been integral to understanding how tornadoes work and improving warning times for those living in Tornado Alley.

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