Storm Chaser Great Loses Life to His Own Subject…

Imagine devoting your life to something that was your true passion. A passion that helped saved countless lives, yet put yours in jeopardy every day. That is exactly what Tim Samaras did. While everyone else was running and hiding from tornadoes, Tim Samaras went right towards them. But he didn’t do it for the thrill, although he did love it. He did it for the sake of science. He dedicated his life to researching tornadoes in an effort to find out what causes them, with the hope of increasing the warning time people would have before being faced with one.

CNN reports that on May 31, 2013, Tim Samaras’s journey came to an abrupt end, as he became a victim of one of the storms he loved so much. Unfortunately, the story doesn’t end there. With him were his son, Paul Samaras, and colleague, Carl Young. Tim was only 55 years old, his son was 24, and Paul was 45. They were busy chasing a tornado in El Reno, Oklahoma, when the 165 MPH tornado suddenly made a drastic turn away from its predicted path. After the storm, Tim was found still strapped in his mangled Chevy Cobalt, while Paul and Carl were thrown from the vehicle.

Tim is best known in the industry as the creator of TWISTEX (Tactical Weather Instrumented Sampling of Tornadoes Experiment). He invented probes that he could stick in the storm’s path so that when the tornado went over it all kinds of information could be gathered, including wind velocity and pressure. ABC News reports that when Tim was killed, three of his probes were on and recording data. His very own invention may hold the details to why Tim and his crew were unable to escape the storm that also claimed the lives of 10 others.

To the general public, Tim’s claim to fame came when he starred on the Discovery Channel’s show “Storm Chasers” for three years. He was the one that always took extra precautions to ensure that he and his team stayed safe. The world is stunned by the loss of such a great man and unprecedented contributor to the science of tornadoes. He leaves behind his loving family, who can take peace in knowing that he died doing what he loved.