Tim Samaras

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. He passed in the 2013 El Reno tornado that occurred on May 31, 2013.

Early life Samaras was born November 12, 1957, in Lakewood, Colorado, to Paul T. and Margaret L. Samaras. His father was a photographer and model-airplane distributor who was an Army projectionist in WWII. Tim assisted in the photography and shop work. Samaras first became interested in tornadoes at age six, when he watched The Wizard of Oz on television with his mother. "When the tornado appeared," he recalled, "I was hooked!" He communicated by amateur radio when chasing storms and was also a storm spotter, reporting sightings of hazardous weather. At 16, he was a radio technician, and was service shop foreman at 17. Immediately out of high school and without a résumé, he was hired as a walk-in at the University of Denver Research Institute. He obtained a Pentagon security clearance by 20, testing and building weapons systems.

Samaras was a prominent engineer at Applied Research Associates, initially focusing on blast testing and airline crash investigations. The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) recognized him for his investigations of the TWA Flight 800 crash. His research involved high-speed photography, such as on ballistics. He also worked at National Technical Systems and Hyperion Technology Group.

Samaras was the founder of a field research team called Tactical Weather Instrumented Sampling in Tornadoes EXperiment (TWISTEX), which sought to better understand tornadoes. His work was funded in large part by the National Geographic Society (NGS), which awarded him 18 grants for his field work. The probe was dropped on the path of the tornado to a mere 82 seconds before it hit. Samaras later described the tornado as the most memorable of his career. Samaras held a patent, "Thermal imaging system for internal combustion engines", with Jon M. Lesko.

Samaras and his team logged over of driving during the two peak months of tornado season each year. When asked, Samaras said that the most dangerous part about following tornadoes is not the actual storms themselves, but rather the road hazards encountered along the way. His colleagues considered him to be one of the most careful chasers in the business. In 2005, he was named an "Emerging Explorer" by the National Geographic Society. From 2009 until the show's cancellation in 2012, Samaras was a featured personality on the Discovery Channel's Storm Chasers. During his career he also worked for Boeing, doing field testing on hail-resistant skins for aircraft, June 2005, August 2012, and November 2013. with winds of near the Regional Airport of El Reno, Oklahoma. The TWISTEX vehicle was struck and thrown by a subvortex, which generate the highest winds; some of these were moving at within the parent tornado. Shortly before they were killed, Young noted how there was no rain around the vehicle as the wind grew "Eerily calm". Tim Samaras responded: "Actually, I think we're in a bad spot." According to Oklahoma Highway Patrol Trooper Betsy Randolph, the three could be heard screaming "We’re going to die, we’re going to die" over her patrol radio moments before the impact.

The tornado was sampled by University of Oklahoma RaXPol radar as wide, the widest tornado ever recorded. The true size of the multiple-vortex tornado confused onlookers by its mammoth proportions containing orbiting subvortices larger than average tornadoes and its expansive transparent to translucent outer circulation. The strong inflow and outer-circulation winds in conjunction with rocky roads and a relatively underpowered vehicle also hampered driving away from the tornado. all of which combined so that several other chasers were also hit or had near misses. It was the first known instance of a storm chaser or a meteorologist killed by a tornado.

Even before it was known that Samaras, his son, and Young had been killed, the event led many to question storm-chasing tactics, particularly in close proximity to tornadoes. In addition to the three TWISTEX members, the tornado killed five other people, including local resident Richard Charles Henderson, who had decided to follow the storm.

Atmospheric scientists and storm chasers embarked on a major project to gather information and analyze what happened regarding chaser actions and meteorological occurrences. A makeshift memorial was established at the site soon after the incident and a crowdfunded permanent memorial, spearheaded by Doug Gerten, the deputy who first found the vehicle wreckage, was later established, although it was vandalized in late March 2016, with the monument struck by bullets and the American flag cut away from the flagpole.

Meteorologists at the Storm Prediction Center (SPC) issued a statement saying they were very saddened by Tim's death. "Samaras was a respected tornado researcher and friend ... who brought to the field a unique portfolio of expertise in engineering, science, writing and videography," read the statement. Severe weather expert Greg Forbes called Samaras "a groundbreaker in terms of the kind of research he was doing on severe thunderstorms and tornadoes".

Personal life Samaras and his wife Kathy had three children — Paul (November 12, 1988 – May 31, 2013), Amy Gregg, and Jennifer Samaras. The open space enabled Tim to erect amateur radio and other towers and provided ample room for workshops. He learned of the property through real estate investment work that he did on the side and to which his brother Jim introduced him. Samaras had another son, Matt Winter, whom he had learned about only seven years before Samaras' death and who was welcomed into the family. Winter was also fascinated by weather and was informed by his mother that Tim was his father after he heard Samaras speak at the 2006 Severe Storms and Doppler Radar Conference in Des Moines, Iowa.

In 2011, Samaras took time off chasing to help build homes in Alabama for victims of tornadoes earlier that year. According to O'Neill, he worked "from dawn to dusk" with "the same dedication and focus he brought to his meteorological work".