A Storm Chaser's Worst Nightmare | The 2013 El Reno Tornado | History in the Dark
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- Опубліковано 7 сер 2024
- On May 31st, 2013, a storm system would spawn a tornado in the area near El Reno, Oklahoma. Several storm chasers, including Tim Samaras, his son Paul, and meteorologist Carl Young, would observe the developing twister. But what none of them knew was that this tornado was unlike anything they'd yet encountered. She would morph quickly into a monster, and claim multiple lives, including Tim Samaras and his team.
0:00 - Intro
0:43 - Background
3:35 - The Monster
9:25 - Aftermath
"During the early evening of Friday, May 31, 2013, an extremely large and powerful tornado[a] occurred over rural areas of Central Oklahoma. This rain-wrapped, multiple-vortex tornado was the widest tornado ever recorded and was part of a larger weather system that produced dozens of tornadoes over the preceding days. The tornado initially touched down at 6:03 p.m. Central Daylight Time (2303 UTC) about 8.3 miles (13.4 km) west-southwest of El Reno, rapidly growing in size and becoming more violent as it tracked through central portions of Canadian County. Remaining over mostly open terrain, the tornado did not impact many structures; however, measurements from mobile weather radars revealed extreme winds up to 135.0 m/s (302 mph; 486 km/h) within the vortex. These are among the highest observed wind speeds on Earth, just slightly lower than the wind speeds of the 1999 Bridge Creek-Moore tornado. As it crossed U.S. 81, it had grown to a record-breaking width of 2.6 miles (4.2 km), beating the previous width record set in 2004. Turning northeastward, the tornado soon weakened. Upon crossing Interstate 40, the tornado dissipated around 6:43 p.m. CDT (2343 UTC), after tracking for 16.2 miles (26.1 km), it avoided affecting the more densely populated areas near and within the Oklahoma City metropolitan area."
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#history #documentary #tornado
My husband is the Mike Phelps (storm chaser and meteorologist) that you mentioned. Mike has storm chased since the early 80’s, he was on air at KAKE in Wichita, then went on to work at The Weather Channel… he was at the peak of his live streaming and storm tours during El Reno. Visibility was so low as they were behind Samaras and crew, one of the passengers in Mike’s chase van was able to see the tornado, hence the reason Mike and the other tour vehicle behind him stopped traveling the direction of Samaras. We visit the memorial when we go out “west” it’s hard for him to talk about that day!!
No way!! Mr. Phelps was my 6th grade earth science teacher at Hapeville! I’ll never forget him showing us some clips of his chases during our weather unit! Hope y’all are well! :)
@@sodapoppyrocks5696 I just read this to him!!! He loved it, said “that is so cool!”… he thought a lot of you kids and wonders about y’all!! He took a break from teaching after his sweet wife passed away, he worked with a wx radar company and the past two years, he’s been teaching Life Science at a middle school in West GA!! He loves teaching and weather!!
I allways loved Mikes Chase Streams , he played a big role in become a weather Geek myself. RIP Hampster Song
I mean, this tornado had an invisible tornadic wind field that was 3.5 miles wide. That’s nuts.
Not nuts- just wind (and some debris)😊
Thats crazyyyy 😮 🌪
It was 2.6 miles wide.
@@indisummers4385 i hear so many different details.. either way, the mofo was huge
@@jmw9904 the actual tornado was 2.6 miles wide but the windfield was 3.5 miles wide
Tim and Carl were the safest team in the opinions of most of the chasers of his era. Tim knew exactly where he wanted to be: behind and to the left of the funnel, avoiding the inflow and rfd winds. No one had any perception that the tornado would change direction 130 degrees, grow wildly in size, or gain numerous satellite vertices moving around the main funnel at high horizontal speeds.
They were in the Chevy Cobalt for fuel costs that year, and on a rain-inundated dirt road, the car had no traction to get them to their escape route against 80+ headwinds.
Where did you get the part about fuel costs? First I've heard of this and always wondered why a Cobalt and not something stronger, though for the Dominator and TIV, the hood did get ripped off of Reed's vehicle which if you know anything about it, shows how absolutely brutal and violent the storm was. Though given what happened to the Tornado Hunt team with Mike Bettis in a substantially heavir vehicle, I'm not sure the Twistx team could have done anything at all. They were entirely out of their depth as were all the chasers. El Reno 2013 rewrote the rulebook on how to safely chase storms and it is written unfortunately, in blood.
@@jacekatalakis8316 Tim had his pickup with the Kahuna lightning experiment in South Dakota going on concurrent with the chase. He determined that it was cheaper mileage and easier to take the Twistex Cobalt. Tim told friends that he much preferred the pickup over the Cobalt to "get the hell outta the way."
@@twisterdavemd1 Ah that makes sense, the narrative I've always heard from documentaries or video makers was just they were in a Cobalt, nothing about why or where the other TwistX vehicles were, but even that pickup would have no chance against a tornado like El Reno 2013, or even El Reno 2011 for that matter
It defied all explanation The El Reno Tornado is a Grim reminder that tornados are Unpredictable and Dangerous for a reason
A question…I have been on somewhat flooded dirt roads in both a passenger car and a four wheel drive. Each time having to drive fast enough to not sink in and get stuck but slippery as Hell and scary (for me), not the gkids, lol. Is it assumed if Tim had been in a 4-wheel they more than likely could have escaped?
These monsters are so rare yet The El Reno and Moore Tornado happen in the same month same year. Incredible!
Alabama too
@@commiehunter733 That was 2011 in April but yes that one was a monster as well. It absolutely ravaged Tuscaloosa.
Moore has stuck in my mind since the original 1999 one.
I Came here to read the comments , some real tears are expressed for Tim , his son and his BF colleague this day , the way it grew while changing direction had to be a true nightmare to watch, Tim had and always will be the gravity amid pause while chasing .This one was off the charts unpredictable
Tim samaras would never be hired at 20 nowadays because he didn’t have a college degree and 15 years of experience. Just want to vent about how ridiculous things are now. Rest in Peace to the Twistex crew and all that perished that unfortunate day.
Hired for what?
That’s insane! He seemed far more intelligent and professional than some in his field with a Ph.D. In my humble opinion, Reed Timmer will never be Tim Samaras. Samaras was a class-act and true professional.
Need 15-years of experience with something only 3-years in existence. It is ridiculous.
Genuine question, since you aren't the first I've seen to have that view, but what has Reed done to get so much hate? I don't get recommended much of his content at all though so I'm just sat here confused why people are hating on Reeed Timmer. Nobody seems to explain what Reed has or hasn't done to earn this hate online
@@jacekatalakis8316 replied to the wrong person. I don’t dislike Reed. His yelling is either funny or annoying depending on how sleepy I am.
It’s been said a million times but it still amazes me how virtually everything that makes a tornado dangerous was present with El Reno.
Biggest tornado ever✅
Heavily rain wrapped✅
Unpredictable movement✅
Extreme speed fluctuations✅
Some of the fastest wind speeds ever recorded✅
Night time❌…✅?
It wasn’t quite night time but it basically created it’s own darkness. I don’t think anyone alive today will live to see another tornado like it, and I sure hope I’m right about that. The devastation that would’ve occurred if that thing would’ve city a major city is “unfathomable”… the same term Ted Fujita used to describe a hypothetical F6 tornado…
I've always had some interest in storms and severe weather. I live in a state where tornadoes are rare, and I didn't know of many storm chasers. I was in El Reno last summer and happened to see the Twistex Memorial on google Maps and went to visit and pay my respects. What a beautiful tribute to the team. May they rest in peace, and their hard work and dedication never to be forgotten.
I remember where I was when this tornado happened, none of us had every seen anything like it, it was almost like it was a movie, straight out of a CGI scene, I can’t believe it’s been almost 11 years
its now 11 years.
I watched that dark storm grow and grow from just to the west of it and the radio played that ominous The National Radar broadcast. Biggest darkest storm I’ve seen to this day. I live in western Oklahoma where we see storms but that one was different.
tim was an absolutely fantastic man and father. I went to school with his daughter and still to this day remember him coming up to the school with his van full of gear. sharing with us kids the van showing us what he was doing. I remember this day when i found out who and it was devastating to find out. Knowing him and Paul was even harder.
I remember watching Stormchasers, and even recall them being on my favourite TV show Mythbusters... Hearing that Tim was gone was hard, but I told myself at least he went out doing what he loved and in the name of science. RIP Tim!❤
I remember seeing the tornado live on CNN and thinking that everyone from Stormchasers was probably there documenting it, then I heard that there had been been a few storm chaser killed never thinking it would be Tim and then it came out that it was and I was shocked.
I agree, bittersweet...like when Steve Irwin died. He too changed the way we all thought about reptiles and marine animals through his captivating videos and passionate narration. He educated as well as entertained. These men died doing what they loved...if its any consolation. RIP. 🌪️🙏
@@benetta8275 I remember that too and agree miss Steve
It’s crazy how Tim and Paul were both born on November 12 on his 31st birthday and they both died on the 31st
Yes!! Few see this. The numerology is telling.
Isn't ironic, don't cha think? I little too ironic?
Yeah I really do think-
It's like tornadoooos- on your wedding day-
It's a free riiiide- but it's already too fate-
It's a suicide- 5 minutes late-.
Who would have thought tornados....
Wow! My son was born on nov. 12 … always obsessed with tornadoes when he was younger and knows all about them..speaking of numwrology: his bday is 11/12/09 and mine is 12/12/88
@@christina3521 😅
😂
When I was a kid, I always loved meteorology and storm chasing when I saw storm chasers on discovery channel and watch The Weather Channel. I’ve always loved the weather and I still learn meteorology on this day. I can’t imagine how long it has been after losing a really good storm chaser.
I'll note that even though Storm Chasers had been canceled, after El Reno, Discovery Channel did make a special episode about the storm in memory of the TWISTEX team.
I was absolutely shocked at the news of their deaths. Everyone who knows anything about storm chasing knew that it was inevitable that the safety record would be marred eventually, but everyone expected that it'd probably be due to a traffic accident at exactly the wrong place and time, not someone just getting overrun. And if it *was* someone getting eaten without being in a crash first, people were sure it would be Reed Timmer who would get that reckless, not TWISTEX.
Yeah it seems like Reed will never be able to shake that reputation with some folks in the spotter/chaser/research community.....but, in all reality, many of us had Sean Casey's Team TIV as a likely victim of this sort of tragedy. Sean's pushiness to get the perfect shot crossed with a lack of education/background and the fact that Twistex and Team Dom had several seasoned, educated experts on both teams, where as TeamTIV was deficient in that department and many times was led by Sean's urges and lack of instinct.
Is Reed any more or less of a risk taker now than the time period you are talking about? Hard for me to evaluate any of this because it all looks dangerous and depends a lot on experience, skill, a 4-wheel drive and some luck. I worry about my Uncle who does very modest chasing but he is by himself.
@@barnowlwatcher Reed is about the same level of risk taking now, though I think he did step back and take a bit of a sober look at his risk levels after El Reno. It's just that Tim Samaras was noted for being about the single most conservative chaser to get in that close and get data; he always was the type to abort rather than take unnecessary risks. Hence the shock--Reed's always been a cowboy who gets off on the thrill, but Tim was risk-averse and preferred safety to getting the data at any cost.
@@rdfox76 Thx for explaining!
That system of grading tornados based on the damage they cause is so weird. There are areas in the US that are so empty that even the strongest tornado will barely cause any notable damage, meanwhile every average summer storm could cause more than that damage if it happens to throw some branches on expensive cars and houses
Yeah I'm personally against it... While I understand the intention of it, I feel it should be based on windspeed, ESPECIALLY since it can be measured before the tornado even hits anything. It would be really nice to know if there's an EF5 barrelling towards you in the moment, instead of having an unclassified tornado that you can't even tell for 100% certainty that it even exists. Although I do presume that meteorologists don't often know the moment a tornado spawns until much later on.
it’s because the EF scale measures tornado damage, not tornado strength.
I actually still go by the F scale base on windspeed, not EF scale
Agreed
@@SonoranAstro I just feel it's smarter to measure wind speeds, as it will allow for us to get an accurate prediction of the strength and danger of a tornado *before* it hits, rather than waiting until after it's already destroyed things to scale it.
His death wasn't a warning, it was a lesson.
Thank you Tim for everything.
A lesson I fear too many chasers today haven't learned or taken seriously. The amount of insanely reckless footage I've been seeing getting uploaded to UA-cam lately is unreal and highly concerning. They're getting so close to these tornadoes for some social media views. Even tornadoes with multi-vortex action like El Reno. It's only a matter of time before another tornado claims another chaser or another deadly traffic accident happens because of this crazy behavior.
a nice bit of tribute to tim samaras and twistex.. what an ugly, deformed, powerful monster of a tornado this was. You have an amazing way with words with the way you're describing this tornado, as well as describing the impact and aftermath it brought forth.
RIP Paul, Tim, Carl, and the 5 others that were killed. This is arguably the most unpredictable tornado of all time
This thing was an EF5 no matter what, that thing moved like it had a mind of it's own, it broke all the rules, people died because nowhere was safe, there's just so much we don't know yet.
@@brett9675 100% agree, people can call that an EF3, that's fine, but to me that's an EF5 and a damn terrifying one at that. Shapeshifting, massively expanding size at shocking speed, unpredictable, going in directions that aren't typical, changing directions, slowing down to a crawl then suddenly accelerating forward out of nowhere with great speed, multiple sub vortices that were difficult to see, clocked wind speed at nearly 300mph, huge invisible wind field, caught all of the chasers off guard and killed 4... yeah this is the scariest tornado I know of. It just had everything that made other tornadoes unique, all packed into one. An absolute monster.
@@AMightyStorm A monster that may one day appear again, God help those in it's path if it ever comes, I pray it doesn't.
When you see the Deadman walking you are about to die
not always ive seen a deadman walking and I survived
Generally good video; you were pretty near the mark when it came to just HOW that tornado got the best of the TWISTEX team. One thing that you missed, though, was that Dan Robinson and the TWISTEX team were both on a gravel road, which was becoming a sloppy mess due to the same torrential rain that made the tornado and its motion all but impossible to track
Whats scary is it would have been one of the deadliest tornados ever if it crossed the interstate and hit Oklahoma city
There wouldn’t have been an Oklahoma City the thing was as wide as an entire town and had 300 mph winds
@@JJJJ-he8bznot the entire circulation had such wind speed. When they say how wide the tornado was I think they mean the area that had at least ef0 wind speeds .. which houses and building would survive.
It would've been a puzzling chaotic damage field for sure though
That was by far one of the worst days of my life! I still have nightmares here & there where I’m reliving that evening/night over again, like a never ending time loop. Footage available online doesn’t do it justice. It was literally like we were stuck in the apocalypse or hell on earth. I didn’t know Tim or Carl very personally, I admired them quite a bit though. I knew Paul pretty well, great guy! All 3 were incredibly kind, and a blast to be around. Tim was the kind of guy that you just wanted to be around all the time, and soak up his wisdom. At least that’s how I felt about him. I wish I would’ve known what the outcome was going to be, and at least tried to do something to change it. Thinking about that really eats at me. Like it does many others that were there, unfortunately. RIP Twistex team, y’all were some of the best! They are greatly missed by our community.
Anishinaabe? Where are you from? 😃
@@jadefox5285 Michigan! And also Oklahoma & South Dakota :) I’ve moved around a bunch in my life to different reservations, and whichever family member I was living with growing up. Or caring for as an adult 💜 Are you also Anishinaabe? 🥰
@@AnishinaabeWaterProtector aanii bozhoo 🙋♀️ i KNEW IT 🙂 Yes im here in Grand Rapids, Michigan! Thats awesome! I wanna travel to down south and south west sooo bad.. have you ever been to the gathering of nations powwow? Or powwows here in Michigan?? 🪶
You are SO BEAUTIFUL, i LOVE IT 🪷
@@jadefox5285 Boozhoo! Aww chi miigwech!! You are so beautiful as well!!! I had a feeling you were a Nish Kwe 💜 wow so you aren’t far from me when I’m in Michigan then. That’s so cool!!! Yes I try to go to GON every year but I couldn’t make it this last one in April. My mom is sick and I just couldn’t get the time away between work, my daughter and taking her of my Mom. But I’m going to go next year! Yes I go as often as I can, to any and all Pow Wows I am able to travel to! I’m a jingle dancer, so I’m always in the mix. Have one this weekend actually, in Standish 🥰 how about you? Do you ever go? What nation are you? I always love interacting with my relations on here, it is good medicine for sure 🥰🪶💜
Experienced stormchaser here… YES, traffic is the true enemy… and YES, Tim was a cautious chaser.
Thank-you for this fantastic story. I watched the Storm Chasers show, and was stunned when I heard about this. Keep up the good work.
Thinking about twistex makes me cry..
Thank you for doing this, Darkness. I remember the show Storm chasers and it's sad what happened to some very experienced chasers.
Señor Darkness, your content just keeps getting better and better. Thanks for doing what you do! 😁
Hey darkness, since you are covering infamous tornadoes, can you cover the 97 Jarrell F5
I just missed the Jarrell tornado. I was driving north on I35. I had to pull under a bridge because of hail. Terrible storm and the infamous Dead Man Walking tornado.
Or he could cover the 1999 Bridge Creek-Moore tornado, the strongest tornado on record and the strongest to ever strike a metropoliatian area.
@@JCBro-yg8vd he already did that one
Never expected you to make a tornado video but wow great job. I remember watching storm chasers and wanting to grow up to be them. Still do. That day tho was one that, in my opinion everyone started to forget how dangerous chasing really was, this unfortunate was the grim reminder.
At this point I might need to watch very many more UA-camrs lol you got trains, planes and now tornadoes. Great video and hope this isn’t the last time you venture into this topic.
this is a really welcome change of pace! i wouldnt mind more weathee content. really well done video
The legend that is Gary England warned his chasers they were way too close and talked down, I forget if it was Val or Marty or who it was, but Gary pointed out they were too close and needed to back off of the storm. The chaser pointed out it wasn't moving and Gary pointedly and carefully corrected the chaser live on air.
Also Mike Morgan refused to apologize for telling people to get in their cars and go south, on the Weather Brains podcast with James Spann, and deservedly got a ton of heat for that at the time and since, especially if you saw the pictures of how the roads were from the choppper camera footage. It was said if the tornado had gone on or near the bumper to bumper interstate there would have been hundreds if not thousands of deaths and injuries
Shits nuts u see the dan Robinson one where he had abounded his car and hit a ditch and camera was rolling but missed him?. Few more chasers to with videos look like movie twister see shit flying at car was nuts
@@patricklaurojr7427 He was in a Toyota Yaris with traction control on. The one I keep going back to is Daniel Shaw's one, which is absolutely insane. Even if Tim, Reed, Daniel, Emily, Heidi, Val, everyone, had done everything right, they would still have been caught off guard by the tornado. It was that unpredictable and that much of a monster that even if you did everything right, you were still in the danger zone.
When you have experts lining up to call you out on your antics and you don't apologize, that says a lot about your character. I took a listen to Mike Morgan on the Weather Brains podcast and, okay this was done in fall 2013, but Mike did not apologize at all, if anything he doubled down on his attitude of I am right. I do hope in the years since he's changed his tune on this but I'm not hopeful though, knowing how toxic the OKC market is however
@jacekatalakis8316 yea the Daniel shaw one was nuts. You think Reed could drove dominator in it and been good?
@@patricklaurojr7427 With how the winds were I doubt it honestly. Now I'm curious what Reed's thoughts are on this though, given PicosHank and company worked out the sub vortices were moving around at 270 mph, I don't think Dominator would have survived that for very longaro
@jacekatalakis8316 I mean I'm sure they make sure it's built for a Ef5 but maybe he doesn't go in if it looks too big and he knows these things
Damn one of your best videos yet I never comment on videos but that was a good one! Keep up the good work
I think the El Reno tornado was far too dangerous to be chasing.
RIP Tim he was the godfather of storm chasing
thank you for covering this i live in oklahoma only a few towns over from where this happend and this was done very well you might consider covering the joplin tornado witch is the costlest one on the books
Hey man great work as always. But I think the truck was a 3500HD = 1 ton pickup truck. But it’s a great video keep it up
Referring to the tornado as she and her kinda cringed me out for some reason lol
Yeah it distracted me every time he said it
First 42 seconds background music is from Final Fantasy 7...
These tornado videos haunt my dreams, I live in NYC yet next thing I know I close my eyes and damn, farms around, its cloudy and raining, here comes the nightmare fuel EF5 funnel!
I like your content, constructive criticism improve voice recording. It sounds very flat and lacks lower bass tones. I thought I had a loose cable somewhere.
Trains and Naders, What A Channel!
Thank you, this was very respectful.
It's still surprising that just 8 people died in this horror. Though RIP to a 8. Also, this ohne dude is badass. Traffic is more dangerous than Tornados. YEAH BOI!!! God bless hin soul!
I remember being real young when this tornado hit
I see you have decided to, well, talk like The History Guy. Weather-that deserves to be remembered!
RIP TIM, CARL, and PAUL. ❤ GONE BUT NEVER FORGOTTEN . TEAM TWISTEX 🌪️⚡
Historyinthedark- do you happen to know what happened to the video that was out that showed all the chasers footage, including Tims, of that day with interviews afterwards?
It’s was traffic, massive amount a of traffic in every direction because of numerous tours being given
Darkness, why must you always upload videos that are atop my interests!?
I've watched so many different reports on this particular day!
Either way, It's crazy sad,alarming, and mysterious! 💯
The Taifun Hayan of Oklahoma. In These conditions there was no way the could have survived.
RIP BIG TIM AND CREW 🙏🙏🙏
I do love looking at storms and I love to watch tornadoes to hear that Tim Samaras his son and his best friend had died that really tore me up I didn't know until I saw the video that they have passed I love twisted x they will all be missed
I also watched Storm Chasers and the Weather Channel show Storm Riders. The 2 scientists (whose names I don’t remember) were also caught up in the storm. They were interviewed by the Weather Channel for the special they did on that storm. They were lucky to get away with just minor damage to their vehicle. Like many I was shocked by the deaths of Tim and his crew.
Manslaughter? Was radar pulsed to strengthen and change the direction of this storm/tornado? I think so.
No. You just mentioned two areas, out of numerous areas, where we still don't fully understand tornadoes and that remain a mystery.
Will the tornado strengthen; how, when, where? What will be the path of the tornado, it's forward ground speed; how, when, where?
By the way, there's a gigantic hot ball of hydrogen and helium at the center of our solar system 109 times wider than Earth, and 1.3 million Earths could fit inside it. That's what controls Earths weather dynamics and patterns.
It’s time to re-examine/update the Fujita scale. El Reno’s size and wind speed should have been top of the tornado scale, start-to-finish. The measurements we can do by radar these days should supplant any scale based on damage. The scale was good for its time, but its time is passed. Would Samaris have acted any differently if he knew for sure he was facing what probably should’ve been categorized EF six and advertised as such during the event? We will never know.- it’s nice to stand back after a tornado has done its thing and say well it looks like an EF five and it had 300 mile an hour winds and it was 2.6 miles wide and it was hopping around like a toad on a lily pad - but we will call it an EF3 even though we could tell that on the radar but why try to tell anybody while it’s going on?
That is insanity.
They at least died doing what they loved. RIP.
Storm chasers should be part of The Meterologists and Civil Defense in Weather.
I want to mention Dan Robinson again because in the video of him *absolutely hauling ass* away from the tornado, you can literally see the headlights of the Twistex team’s car for just a moment before the storm catches him and he has to run. He accidentally captured their last moments.
I got a real nightmare for you. This tornado hitting a city at a moving forward speed of 3 to 5mph like Jarrel. Where that kind of monstrous force is over you for a long amount of time. And as nature constantly keeps proving to us it can always be worse. RIP to Twistex. Much respect.
It hits home when Tim and his son are from Colorado RIP
My condolences to the storm chaser's families and friends. It's a sad story.
Imagine if this behemoth had hit a city instead of rural areas. Hundreds of deaths, perhaps thousands. And I don't think any buildings would have survived, no matter how modern, strong, or well-built. Even concrete reinforced by steel would've crumbled under such a large tornado with such fast winds. It would likely look more like the aftermath of a nuclear bomb detonation than tornado damage.
The fact that the team geaded by Timmers died made me want to cry. So sad that they died from chasing that massive tornado.
I was headed to the El Reno Salebarn . It crossed in front of me
This was a tornado that feels like it was created specifically to catch professional storm chasers off-guard: With its erratic movements, multiple suction and satilette vortices, and massive wind field, not to mention its sudden burst of forward speed.
I watched a documentary about that specific tornado
11 years ago today.
A tornado is unpredictable. It's sad for them 😢
Worst train of all time.
He should've had a TIV or Dominator like Reed Timmer since those vehicles are built to intercept twisters. Even if he didn't intend to intercept, having a vehicle that could anchor to the ground at a moment's notice could have saved his life.
Father and son had the same birthday? How sad, poor family
Looking at the Twistex team’s memorial, I noticed that Tim Samaras’ son Paul was born on the same day that Tim was, November 12th, and sadly, they both died on the same day, too, of course, May 31st.
I heard about it when I was 7 at the time
Same here. I was too young to understand the full gravity of the situation. I remember watching Good Morning America that following Monday in my parent's room. I saw the sub-vortices of the tornado from Mike Bettes' video, but they looked like dust devils to me. I continued watching storm chasers not knowing what had happened. As I got older, I looked into a lot more and even read the book based off of him-- The Man Who Caught the Storm. Truly a tragic incident.
Didn't think you would be the type to do a tornado video much less El rino!
His is HISTORY in the dark
Doesn't have the voice for deadly serious topics like the El Reno tornado. Sounds like an excited, comedic teen voice going through puberty.
@@The_Fat_Controller. UH GEET EEM
I'm sure Dan Robinson is haunted by that. I wonder if he's released rear-deck dash cam footage of Twistex being overcome?
I think when he initially posted his escape video, the footage of the cobalt disappearing was in it, but I believe he edited it out out of respect for the families of the deceased
Never fails the safest guy always gets killed!!! Rip!!!
Fun yet creepy fact: during the special national geographic show, which i happen to see, before it was ERASED by youtube for some strange reason. It was mentioned in the show that the vortice that hit Tim Samarras SAT on them for a couple minutes with over 150+ mph THEN crushed and threw the car. Yet nobody ever admits this creepy detail since.
Wow how was El reno only an EF3
Multiple vortexes?
Would it be called multiple vortices?
It really is stupid to rate tornadoes by damage done when that's so heavily influenced by where they form and whether or not they had the opportunity to do much damage. Wind speed alone, the actual power, is the only thing that should factor into the rating.
Rip Twistex 🙏
They got railroaded by the pain train.
Excellent reporting, content and tribute to Tim and Paul Samaras and Carl Young. The only thing missing was Tim’s encounter with the 1999 Bridge Creek/Moore F5 tornado. Tim placed one of his probes in the path of that incredibly powerful tornado and it registered that tornado’s wind speed to be 318 mph! The highest storm wind speed EVER recorded! No one ever thought that any storm on Earth could be that fast. Tim Samaras’ probe made history with that tornado! I believe that’s what he was attempting to do with the 2.6 mile wide 2013 El Reno tornado before it killed him. Every year, every tornado outbreak, I think of him and his team and what a loss they are to all of us. He didn’t just chase storms, he gave us scientific understanding of them. I think meteorologists all over the country understand how big a loss he is. No one achieved what he did or was more careful about storm chasing.
Storm chasing vehicles should be equipped with cages similar to those found in rally cars or monster trucks as well as lexan windows
Just calling it a monster is a huge understatement... El Reno was an absolute hell brought to Earth via wind. If that tornado would of hit a large city the devastation would of been worse than the nuclear bombing of Hiroshima.
Where's Bill Paxton and Helen Hunt when you need them?
Tornados should be rated on their windspeed and size, not how much damage they do.
nickim6571: We don’t always know their wind speeds. Size doesn’t always matter. Smaller sized tornadoes can be “wound tighter” and more concentrated than a larger one and then, more destructive. What you can see by the damage, especially residential neighborhoods, is a pretty good indication of their strength. An EF3 does significant damage but many structures and trees are still partially intact. An EF4, demolishes most structures and snaps or uproots most trees. An EF5 . . . Obliteration! Trees are toothpicks and stripped of their bark, homes are exploded and only their foundations are left behind, everything is airborne and a projectile.
But I have to agree with you on one thing, if a tornado is 2.6 MILES wide and the known wind speed is 302 mph, maybe we should call it an EF6!!! No matter what it hits or how much damage wasn’t observed in a more rural area! THAT’S A SCREAMING F-ING NIGHTMARE!!!
also team dominator was chasing with dom 2 as a fact
I think we should be thankful this storm took this guy,let's be honest,guy gets clearance to pentagon to develop weapons,I heard the words(Very Smart) alot,and he gets unalived by a tornado. Maybe the storm knew something we didnt,guy could've ended us all...think about it.
Cobalts are... O.k.
You can say what you want i still believe that tornado was the first if not the second only F6 ever it was faster at 302 mph and wider at 2.6 miles wide
Rating system needs to change. Not from what damage it has done but what damage it could potentially do.
You are absolutely right! It is utterly ridiculous to downgrade a tornado from an EF5 to EF3 simply because there was not enough potential destruction in its path. A storm with windspeeds measuring 300 mph is catastrophic regardless of what it hits.
She sounds like a crazy ex-girlfriend lol😅
I hate the EF scale.
wait im second? epic.
did u ever catch weather ch guys exaggerating the conditions they are reporting in.........like having a hard time standing during a hurricane then someon walks by just fine lol
Samaris got too bold. He paid for it, and unfortunately, so did his son and his partner.
El Reno was actually an EF6 Nader 🌪️ with EF5 sub vortices twisting about and around it. 3 miles wide it’s a wonder it didn’t delete everyone that day. 💀
I love tornados. Joplin 2011 that’s my favorite tornado. Takes no prisoners