TWISTEX: A huge loss for severe storm research.

I was just checking the radar before I went to the soccer field and found a bit on the Weather Channel sidebar about tornado researchers having been killed.  As most know by now, Tim Samaras, his son Paul and Carl Young all died as a result of a multi-vortex tornado in El Reno.

I say nothing that no one else has said yet.  He was a pioneer in severe weather research.  He was with all other researchers who wanted to learn why some storms developed tornadoes and not others, as well as advancing early warning systems.  

Tim and his team did what they did for research.  They weren't out to take a pretty picture.  They weren't out just because they had nothing else to do.  It was not their quest to get inside of a tornado, yet that is what they did in the end. 

Our sympathy to the TWISTEX family.  I know that severe weather research is suffering the loss of this very talented individual and his team.

From TVN.  So very sad.

An update from Yahoo:

It's unclear exactly how the men were killed, but a fellow storm chaser told ABC that their equipment is missing. "The family and overall scientific community would like it recovered to see what happened and what went wrong," the storm chaser said.

Since I just watched a news report with Ginger Zee, it was stated that Tim was found strapped into the vehicle with his seat belt, but that one of the other two gentleman was found 1/2 mile away.  Perhaps the video equipment and other scientific equipment is dispersed out into the field and they haven't located it yet.  I hope that for the sake of the Samaras and Young families, as well as all of those who knew and loved all of the men involved, that the equipment is found and that they are able to see what happened and to put that into further research to help others.

From ABC Channel 7 in Denver:

The Samaras family released a statement Sunday afternoon asking for thoughts and prayers:

"We would like to express our deep appreciation and thanks for the out pouring of support to our family at this very difficult time.   We would like everyone to know what an amazing husband, father, and grandfather he was to us.  Tim had a passion for science and research of tornadoes. He loved being out in the field taking measurements and viewing mother nature. His priority was to warn people of these storms and save lives. Paul was a wonderful son and brother who loved being out with his Dad.  He had a true gift for photography and a love of storms like his Dad.  They made a special team. They will be deeply missed. We take comfort in knowing they died together doing what they loved. Please keep us in your thoughts and prayers."

 -- Kathy Samaras, Amy Gregg, Jennifer Scott

A continued update on the missing equipment is that the camera equipment that [they] were using at the time of their death is still missing.  They are asking that if you come across the camera equipment in the tornado/storm debris to please let the authorities know.

From Channel 9 News in Colorado.

A phone interview with Tim on Friday. 

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From The Weather Space- a post written by someone who knew Tim Samaras personally.  

Edited to add on 6/5/13-

I read a very interesting article in USA Today.  It stated that the El Reno tornado went from 1 mile to 2.6 miles wide in the matter of 30 seconds. It was because of DOW measurements that the El Reno tornado was upgraded from EF3 to EF5.  With as quickly as it developed width, people probably didn't even know that it was happening until it was there.   

               

Image found in the Washington Post article.