Tim Samaras facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Tim Samaras
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| Born |
Timothy Michael Samaras
November 12, 1957 |
| Died | May 31, 2013 (aged 55) |
| Cause of death | Tornado incident |
| Known for | Tornado field research |
| Spouse(s) | Kathy Samaras |
| Children | Paul Samaras (deceased) Amy Gregg Jennifer Samaras Matt Winter |
| Scientific career | |
| Fields | Engineering, meteorology |
| Institutions | Applied Research Associates |
Tim Samaras (born November 12, 1957 – died May 31, 2013) was an American engineer and storm chaser. He was famous for his field research on tornadoes and for being on the Discovery Channel show, Storm Chasers. Sadly, he passed away during the powerful 2013 El Reno tornado.
Contents
Early Life and Tornado Interest
Tim Samaras was born in Lakewood, Colorado, on November 12, 1957. His father, Paul, was a photographer. His mother, Margaret, encouraged him to watch The Wizard of Oz when he was six.
Tim later said that when the tornado appeared in the movie, he was "hooked!" He attended schools in Lakewood and graduated in 1976. In his twenties, he began chasing storms. He did this not for excitement, but for science. He continued this important work until his death in 2013.
Tim's Career and Inventions
Tim Samaras was a self-taught person who never went to college. He became an amateur radio operator at age 12. He even built radio transmitters from old television sets! As an adult, he had the highest amateur radio license in the U.S. He used his radio skills to talk with others while chasing storms. He also reported dangerous weather sightings.
At 16, Tim was a radio technician. By 17, he was a shop foreman. After high school, he was hired by the University of Denver Research Institute. By age 20, he was testing and building weapons systems for the Pentagon.
Samaras became a well-known engineer at Applied Research Associates. He worked on blast testing and airline crash investigations. The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) praised his work on the TWA Flight 800 crash. He also used high-speed photography to study things like ballistics (the science of how bullets move).
Besides tornadoes, Tim was interested in all kinds of storms. He especially studied lightning, using cameras that could shoot 1.4 million pictures per second! He was a talented photographer and videographer. He even used photogrammetry (measuring from photos) with cameras placed inside tornadoes. Tim also loved astronomy, electronics, and inventing things.
TWISTEX: Studying Tornadoes Up Close
Tim Samaras started a research team called Tactical Weather Instrumented Sampling in Tornadoes EXperiment, or TWISTEX. Their goal was to understand tornadoes better. The National Geographic Society (NGS) gave him 18 grants to help fund his field work.
Samaras designed and built his own weather tools, called probes. He would place these probes in the path of tornadoes. This helped him gather scientific information from inside the storms.
In 2003, one of his probes recorded the biggest drop in atmospheric pressure ever measured inside a tornado. This happened near Manchester, South Dakota, during an F4 tornado. The pressure dropped 100 hPa in less than a minute! This achievement is in the Guinness World Records. Tim's probes were very strong and could survive inside tornadoes. He was also working on a patent for tools that measured winds in 3D.
Tim and his team drove over 35,000 miles during the two busiest months of tornado season each year. He said the most dangerous part of chasing tornadoes was not the storms themselves, but the road hazards. In his career, he tracked more than 125 tornadoes. His friends and colleagues thought he was one of the safest storm chasers.
Sharing Knowledge and TV Fame
Starting in 1998, Tim helped create the National Storm Chasers Convention. This yearly event near Denver brought together hundreds of chasers. Tim's wife, Kathy, continues to organize this convention.
In 2005, National Geographic Society named him an "Emerging Explorer." From 2009 to 2012, Tim was a star on the Discovery Channel's Storm Chasers. He also worked for Boeing, testing how well aircraft skins resisted hail.
Tim co-wrote a book called Tornado Hunter: Getting Inside the Most Violent Storms on Earth in 2009. He also wrote or co-wrote about a dozen scientific papers. His work helped increase the warning times for tornadoes.
Tim's Passing
In the spring of 2013, the TWISTEX team was studying lightning. But when many tornadoes started forming, Tim decided to use his pressure probes. He also tested new infrasound sensors for tornadoes.
On May 31, 2013, at 6:23 p.m., Tim, his 24-year-old son Paul (a photographer), and team member Carl Young (a meteorologist), 45, were killed. They were hit by a very strong wedge tornado near El Reno, Oklahoma. Their TWISTEX vehicle was struck by a smaller, very powerful part of the tornado called a subvortex. These subvortices have the strongest winds.
The tornado was measured as 2.6 miles wide, making it the widest tornado ever recorded. Its huge size and many spinning parts made it hard for people to understand. The strong winds and difficult roads made it hard to drive away. The tornado also made a sudden sharp turn and sped up quickly. It also grew much wider in about 30 seconds. Heavy rain hid most of the tornado, making it hard to see. Because of all this, several other storm chasers were also hit or had very close calls. This was the first time storm chasers or meteorologists were known to be killed by a tornado.
This sad event made many people think about how storm chasing is done, especially getting very close to tornadoes. Besides the three TWISTEX members, the tornado killed five other people.
Scientists and storm chasers started a big project to learn what happened. They wanted to understand the chasers' actions and the weather events. A temporary memorial was set up where the accident happened. A permanent memorial was later built, though it was sadly damaged in 2016.
Many people shared their sadness about Tim's death. The Storm Prediction Center (SPC) said Tim was a respected researcher and friend. They said he brought special skills in engineering, science, writing, and video. Meteorologist Greg Forbes called Tim a "groundbreaker" in tornado research. National Geographic said Tim was a brave and brilliant scientist. Tim's brother said he died "doing what [he] LOVED. Chasing Tornadoes." The Discovery Channel dedicated a special about the 2013 Moore tornado to Tim and his team.
Tim was survived by his wife Kathy, two daughters, another son, two brothers, and two grandchildren. His memorial service was held on June 6, 2013, in Littleton, Colorado.
Tim's Family Life
Tim and his wife Kathy had three children: Paul (who passed away with him), Amy Gregg, and Jennifer Samaras. At the time of his death, the family lived on a large property near Bennett, Colorado. This open space allowed Tim to set up his amateur radio towers and have plenty of room for his workshops.
Tim also had another son, Matt Winter, whom he learned about seven years before his death. Matt was welcomed into the family. Matt was also very interested in weather. He found out Tim was his father after hearing him speak at a weather conference in 2006.
In 2011, Tim took a break from chasing storms. He helped build homes in Alabama for people whose houses were destroyed by tornadoes earlier that year. He worked with the same dedication he showed in his scientific work.
See also
In Spanish: Tim Samaras para niños
