Storm chasers killed chasing El Reno tornado on Friday

I’ve just learned that storm researcher Tim Samaras, his son Paul and fellow researcher Carl Young were killed chasing the El Reno, OK tornado on Friday.

Tim’s brother posted this on Facebook this morning:

“I’m Jim Samaras – Tim Samaras’s brother. Thank you to everyone for the condolences. It truly is sad that we lost my great brother Tim and his great son, Paul. Our hearts also go out to the Carl Young family as well as they are feeling the same feelings we are today. They all unfortunately passed away but doing what they LOVED. Chasing Tornado’s. I look at it that he is in the ‘big tornado in the sky…’ We (the family) will keep folks aware of what the funeral estrangements are, but please in the meantime keep Tim and Paul in your thoughts and prayers.”

This is a great loss to the scientific community and to our storm chaser family. My thoughts and prayers are with their friends and family. They will be missed by all of us.

Storm chasers registered with The Spotter Network have been coordinating their GPS locations as a tribute to the three men.

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The Weather Channel released this statement:

“It was with great sadness that The Weather Channel learned of the passing of Tim and Paul Samaras and Carl Young as a result of the El Reno Tornado. Many of us were fortunate to have worked with them and have great admiration for their work. They went in the field focused on collecting data to enable meteorologists to further the science behind tornadoes which we know has and will help to save countless lives. Our community has suffered a terrible loss and our thoughts and prayers are with their loved ones.”

The Twistex team was about the science of storms and tornadoes. You can listen to Tim explain some of what they do in these videos.