Oklahoma City/Moore Tornado

[PhotonWrangler]

But clearly no roll cage. That vehicle was NOT properly equipped to chase tornadoes.

 

[Hooked on Fenix]

But clearly no roll cage. That vehicle was NOT properly equipped to chase tornadoes.

What vehicle is qualified to chase tornadoes? Unless it is built to stop and quickly anchor to the pavement, it's always a miracle if anyone survives. A roll cage doesn't do much good if you get lifted up a few hundred feet and then dropped upside down or if a building drops on you.

 

[PhotonWrangler]

What vehicle is qualified to chase tornadoes? Unless it is built to stop and quickly anchor to the pavement, it's always a miracle if anyone survives. A roll cage doesn't do much good if you get lifted up a few hundred feet and then dropped upside down or if a building drops on you.

This is. It's built like a tank and can anchor itself into the ground. If you're going to put people into harm's way you can't put them in a regular SUV.

 

[Hooked on Fenix]

That's a nice truck and it does anchor itself into the pavement. That one would have a good chance of surviving. Nice find. My point was that if a roll cage is the only thing other than airbags protecting the occupants, it's still not enough to keep people safe. The ability to attach itself to the pavement makes it much more likely to survive being picked up and dropped. However, I think it's questionable whether or not it can survive certain objects falling on it such as sharp and/or heavy metal objects or a semitruck hauling a trailer full of gasoline. In the words of Ron White, "It's not that the wind is blowing, it's what the wind is blowing."

 

[PhotonWrangler]

Point well taken, HOF. I was just upset to see that the storm chaser crew had nothing but the airbags to protect them.

I've heard that the death toll has risen to 11. This includes some people who crawled into a ditch for protection from the wind and they drowned, as well as a storm chaser, his son and a storm chaser colleague who drove towards a tornado in a vehicle that was not equipped for this.

 

[StarHalo]

Storm chasers Tim Samaras, his son Paul Samaras, and Carl Young were killed while following the El Reno tornado Friday; they appeared on the "Storm Chasers" TV program. Their truck was destroyed, no other specific info on the incident is available yet.

So now comes the controversy over storm chasing, complicated by the fact that another storm chaser truck got footage from nearly inside a tornado from what was probably the same storm..

 

[Hooked on Fenix]

I don't think storm chasing is going to get banned because some storm chasers were killed. Yes, it is a very risky job. However, it's sort of like being a soldier. They are on the front lines trying to save the lives of others. If they die while warning the people in the path of a tornado, they're lives were not wasted. Those they warned can be spared because of that sacrifice. The storm chasers that died in that storm will be missed.

 

[Steve K]

As someone who lives in the mid-west and is subject to plenty of storms and nearby tornados, I'm not clear on what the function of the storm chasers is. I have friends who serve as storm spotters, and have assigned positions to monitor the skies when storms are on their way. They report to the local emergency and weather services when they see hazardous weather.

I'm not familiar with the function of the folks who chase the storms though. Do they provide info that the network of spotters don't provide, possibly in the very sparsely populated areas? My impression from the general media is that they are some sort of thrill seekers who add little to the weather database... or is this just the group that makes it into the news?

 

[Rexlion]

Some storm chasers are doing research to help understand tornadoes. Some are spotting for various news and weather stations/agencies. Some are thrill seekers. There may be other reasons I'm not thinking of.

The three who died in the recent OKC area storm were working for Discovery Channel's program, "Storm Chasers." They may have been filming or they may have been placing Twistex instruments to pick up storm readings, or both.

 

[Icarus]

I tried to contact my friend Tim living in Oklahoma City but he doesn't reply my email. He is known here as Xflash. I hope he is ok.