SEIMON: Nice going. And then he thought of something else. [Recording: SEIMON: You might actually slow down a bit. GWIN: So by the time forecasters detect a tornado and warn people whats coming, the storm could be a few critical minutes ahead. Richmond Virginia. Slow down, Tim. 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. [9] Though the footage itself was never released, Gabe has provided a description of the video. Paul was a wonderful son and brother who loved being out with his Dad. And in this mystery were the seeds of a major research case. GWIN: After that, Anton stopped chasing tornadoes with Tim. It is a feature-length film with a runtime of 43min. GWIN: When scientists dug into those videos, they made a huge discovery. [Recording: SEIMON: All right, were probably out of danger, but keep going. (Read National Geographic's last interview with Tim Samaras. SEIMON: What the radar beam does, you know, a radar sends a signal out. [7], The team traveled alongside the tornado, which was rapidly changing speed, direction, and even size, reaching a record-beating width of 2.6 miles. [2], Additionally, another storm chaser named Dan Robinson barely escaped the tornado while attempting to photograph it. He says his videos told the story of the El Reno tornado in a whole new way. SEIMON: We are able to map out the storm in a manner that had never been done before. Anton published a scientific paper with a timeline of how the tornado formed. Supercell thunderstorms are breathtaking to behold. "National Geographic: Inside the Mega Twister . It was the largest, one of the fastest, andfor storm chasersthe most lethal twister ever recorded on Earth. It seems like most tornadoes develop on the ground first. In September, to . And you can see that for yourself in our show notes. JANA HOUSER (METEOROLOGIST): We collect data through a mobile radar, which in our case basically looks like a big cone-shaped dish on top of a relatively large flatbed pickup truck. How did this mountain lion reach an uninhabited island? Not according to biology or history. The result is an extraordinary journey through the storm thats unprecedented. It was about 68 m (75 yards) wide at its widest point and was on the ground for 3.5 km (2.2 miles). The exterior walls of the house had collapsed. GWIN: Anton wants to fix that. SEIMON: You know, I had no idea how international storm chasing had become. Special recounts the chasing activities of the S Read allThe words 'Dangerous Day Ahead' appeared in the last tweet sent by storm chaser Tim Samaras, just hours before he, his son Paul Samaras and chase partner Carl Young were killed while chasing the El Reno, OK tornado on May 31, 2013. Samaras received 18 grants for fieldwork from the National Geographic Society over the years. Tim and Anton would track a tornado in their car. I mean, like you said, it seems like youve seen it kind of all, from El Reno on down. HARGROVE: The only way Tim was able to get these measurements was because he was willing to push it a little bit. A tornado that big and that powerful should be, and should only be, considered an F4 or higher. GWIN: This is Brantley Hargrove. It's my most watched documentary. I didn't feel it was nearly as desperate as he was communicating. And his video camera will be rolling. Washington: At least six people were killed on Thursday when a tornado and powerful storms ravaged the southern US state of Alabama, rescue officials confirmed. It all goes back to radar. It has a great rating on IMDb: 7.4 stars out of 10. When radar picked up on the developing storm, the team departed to photograph lightning. share. GWIN: As Anton closes in on 30 years of tornado research, he still sees a lot of storm chasing in his future. Records taken from the Storm Prediction Center archive data, "Storm Data", and data from the National Weather Service office in Norman. The event became the largest tornado ever recorded and the tornado was 2.5 miles wide, producing 300 mile per hour winds and volleyball sized hail. Tim then comments "Actually, I think we're in a bad spot. Can we bring a species back from the brink?, Video Story, Copyright 1996-2015 National Geographic Society, Copyright 2015-2023 National Geographic Partners, LLC. SEIMON: And we began driving south and I thought we were in a very safe position. What is wind chill, and how does it affect your body? Many interviews and other pieces were cut from this class version to fit the production within the allotted time.This project features archive footage from several sources, obtained legally and used with permission from the variety of owners or obtained through public sources under Fair Use (educational - class project). He was featured in a National Geographic cover story, and he also starred in a TV show. Keep going. You know, we are really focused on the task at hand and the safety element. His priority was to warn people of these storms and save lives. Then a long, black tentacle reaches down from the sky. But this is not your typical storm chasing documentary. one of his skis got caught in the net causing reinstadler to ragdoll, causing a severe fracture in his pelvis. And it wasnt just researchers paying attention. Forecasters can see whats happening at cloud level. We hope this film inspires more research that can one day save lives. And his paper grabbed the attention of another scientist named Jana Houser. The tornado's exceptional magnitude (4.3-km diameter and 135 m s1 winds) and the wealth of observational data highlight this storm as a subject for scientific investigation . And, you know, all these subsequent efforts to understand the storm and for the story to be told as accurately as possible, they're teaching us many things. Special recounts the chasing activities of the Samaras team, Weather's Mike Bettes . Tim, thesell take your head off, man. A mans world? Music used in the film was licensed through VideoBlocks.com and used within all rights of the agreement. He loved being out in the field taking measurements and viewing mother nature. Tim Samaras and Anton Seimon met up again in 2013 in Oklahoma City ahead of the El Reno tornado. "This information is especially crucial, because it provides data about the lowest ten meters of a tornado, where houses, vehicles, and people are," Samaras once said. GWIN: In 2013, a decade after they had last worked together, Tim Samaras and Anton Seimon separately followed the same storm to Oklahoma. Tim Samaras groundbreaking work led to a TV series and he was even featured on the cover of an issue of National Geographicmagazine. ANTON SEIMON [sound from a video recording of a storm chase near El Reno, Oklahoma]: Keep driving hard. (Facebook), Copyright 1996-2015 National Geographic SocietyCopyright 2015-2023 National Geographic Partners, LLC. In my head I was trying to understand what I was looking at, but tornadoes are not this large, you know. We have links to some of Antons tornado videos. When analysed alongside radar data, it enables us to peel back the layers and offer minute by minute, frame by frame analysis of the tornado, accompanied by some state-of-the-art CGI animations. The footage shows the car as the tornado moves onto it. Just swing the thing out.]. ", Discovery Channel: "We are deeply saddened by the loss of Tim Samaras, his son Paul, and their colleague Carl Young who died Friday, May 31st doing what they love: chasing storms." And every year, he logs thousands of miles driving around the Great Plains, from Texas to Canada, and from the Rockies all the way to Indiana. on June 3, 2016. Top 10 best tornado video countdown. he died later that same day 544 34 zillanzki 3 days ago Avicii (Middle) last photo before he committed suicide in April 20th, 2018. SEIMON: You know, I'd do anything in my power to get my friends back. HARGROVE: Structural engineers obviously need to know these things because they need to know, you know, how strong do we need to build this hospital? Explore. You can see it from multiple perspectives and really understand things, how they work. His car's dashcam recorded his encounter with the tornado, which he has released publically. Storm Highway blog page on the El Reno tornado incident". 518 31 ABOUT. The kind of thing you see in The Wizard of Oz, a black hole that reaches down from the sky and snatches innocent people out of their beds. For tornado researchers and storm chasers, this was like the Excalibur moment. 13K views 9 years ago A short film produced for my graduate class, MCMA540, during the 2013 Fall semester. First, Anton needed to know exactly where each video was shot, down to a few feet. SEIMON: Slow down, Tim. Compiling this archive is National Geographic grantee Dr. Anton Seimon. SEIMON: So that really freaked me out because, you know, more than a million people are living in that area in harm's way. They pull over. Photo 1: This photo shows EF-3 damage to a house near the intsersection of S. Airport Road and SW 15th Street, or about 6.4 miles southwest of El Reno, OK in Canadian County. Press question mark to learn the rest of the keyboard shortcuts . GWIN: Brantley wrote a biography of Tim Samaras, a self-taught engineer obsessed with filling in those blanks. HARGROVE: So you've got to figure out where this tornado is going to be maybe a minute from now, or two minutes from now, really as little as possible to narrow the margin of error. After he narrowly escaped the largest twister on recorda two-and-a-half-mile-wide behemoth with 300-mile-an-hour windsNational Geographic Explorer Anton Seimon found a new, safer way to peer. Lieutenant Vence Woods, environmental investigations supervisor, was presented with a Distinguished Service Award and a Lifesaving Award. But this storm was unlike any he had witnessed before. The tornado touched down around 22:28 LT, May 25 near Highway 81 and Interstate 40 and lasted only 4 minutes. "That's the biggest drop ever recordedlike stepping into an elevator and hurtling up a thousand feet in ten seconds.". Tim Samaras always wanted to be a storm chaser and he was one of the best. GWIN: After the skies cleared, storm chasers checked in with each other. Anton says hes not looking for adrenaline or thrills, just the most promising thunderclouds. So things like that were quite amazing. which storm chaser killed himself. "Though we sometimes take it for granted, Tim's death is a stark reminder of the risks encountered regularly by the men and women who work for us.". What went wrong? 2013 El Reno tornado. Among those it claimed was Tim Samaras, revered as one of the most experienced and cautious scientists studying tornadoes. For your new settings to take effect, this page will automatically refresh when you click Save and close. Now they strategically fan out around a tornado and record videos from several angles. And it was true. Scientists just confirmed a 30-foot void first detected inside the monument years ago. I remember watching this on youtube years ago and I tried to find it recently and i couldnt find it and i completely forgot. Abstract The 31 May 2013 El Reno, Oklahoma, tornado is used to demonstrate how a video imagery database crowdsourced from storm chasers can be time-corrected and georeferenced to inform severe storm research. And Im your host, Peter Gwin. If they had been 20 seconds ahead on the road or 20 seconds behind, I think they probably would have survived. GWIN: To understand why the El Reno tornado killed his friends, Anton needed to study the storm. But bless that Dodge Caravan, it got us out of there. It bounces back off particles, objects, cloud droplets, dust, whatever is out there, and bounces back to the radar and gives information. Nobody had ever recorded this happening. GWIN: You know, in that video, at one point Tim says, We're going to die. And, you know, once you make it out, he says, you know, That was too close. I mean, did you feel like thatlike you had sort of crossed a line there? HARGROVE: You know, its always struck me how unlikely what happened really was. The new year once started in Marchhere's why, Jimmy Carter on the greatest challenges of the 21st century, This ancient Greek warship ruled the Mediterranean, How cosmic rays helped find a tunnel in Egypt's Great Pyramid, Who first rode horses? 9 comments. National GeographicExplorer Anton Seimon is the first guest featured, who has spent nearly thirty-years studying tornadoes and chasing these storms every spring. And then baseball-sized hail starts falling down and banging on the roof and threatening to smash all the windows. GWIN: With 100 mile-an-hour winds knocking power lines right into their path, Tim drives to safety. GWIN: The rumor was that Tim Samaras had died in the tornado. But this storm was unlike any he had witnessed before. Why wetlands are so critical for life on Earth, Rest in compost? Then you hop out, you grab that probe, activate it. (Reuters) - At least nine people died in tornadoes that destroyed homes and knocked out power to tens of thousands in the U.S. Southeast, local officials said on Friday, and the death toll in hard-hit central Alabama was expected to rise. [Recording: TIM SAMARAS: Oh my god, youve got a wedge on the ground. It was the largest, one of the fastest, andfor storm chasersthe most lethal twister ever recorded on Earth. Every year brings some new experiences. save. Please enable JavaScript to pass antispam protection!Here are the instructions how to enable JavaScript in your web browser http://www.enable-javascript.com.Antispam by CleanTalk.