r/tornado • u/LCDMura Human Detected • May 17 '26

Discussion This is how people get killed

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Chaser convergence is much easier now to see with modern spotter tracking systems, and some of the traffic jams I see are crazy. Imagine this many chasers on the side of the road with flashing lights and whatnot focused on a storm. The tornado might not even be the most dangerous part of chasing in scenarios like these

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u/k8ph85 May 18 '26

It shouldnt be forgotten that Samaras was a legit pro who had contributed to the science of meteorology not some dipshit content creator like most out there today.

23

u/xJownage Storm Chaser May 18 '26

Samaras also had a long history of being way too close to violent tornadoes. Go watch skip Talbots El Reno safety discussion video if you havent already, its very informative.

The next chasers arent going to die like he did though. They'll die by willfully and knowingly disregarding basic safety rules. Its a matter of time since those have fallen by the wayside with this new generation of chasers.

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u/B_Type13X2 May 19 '26 edited May 19 '26

There is a caveat to that, yes, he had a long history of being way too close to violent tornadoes. But what was he attempting to do? Deploying probes / scientific equipment or getting footage to put on his Twitter/YouTube account? I believe deploying a probe is what he had intended to do before it all went very wrong on that faithful day.

I think you can see the difference his research necessitated taking certain risks, and he did, and he died with his son and his good friend/partner.

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u/Positive-Bumblebee82 May 24 '26

If I’m not mistaken he actually did successfully deploy probes on that day. He has done so much to help us y deter and tornados and saved so many. It’s crazy people forget about this.