Severe weather researcher Tim Samaras, his son Paul and research team member Carl Young died Friday while chasing a tornado near El Reno, Oklahoma. Samaras and Young were part of one of three groups followed during the Discovery Channel’s “Storm Chasers” program. 10 years ago this month, Samaras was in South Dakota tracking the tornado that destroyed what was the town of Manchester….
He recalls Manchester was reduced to nearly nothing…
Most recently, Samaras had been working to capture the birth of a lightning bolt with high-speed digital photography. Samaras spoke with KOTA Radio in Rapid City a few months back while he was preparing to speak about his research at the School of Mines and Technology. We at Performance Radio had contacted Samaras about talking in detail about Tornado Tuesday, June 24th, 2003 for a special on that day to air in a few weeks, however the interview could not get lined up before his passing. We intend to pay tribute to Samaras during the Tornado Tuesday program on Monday June 24th.