Tim Samaras and Carl Young, who appeared in the former Discovery Channel series Storm Chasers, along with Tim’s son Paul Samaras, were killed last Friday during the devastating tornado outbreak near El Reno, Oklahoma. To honor the lives of the three men, Discovery will be airing an enhanced presentation of last Sunday’s special, Mile Wide Tornado: Oklahoma Disaster that will include highlights and special scenes of all of them from Storm Chasers. The special, called Mile Wide Tornado: Stormchasers Tribute, premieres June 5 at 10pm ET/PT.
Some background on the men from a Discovery release: “Tim Samaras, Carl Young and Paul Samaras were entrenched in the learning gained from the science of the storm. Tim founded tornado research unit Tactical Weather Instrumented Sampling Tornadoes Experiment (TWISTEX), and spent more than 20 years following storms. His career was spent intercepting storms, assessing their power and helping to further the research to advance tornado warning systems. Carl studied tornado dynamics and earned a master’s degree in atmospheric science from the University of Nevada, Reno. While attending a meteorological conference, Carl met Tim, who encouraged him to collect meteorological data from inside tornadoes as the principle focus of his research. Every spring since 2003, Carl chased storms with Tim, and together they tracked down over 125 tornadoes. Tim’s son Paul Samaras had become TWISTEX’s videographer, providing vivid details of the team’s intercepts and research. Paul was also an accomplished photographer and shared his father’s zest for science and exploration.”
In addition to providing highlights of Tim, Carl and Paul from Storm Chasers, Mile Wide Tornado: Stormchasers Tribute chronicles the EF5 tornado that traveled over 17 miles and left mass devastation within its 45 minute reign of terror in Oklahoma on May 20. Via in-depth interviews with scientists and the latest data, it looks at how this tornado formed, how it was different from a similar EF5 tornado that hit in the same area in 1999 and the role the warning system had in saving lives. Discovery interviews meteorologists, storm chasers and emergency management who battled to save lives during that fateful day with exclusive footage of now condemned areas. The special also provides one of the most comprehensive collections of user-generated footage of the Oklahoma tornado to date and conducts original interviews with those who recorded those first-hand accounts.
Mile Wide Tornado: Stormchasers Tribute premieres June 5 at 10pm ET/PT on Discovery Channel.
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L-R: Carl Young, Tim Samaras, Paul Samaras. Credit: Discovery Channel
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