If I were to say that I was not interested in Storm Chasing then that may be a lie. I don't think that I will chase storms, at least not like what you have seen on TV or on YouTube. My interest is really to take pictures and video from a far and safe distance. I was sad to see the news this morning on social media about the passing of a pioneer.. Tim Samaras. Tim became a celebrity working on the TV show "Storm Chasers" that was on the Discovery Channel. Weather enthusiasts also have seen his videos on National Geographic and on The Weather Channel.
I was very inspired by his work, especially with high speed camera images of lightning. So much so that I recently invested in a high speed video camera. High speed video is what you see when you see a slow motion video of lightning or cloud formations, etc. Tim was a brilliant engineer and he pushed to achieve breakthroughs in science and technology. He even recorded the lowest barometric pressure ever recorded and the achievement was noted by the Guinness Book of Records.
I have expressed some anger regarding at some of the chasers during the storms in Oklahoma but now seeing that one of the most experienced and respected weather scientists perished during this same event led me to think that this was a rare and tragic event that weather enthusiasts need to learn from. Hopefully lessons learned from El Reno Oklahoma will help show how unpredictable a tornadoes path could be and it is something you need to respect and keep out of harms way.
Here is a video, one that I felt that really showed his achievements well.
Here are more of his videos from National Geographic.
