Passing of Tim Samaras, Paul Samaras, and Carl Young

[Susan Strom]

I want to send deepest sympathies, peace and prayers to the families of Tim Samaras, Paul Samaras, and Carl Young. This heavy news was really tough to believe today. I met Tim in Denver. Not only was he a luminary in the storm chasing community, he was helpful, cheerful, and passionate about chasing. We all were awestruck by his tornado probe's camera footage, mouths dropped. He was a brilliant engineer. We lost an exemplary, professional chase team in this tragedy. Comfort and sincere condolences to the families and to everyone who knew how highly regarded they were.

 

[Gary Stofer]

May they rest in peace. They passed doing what they loved to do and now is a time to celebrate their life and accomplishments.
Not sure if this has been posted or not but here are several NatGeo videos on Tim and his team.

http://tinyurl.com/m2zre49​

 

[Perry Williams]

My deepest, most humble condolences to the Samaras and Young families. There are no words to describe the shock, sadness, and grief I feel tonight. My heart is broken....am totally stunned and heartbroken

 

[Tim Vasquez]

Oh god, I can't believe this news. Got news of it just minutes before my drive to San Antonio today. Having talked to Tim off and on since 2001 this has weighed on me all day and we are working through a plan to give this an appropriate and respectful acknowledgement on the Stormtrack forum menu area.

 

[joebruyneel]

My wife and I still cannot believe that this happened. I have never met Tim, his son, or Carl, but but always looked at them as being the safest chasers/researchers around. Such sad news for his family. Thank you three for you service and work. I hope your research goes towards the good of all. RIP

Joe Bruyneel

 

[Mike Birbeck]

I have just read about this tragic news in the UK press. I have never met Tim and his team but have always enjoyed his science based approach to severe weather and developed a great respect for his style through his posting, videos etc.

I can only pass on my condolences to the respective families and all those who have been impacted by this very sad loss.

Mike Birbeck

 

[John Mason]

Hi all,

Indeed, the UK-based stormwatching community is as gutted as you guys Stateside. Many of us stay this side of the Pond for our chasing activities but Tim's work inspired us all nevertheless. Thinking of the families right now (well since the news started breaking).....

John Mason

 

[othmcgirr]

My prayers go out to there familys..And hope we all how dangerous it is out there..Also my heart goes out to Mike who is thinking about giving it up...Plz Mike we need you..and all love you for what you do and the lives you save..

 

[Neal Wikner]

Very sad and shocking news. I had the chance to hear Tim speak at the MN convention a few years back and I was amazed at his creativity and all that he has done. Many prayers to the families who lost their loved ones.

 

[Coy A. Wilhelmy]

RIP Tim Samaras, Paul Samaras, and Carl Young. Tim Samaras was one of the men that sparked my interest in meteorology and tornadoes. Condolences to their families.

 

[Elinor McLennon]

I feel sick. I've enjoyed following Tim and the guys on TV, Twitter, etc for years. They did great work. May God bring peace and comfort to their families and friends.

 

[Karen Politte]

Everything is still feeling very surreal to me right now, but I felt the need to post and add my deepest condolences to the families and my utter shock at the terrible news of what happened on Friday.

I chased with Tim and Carl in 2003, and experienced the June 24th Woonsocket-Manchester storm with them. I'll always remember - after the chase that day - being hunched over Tim's laptop in his hotel (some hotel with the world's biggest pheasant statue in it's parking lot) room at midnight, looking at the pressure drop data that he had extracted from the probe that received a direct hit from the Manchester tornado as it was transitioning from a wedge to a rope. I remember him stating in a sort of daze how many seconds after deployment of the probe the maximum pressure drop occurred. It was about 40 seconds or so. He said "that's all we had.".

Tim kindly helped me with my lengthy chase report from that day, edited my facts and supplied data so that I could put together my account and get it up online. I think he read the whole thing. God knows how long it was - 40K words? I don't remember.

Tim was an incredibly humble, sincere and down-to-earth person. Carl was an enthusiastic, kind and gifted chaser. I did not know Tim's son, but if he was anything like his father he would have been the sort of person we need in the world. Their losses are almost too great to bear.

Still in shock.

Karen Politte

 

[Mike Peregrine]

I've been thinking about this for two days and it still seems utterly unbelievable. I met Tim in Denver in 2001 and we corresponded during the Wx chase days and had dinner together a couple of times. Tim Samaras was remarkably intelligent, but the best thing about him was that he was also approachable and didn't try to distance himself from people just because he knew more about a subject than they did, even though he was obviously in a league of his own when it came to engineering and weather science. I also loved the fact that he was so interested in astronomy (had a telescope that pretty much anyone would be jealous of), and just had this natural fascination with the power and beauty of the universe. In that way we were a lot alike. This is just heart-breaking.

 

[jason kissam]

Meeting Tim at chasercon back in 2006 was a thrill and an honor. Since then chatting on occasion with him and my last meeting with him when he came to visit my ex Karen Burdick at her school in Arvada to give a short assembly on storm chasing and technology for her weather classes. Tim was so willing to go out of the way for those he knew and to meet with kids to help them learn and understand weather. My last memory was after he turned in his visitor badge i was kind of in the way and him and I did that awkward guy dance to see which way we each was going to go, Tim had this big smile on his face after I asked if he wanted to dance CHASE ON! TS, PS, CY forever in our hearts.

 

[Neil Robinson]

I rarely post on this forum but frequently visit here for opinion and analysis. I would like to mirror John Mason's sentiments above and on behalf of storm chasers here in the UK offer my sincere condolences to the families of Tim Samaras, his son and Carl Young, and all their friends and fellow severe weather researchers.
From the comments here they were the sort of people you would look forward to spending time with and a great loss to the community.

'There's no more pain now, no thundering roar
as above the storm your spirits soar.
There's just a sweet rain now, and the rustle of leaves
as you fly from this world on a gentle breeze'