Voting Station

Tim Samaras

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Meteorologist

The Resume

    (November 12, 1957-May 31, 2013)
    Born in Lakewood, Colorado
    Engineer and storm chaser
    Formed the research team Tactical Weather Instrumented Sampling in Tornadoes EXperiment (TWISTEX)
    Featured in the Discovery Channel series 'Storm Chasers' (2009-12)
    Co-wrote 'Tornado Hunter: Getting Inside the Most Violent Storms on Earth' (2009)
    Died along with his son Paul and TWISTEX member Carl Young when their car was picked up by a tornado near El Reno, Oklahoma

Why he might be annoying:

    He became obsessed with tornadoes after watching 'The Wizard of Oz' at age six.
    He said there was less danger from the tornadoes than from all the miles he logged driving while chasing storms.
    An hour before his death, he gave a radio interview in which he noted, 'I've been chasing these things for about 30 years now.... I feel reasonably comfortable getting up close and personal.'

Why he might not be annoying:

    He designed his own equipment, including a camera that captured a million frames a second to record lightning strikes.
    One of the tornado probes he designed recorded the largest drop in atmospheric pressure ever measured, 100 Pascals in under a minute (June 24, 2003).
    He received 18 grants from the National Geographic Society, who named him an 'Emerging Explorer.' (2005)
    He took time off from chasing storms to build homes for tornado victims in Alabama.
    His work helped increase warning times for tornadoes.

Credit: C. Fishel


Featured in the following Annoying Collections:

Year In Review:

    In 2023, Out of 6 Votes: 50.0% Annoying
    In 2022, Out of 3 Votes: 33.33% Annoying
    In 2021, Out of 10 Votes: 70.0% Annoying
    In 2020, Out of 6 Votes: 66.67% Annoying
    In 2019, Out of 6 Votes: 50.0% Annoying
    In 2018, Out of 14 Votes: 42.86% Annoying
    In 2017, Out of 1 Votes: 0% Annoying
    In 2016, Out of 3 Votes: 66.67% Annoying
    In 2015, Out of 5 Votes: 80.0% Annoying
    In 2014, Out of 19 Votes: 57.89% Annoying
    In 2013, Out of 15 Votes: 53.33% Annoying