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CNN Saturday Morning News

Interview with Storm Chaser

Aired July 26, 2003 - 09:20   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.


COLLINS: A lot of natural disasters that really throw people for a loop, to say the least, one of them tornadoes.
ROB MARCIANO, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Yes. We've had our share of severe weather this spring, and actually carried over, look, this week, because we had a strong cold front came through. Yes. So tornadoes, difficult to pinpoint exactly where they're going to show up, and feared by a lot of folks, no doubt about that.

We had our share earlier in the spring. We had a spat of severe weather earlier this week, and tornadoes, although great to look at on video, can certainly do a lot of damage. So it's important for researchers to get out there.

And we have with us a special guest. There he is, in action this morning. His name is Tim Samaras, storm chaser for the National Geographic Ultimate Explorer series. And he joins us this morning.

Good morning, Tim.

TIM SAMARAS, STORM CHASER: Good morning.

MARCIANO: I suppose I should start off and clarify that you're more than just a storm chaser. There's a lot of guys and girls out there chasing storms every spring, but you're doing some valuable research. Describe what you're doing for us.

SAMARAS: Yes, indeed, there are quite a few chasers out there. I run into them all the time. Basically, yes, I am doing more than just simply chasing and videotaping the storms. I'm actually have these special probes that I go out and I set out in the path of tornadoes. Now, the objective is to measure the barometric pressure drop inside of a tornado.

MARCIANO: And explain to the folks why that's important, because pressure directly correlates to...

SAMARAS: The pressure actually correlates directly to the wind speed of the tornado. The greater the pressure drop, the higher the wind speeds are. In this case, the tornado that we measured in -- near Manchester, South Dakota, we measured 100 millibar pressure drop, and that correlates to well within a tornado that's rated F-4, and that's exactly what the National Weather Service at Sioux Falls, South Dakota, rated this tornado at. MARCIANO: Do we have to use pressure only to measure or estimate the wind speeds because anamometers just wouldn't work, they'd be breaking down in 200-mile-an-hour-plus winds? That's the reason?

SAMARAS: That's right. Anamometers would certainly break. There are other ways to measure wind speed as well, portable and mobile Doppler radars can actually get a handle on tornado wind speeds. Barometric pressure, however, not only (UNINTELLIGIBLE) does the wind speed, but also gives us more information about the tornado vortex, which is very valuable.

MARCIANO: OK, let's get off of science for a sec. You're doing some freelance work for the National Geographic series, doing some filming or taping as well.

SAMARAS: Yes.

MARCIANO: What were you feeling? What were you thinking when you got out in front of this monster, knowing it was coming towards you?

SAMARAS: Well, just due to the road options we had, we only had one choice, basically, to get out in front of the tornado. When we arrived at this tornado in Manchester, it was coming through the town of Manchester, there was only one road going north. And so we took it north, basically paralleling the tornado to its east.

And then there was one road cutting east, and that got us directly in the path. And certainly I had a feeling that we can go ahead and make it, but it was awfully close. We stopped, and my poor chase partner, Pat Porter, he was videotaping outside the window. He watched that tornado basically destroy another farmhouse and coming right at us. By the time we dropped the probe and moved on, the tornado was about 100 yards and closing.

MARCIANO: Wow. So that the tornado went right over the probe. What have you discovered, what did you discover specifically with that storm?

SAMARAS: Well, one of the more interesting things about their measurement was that not only did we record 100 millibar pressure drop, but the tornado went on to destroy a farmhouse. It was a two- story farmhouse only 40 feet away. So now, we actually got a direct correlation of not only just the pressure measurement, but what that tornado can do to structures.

So we've got a great comparison there in terms of pressure and the damage that it can do. It's an astounding data set.

MARCIANO: Ultimate goal, Tim, obviously, to increase our lead time in forecasting these monsters. And we're getting better and better at that, aren't we?

SAMARAS: Yes, we are. Yes, certainly we want to understand the dynamics, and what makes these tornadoes work, we want to understand a little bit more about the vortex. We want to understand why some tornadoes -- why some thunderstorms produce tornadoes and others don't. It's really still quite a mystery to this day, and we're trying to figure all that out.

MARCIANO: Parts will always be a mystery. Tim Samaras, research engineer and storm chaser for the National Geographic Ultimate Explorer series. Thanks for being with us, Tim, and good luck in the future.

SAMARAS: Thank you very much.

ROBERTS: Gosh.

COLLINS: I just want to know where Lisa Ling was in all of that. She's the host of the show.

ROBERTS: Incredible display, though, of the weather's power, I mean, just how quickly it can turn. And we were watching there in the last clips, that house blowing away.

COLLINS: That house! Whew!

MARCIANO: Yes, I mean, that's power.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com







Aired July 26, 2003 - 09:20   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
COLLINS: A lot of natural disasters that really throw people for a loop, to say the least, one of them tornadoes.
ROB MARCIANO, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Yes. We've had our share of severe weather this spring, and actually carried over, look, this week, because we had a strong cold front came through. Yes. So tornadoes, difficult to pinpoint exactly where they're going to show up, and feared by a lot of folks, no doubt about that.

We had our share earlier in the spring. We had a spat of severe weather earlier this week, and tornadoes, although great to look at on video, can certainly do a lot of damage. So it's important for researchers to get out there.

And we have with us a special guest. There he is, in action this morning. His name is Tim Samaras, storm chaser for the National Geographic Ultimate Explorer series. And he joins us this morning.

Good morning, Tim.

TIM SAMARAS, STORM CHASER: Good morning.

MARCIANO: I suppose I should start off and clarify that you're more than just a storm chaser. There's a lot of guys and girls out there chasing storms every spring, but you're doing some valuable research. Describe what you're doing for us.

SAMARAS: Yes, indeed, there are quite a few chasers out there. I run into them all the time. Basically, yes, I am doing more than just simply chasing and videotaping the storms. I'm actually have these special probes that I go out and I set out in the path of tornadoes. Now, the objective is to measure the barometric pressure drop inside of a tornado.

MARCIANO: And explain to the folks why that's important, because pressure directly correlates to...

SAMARAS: The pressure actually correlates directly to the wind speed of the tornado. The greater the pressure drop, the higher the wind speeds are. In this case, the tornado that we measured in -- near Manchester, South Dakota, we measured 100 millibar pressure drop, and that correlates to well within a tornado that's rated F-4, and that's exactly what the National Weather Service at Sioux Falls, South Dakota, rated this tornado at. MARCIANO: Do we have to use pressure only to measure or estimate the wind speeds because anamometers just wouldn't work, they'd be breaking down in 200-mile-an-hour-plus winds? That's the reason?

SAMARAS: That's right. Anamometers would certainly break. There are other ways to measure wind speed as well, portable and mobile Doppler radars can actually get a handle on tornado wind speeds. Barometric pressure, however, not only (UNINTELLIGIBLE) does the wind speed, but also gives us more information about the tornado vortex, which is very valuable.

MARCIANO: OK, let's get off of science for a sec. You're doing some freelance work for the National Geographic series, doing some filming or taping as well.

SAMARAS: Yes.

MARCIANO: What were you feeling? What were you thinking when you got out in front of this monster, knowing it was coming towards you?

SAMARAS: Well, just due to the road options we had, we only had one choice, basically, to get out in front of the tornado. When we arrived at this tornado in Manchester, it was coming through the town of Manchester, there was only one road going north. And so we took it north, basically paralleling the tornado to its east.

And then there was one road cutting east, and that got us directly in the path. And certainly I had a feeling that we can go ahead and make it, but it was awfully close. We stopped, and my poor chase partner, Pat Porter, he was videotaping outside the window. He watched that tornado basically destroy another farmhouse and coming right at us. By the time we dropped the probe and moved on, the tornado was about 100 yards and closing.

MARCIANO: Wow. So that the tornado went right over the probe. What have you discovered, what did you discover specifically with that storm?

SAMARAS: Well, one of the more interesting things about their measurement was that not only did we record 100 millibar pressure drop, but the tornado went on to destroy a farmhouse. It was a two- story farmhouse only 40 feet away. So now, we actually got a direct correlation of not only just the pressure measurement, but what that tornado can do to structures.

So we've got a great comparison there in terms of pressure and the damage that it can do. It's an astounding data set.

MARCIANO: Ultimate goal, Tim, obviously, to increase our lead time in forecasting these monsters. And we're getting better and better at that, aren't we?

SAMARAS: Yes, we are. Yes, certainly we want to understand the dynamics, and what makes these tornadoes work, we want to understand a little bit more about the vortex. We want to understand why some tornadoes -- why some thunderstorms produce tornadoes and others don't. It's really still quite a mystery to this day, and we're trying to figure all that out.

MARCIANO: Parts will always be a mystery. Tim Samaras, research engineer and storm chaser for the National Geographic Ultimate Explorer series. Thanks for being with us, Tim, and good luck in the future.

SAMARAS: Thank you very much.

ROBERTS: Gosh.

COLLINS: I just want to know where Lisa Ling was in all of that. She's the host of the show.

ROBERTS: Incredible display, though, of the weather's power, I mean, just how quickly it can turn. And we were watching there in the last clips, that house blowing away.

COLLINS: That house! Whew!

MARCIANO: Yes, I mean, that's power.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com