on the cusp of the 2009 season: Interview with Rebecca Martin, National Geographic Society.
For the moment: Interviews with William Gallus.
The instinctual calculus: Ibid.
In December 2008, the Discovery Channel reaches out: Interviews with Bruce Lee and Cathy Finley.
His . . . costars, Reed Timmer and Sean Casey: Discovery Channel’s Storm Chasers.
The fifty-five-year-old pensioner: Interviews with Ed Grubb.
Under the watchful eye: Interviews with William Gallus.
The team surrounds the storm: Karen Kosiba and Joshua Wurman, “Genesis of the Goshen County, Wyoming, Tornado on 5 June 2009 during VORTEX2,” Monthly Weather Review, April 2013.
Rare are the moments: Interviews with Jenny Samaras Scott.
new probe vehicle: Jeff Glucker, “Storm Chasers Adds Super GMC Sierra to Tornado Chase Fleet,” AutoBlog.com, November 14, 2010, http://www.autoblog.com/2010/11/14/storm-chasers-adds-super-gmc-sierra-to-tornado-chase-flee/#slide-265823.
“What I’m hoping for”: Tim Samaras, Storm Chasers, season 4, episode 4.
CHAPTER SEVENTEEN: BOWDLE, SOUTH DAKOTA
TWISTEX misses the year’s first major tornado: Interviews with Ed Grubb.
They stop off in Minneapolis: Interviews with Bruce Lee and Cathy Finley.
Best of all, they learn that VORTEX2: Interviews with Cathy Finley.
Around four that afternoon: Mesonet dash-camera footage provided by Bruce Lee and Cathy Finley.
North of the mesonets: Storm Chasers, season 4, episode 5.
The circulation is closing in: Samaras, Driven by Passion II.
Off to the west: Mesonet dash-camera footage provided by Bruce Lee and Cathy Finley.
As they enter the outskirts: Ibid.
Even more striking: Catherine Finley and Bruce Lee, “Mobile Mesonet Observations of the Rear-Flank Downdraft Evolution Associated with a Violent Tornado near Bowdle, SD, on 22 May 2010” (American Meteorological Society conference paper, 2010).
Grzych and Carl’s appraisal: Mesonet dash-camera footage provided by Bruce Lee and Cathy Finley.
The following day: Storm Chasers, season 4, episode 5.
CHAPTER EIGHTEEN: A DEAD END, A NEW CHANCE
He had always been a hit: Interviews with Kathy Samaras.
now too often congested with mesonets: Ibid.
Curiously, the camera operators: Interviews with Bruce Lee and Cathy Finley.
Aside from a few harmless dramatics: Interviews with William Gallus.
The premiere is a major event: Interviews with Bob Young.
funding seems to arrive at the last minute: Interviews with Bruce Lee and Cathy Finley.
after-action interviews: Interviews with Bruce Lee, Cathy Finley, Ed Grubb, Tony Laubach.
One evening, they attend a concert: Interviews with Melissa June Daniels.
When Lee and Finley approach: Interviews with Bruce Lee, Cathy Finley, and Ed Grubb.
The event that epitomizes: Interviews with Ed Grubb.
On April 27, near Aliceville, Alabama: Ibid.
Suddenly, they spot a tornado: Tony Laubach, chase footage, April 27, 2011, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ttni6owIWsw.
No one argues when Grzych notes: Storm Chasers, season 5, episode 1.
Later that day, near Pleasant Ridge: Interviews with Ed Grubb.
By the September 25 premiere of . . . third season: Interviews with Kathy Samaras.
In early 2012, Tim phones Lee and Finley: Interviews with Bruce Lee and Cathy Finley.
Tim insists that TWISTEX will return: Interviews with William Gallus.
Out of work and now semiretired: Interviews with Geoff Carter.
Hurricane Isaac is already darkening: Tim Samaras Twitter account.
During some thunderstorms, electrical discharges: Interviews with Walt Lyons.
“When you approach eight hundred thousand”: Video of Tim Samaras in the LIV provided by Walt Lyons.
“I want to see that formation process”: David Drummond, Dryline Media interview with Tim Samaras, February 2010, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FycVcmpYTfM.
Soon, he and Paul are on the trail of a powerful EF4: Tim Samaras chase video.
he . . . gets about half of what he’d asked for: Interviews with Bruce Lee and Cathy Finley.
CHAPTER NINETEEN: CHASE NIRVANA
For the first time since 2011: Interviews with Ed Grubb.
With the sun setting in the background: Chase video, May 18, 2013, provided by Ed Grubb.
It’s like the early years: Interviews with Ed Grubb.
That night, the four check into a Comfort Suites: Interviews with Ed Grubb, Marc Austin, and Sharon Austin.
“You spend three or four days in a vehicle”: Jane J. Lee, “A Tornado Chaser Talks about His Science and Craft,” News, National Geographic.com, May 22, 2013, http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2013/05/130520-tornado-chaser-samaras-thunderstorm-science/.
Carl steers the probe truck: Chase video, May 20, 2013, provided by Ed Grubb.
“Careful! It’s right next to us”: Ibid.
“Wow! That was pretty exciting”: Paul Samaras chase video, provided by Kathy Samaras.
Any grievance must seem trivial: Interviews with Ed Grubb.
Two elementary schools: Erica D. Kuligowski et al., “Preliminary Reconnaissance of the May 20, 2013, Newcastle-Moore Tornado in Oklahoma,” National Institute for Science and Technology Special Publication SP 1164, December 2013.
what happened in Moore was no foregone conclusion: Jon Erdman, “Moore, Oklahoma, Tornado 3 Years Later: What Turned It Violent?,” Weather Channel, May 19, 2016, https://weather.com/storms/tornado/news/moore-oklahoma-tornado-2013-research.
That night, the crew busts on a storm: Interviews with Ed Grubb.
By the time they pass Robinson Avenue: Paul Samaras chase video, provided by Kathy Samaras.
If they could have gotten closer: Kuligowski et al., “Preliminary Reconnaissance.”
The house is a flurry of activity: Interviews with Kathy Samaras.
On May 29, they settle around Salina: Interviews with Walt Lyons.
a familiar crew pulls up behind them: Interviews with Bruce Lee and Cathy Finley.
“We killed it”: Interviews with Cathy Finley and Bruce Lee.
the three stop off in Alva: Interviews with Walt Lyons.
CHAPTER TWENTY: A SHIFT IN THE WIND
At around four that afternoon: Interviews with Rick Smith.
a nerve-racking twelve-hour shift: Interviews with Marc Austin.
CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE: EL RENO, OKLAHOMA
A white Chevy Cobalt: Interviews with Gabe Garfield.
The dire language: “May 31, 2013, 2000 UTC Day 1 Convective Outlook,” Storm Prediction Center, National Weather Service, http://www.spc.noaa.gov/products/outlook/archive/2013/day1otlk_20130531_2000.html.
The values this afternoon are astonishing: Interviews with Jeff Snyder.
At 5:41 p.m.: Timeline provided by Gabe Garfield.
The distended wall cloud pulses: El Reno Tornado Environment Display, courtesy of Anton Seimon, http://el-reno-survey.net/ted/.
Over . . . twenty minutes they cover roughly three miles: Interviews with Gabe Garfield.
Tim’s face appears in profile: Video stills, portions of video transcript, and timeline from 2014 National Storm Chasers Convention presentation by Gabe Garfield.
“Oh, my God”: Ibid.
Within seconds of the first wisps, there is a tornado on the ground: El Reno Tornado Environment Display.
“My God . . . Wow, look at the tornado! Just to our south”: 2014 National Storm Chasers Convention presentation by Gabe Garfield.
Instead, it seems to be receding: El Reno tornado-track timeline, width, radar centroids, via Google Earth, courtesy of Gabe Garfield.
They continue south for a mile: Interviews with Gabe Garfield.
“Is the airport down another mile?”: 2014 National Storm Chasers Convention presentation by
