El Reno Tornado Kills Chasers

The first known deaths of storm chasers or meteorologists caused directly by a tornado occurred on May 31, 2013, when Tim Samaras, his 24-year-old son Paul, and meteorologist Carl Young were killed near El Reno, Oklahoma. The tornado unexpectedly changed direction and expanded from approximately 1 mile to 2.6 miles wide in about 30 seconds as it closed in on their TWISTEX vehicle. At 2.6 miles across, the El Reno tornado was the widest ever recorded.

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