His work was funded in large part by the National Geographic Society (NGS), which awarded him 18 grants for his field work. Samaras was the founder of a field research team called Tactical Weather Instrumented Sampling in Tornadoes EXperiment ( TWISTEX), which sought to better understand tornadoes. He was an avid amateur astronomer and also interested in electronics and inventions. Samaras also shot for art and for pleasure.
An accomplished photographer and videographer, he also used photogrammetry, with some footage derived from cameras in probes shooting from within tornadoes. In addition to tornadoes, he was interested in all aspects of convective storms, with particular research focus on lightning, for which he utilized cameras shooting up to 1.4 million fps. He also worked at National Technical Systems and Hyperion Technology Group. His research included high-speed photography, such as on ballistics. The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) recognized him for his investigations of the TWA Flight 800 crash. Samaras became a prominent engineer at Applied Research Associates, initially focusing on blast testing and airline crash investigations. He obtained a Pentagon security clearance by 20, testing and building weapons systems. Immediately out of high school and without a résumé, he was hired as a walk-in at the University of Denver Research Institute. At 16, he was a radio technician and was service shop foreman at 17. He communicated by amateur radio when chasing storms and was also a storm spotter, reporting sightings of hazardous weather. As an adult he held an Amateur Extra Class license, the highest amateur radio class issued in the United States, and was proficient in Morse code.
He became an amateur radio operator at age 12 and built transmitters using old television sets. Samaras was an autodidact who never received a college degree. In his twenties, he began to chase storms "not for the thrill, but the science." He would continue this pursuit until his untimely death in 2013. Samaras attended Lasley Elementary and O'Connell Junior High in Lakewood, before graduating from Alameda International Junior/Senior High School in 1976. "When the tornado appeared", he recalled, "I was hooked!" His mother talked him into watching an annual television broadcast of The Wizard of Oz at age six. Margaret was born in 1929 and died in 1996. Tim assisted in the photography and shop work. Paul (1925–2005) was a photographer and model airplane distributor who was an Army projectionist in WWII. Samaras was born November 12, 1957, in Lakewood, Colorado, to Paul T. He retired from KUSI in 2014, after career of more than 60 years.Timothy Michael Samaras (November 12, 1957 – May 31, 2013) was an American engineer and storm chaser best known for his field research on tornadoes and time on the Discovery Channel show, Storm Chasers.
Weather channel meteorologist dies professional#
While he had no background in the field of climate change, Coleman maintained that as a longtime professional member of the American Meteorological Society and a recipient of the organization's Broadcast Meteorologist of the Year award in 1982, he was qualified to speak on the subject. He was a prominent critic of climate change, and has argued against it in appearances on CNN and Fox News.Ĭoleman produced a report for KUSI in 2010 called "Global Warming: The Other Side," in which he called global warming a "scam," and accused federal agencies of manipulating temperature date, according to KUSI's website. Coleman worked at KUSI for the last two decades of his career.
Weather channel meteorologist dies tv#
After graduating from college, he worked at several TV stations throughout the Midwest, before landing at WLS, the ABC station in Chicago.Ĭoleman was later the first weatherman on "Good Morning America" at its premiere on the ABC network in 1975, and he went on to found The Weather Channel, which launched in 1982.Īfter leaving The Weather Channel, he went to WCBS in New York, then WMAQ in Chicago, before moving to San Diego. The San Diego Union-Tribune reported he died Saturday night in Las Vegas, where he lives.īorn in Alpine, Texas, in 1934, he began his television career in 1953 at WCIA in Champaign, Illinois, while still a student at the University of Illinois. KUSI anchor Jason Austell tweeted news of Coleman's death early Sunday. SAN DIEGO (CNS) - John Coleman, a long-serving San Diego weatherman and founder of The Weather Channel, has died at the age of 83.
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