Mike Bettes in Tornado Accident

[Metarvo]

Storm chasers are literally chasing danger, and yet they escape so many times.  Since they are experts, they usually know when to run.  Unfortunately, they got caught this time.  This is bad, but at least it appears that Mike will be OK.  I hear about cars being thrown in tornadoes, but I don't often hear about people being in the cars that are tossed about like toys.

[phw115wvwx]

From what I was able to learn about this tornado, it was heading east, and a lot of storm chasers were on a small unpaved road south of it as there weren't many other roads around in the area.  That's the first big mistake.  You should never be in an area without at least a couple escape routes in case things get crazy, and you must factor in road conditions as well.

Unfortunately, the tornado suddenly shifted southward a couple miles, intensified rapidly, and expanded in size into a larger wedge.  As a result, many chasers were caught off guard in a traffic jam trying to flee from it on that road.  Those chasers committed a second and almost deadly mistake by trying to outrun it, and they either suffered serious damage or even got flipped off the road as the inflow winds suddenly increased in strength and debris started to fly around them.  You should never outrun a tornado as they can go up to 60 mph. 

Now you see why I would never want to be in that position.  Tornadoes can change at any moment without any warning.  Those chasers should feel lucky to be alive today.  I even wonder why there were so many people out there on a single road to chase this tornado in the first place.  It wouldn't surprise me if TWC heavily reevaluates this idea of storm chasing in a meeting next week.

[Metarvo]

There were tornado evacuees on the highways along with the chasers.  For some reason, some residents thought it was a good idea to run by road, like people do on the coast when a hurricane is coming.  This made things worse for the chasers, creating a traffic jam situation that doesn't normally occur in a storm.  In reality, a car is about one of the worst places to be in a tornado.

[WeatherWitness]

There were tornado evacuees on the highways along with the chasers.  For some reason, some residents thought it was a good idea to run by road, like people do on the coast when a hurricane is coming.  This made things worse for the chasers, creating a traffic jam situation that doesn't normally occur in a storm.  In reality, a car is about one of the worst places to be in a tornado.

I was told that certain local media in OKC actually advised people to try to leave the town.  I do not know what they were thinking.  This is not a freaking hurricane!  This is a tornado!  When a tornado is threatening your area, you need to be underground or in a safe place, not trying to escape from it or outrun it.

[toxictwister00]

The local media in OKC better thank their lucky stars they're weren't massive fatalities because of that dumb advice.

[Localonthe8s]

There were tornado evacuees on the highways along with the chasers.  For some reason, some residents thought it was a good idea to run by road, like people do on the coast when a hurricane is coming.  This made things worse for the chasers, creating a traffic jam situation that doesn't normally occur in a storm.  In reality, a car is about one of the worst places to be in a tornado.

I was told that certain local media in OKC actually advised people to try to leave the town.  I do not know what they were thinking.  This is not a freaking hurricane!  This is a tornado!  When a tornado is threatening your area, you need to be underground or in a safe place, not trying to escape from it or outrun it.

Is that why so many people were on the road? That is just terrible, trying to outrun a tornado is NEVER a wise idea because you may know which direction the tornado is headed for.

[Metarvo]

The local media in OKC better thank their lucky stars they're weren't massive fatalities because of that dumb advice.

This almost makes TWC not seem that bad anymore in comparison (as long as they don't do longform).  One wonders how any of the OKC channels involved in this failure can brag on their weather coverage after this.  I never thought I would say this, but even longform would have been less harmful than that kind of advice.  At least tornado-related longform provides common-sense advice.

[TWCC_DJK5555]

Thank God Mike and his crew are OK.

[Trevor]

KFOR's meteorologist Mike Morgan is an idiot in all sense of the words. His often overdramatic use of words scare viewers, and he actually told people to specifically get on the interstate and go south (where the next tornado hit).

[gt1racerlHDl]

Mike Bettes Full Interview on The Weather Channel

[IceManNYR]

Mike's crew is very fortunate as TWC is reporting 3 chasers did not survive the  El Reno, OK tornado.
http://www.weather.com/news/tornado-central/tim-samaras-dead-oklahoma-tornado-kills-storm-chaser-son-paul-samaras-and-crew-member-carl-young

[ap215]

I'm glad Mike & his crew are ok my deepest sympathies go out to the samaras family and the young family.

[phw115wvwx]

Mike is now a survivor of a historic tornado.  The NWS has upgraded that tornado to EF-5 with measured mobile radar winds of 296 mph and a width of 2.6 miles at its widest point, which is a new record for US tornadoes.  The Norman, OK office published this graphic of the torando's path that I attached to this post, and I can unravel what happened to those storm chasers.  They all started south of where the tornado formed and thought they were safe, but it then intensified, widened, and suddenly moved southeastward to catch them.

Unfortunately, the turn later to the north as it reached its maximum intensity also trapped more storm chasers where the deaths of three of them occurred, which are the first known deaths of any storm chasers in recorded history.  This ought to be a huge wake-up call to everyone who dares to even try to chase a storm. Those who survived this historic tornado, including TWC's crew, should really think twice now.

[Localonthe8s]

Mike is now a survivor of a historic tornado.  The NWS has upgraded that tornado to EF-5 with measured mobile radar winds of 296 mph and a width of 2.6 miles at its widest point, which is a new record for US tornadoes.  The Norman, OK office published this graphic of the torando's path that I attached to this post, and I can unravel what happened to those storm chasers.  They all started south of where the tornado formed and thought they were safe, but it then intensified, widened, and suddenly moved southeastward to catch them.

Unfortunately, the turn later to the north as it reached its maximum intensity also trapped more storm chasers where the deaths of three of them occurred, which are the first known deaths of any storm chasers in recorded history.  This ought to be a huge wake-up call to everyone who dares to even try to chase a storm. Those who survived this historic tornado, including TWC's crew, should really think twice now.

Unbelievable. The death toll also rose to 18 from the tornado directly, making it the second deadliest tornado this year.

[Lightning]

I am glad Mike and the others chasers who were in the car survived. They could have been killed!