SRV Dominator | |
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![]() SRV Dominator 1 | |
Overview | |
Designer | Reed Timmer, Kevin Barton, Terry Rosema |
Body and chassis | |
Class | First Generation Storm Research Vehicle |
Layout | 4-wheel drive |
Powertrain | |
Engine | General Motors LS based small-block V-8, gasoline |
Transmission | Automatic |
Dimensions | |
Curb weight | 8,000 lb (3,600 kg) |
Chronology | |
Predecessor | Stock 2007 Chevrolet Tahoe truck |
The SRV Dominator is a series of tornado interceptors owned, operated, and maintained by meteorologist Reed Timmer, with funding partially provided by AccuWeather and the Discovery Channel through 2019. The Dominator Series consists of the Dominator 1, based on the chassis of a 2007 Chevrolet Tahoe, [1] the Dominator 2, a modified 2011 GMC Yukon XL, [1] the Dominator 3, a modified 2012 Ford F-350 Super Duty, [1] and the Dominator Fore, which is the name utilized for both a now totaled 2018 Subaru Forester, [1] and a 2016 Subaru Forester 2.5i. [2]
The Dominator was modified from a 2007 Chevrolet Tahoe that was used during the 2008 storm chasing season and debuted in the 2009 chase season. The modifications included adding bulletproof sheet metal and transparent Lexan armor to protect against flying debris near tornadoes, and an external roll cage and racing-style safety harnesses in case of a vehicle roll. [3] The SRV is not designed to intercept (due mainly to a lack of an anchoring system as employed on the TIV 2) but is able to get as close as "humanly possible" to tornadoes. In 2009, a tornado in Aurora, Nebraska unexpectedly strengthened right over the Dominator and blew out the driver's window, when its exterior Lexan window failed to roll up. Reed Timmer and one of his passengers suffered lacerations to the face from flying glass. [4]
During the Off-Season in 2009, the Dominator was upgraded by strengthening bulletproof and LINE-X sheet metal and Lexan Windows. Further upgrades added mid-season include a vertically-scanning radar intended to profile the winds at different heights within a tornado, as well as compressed-air launchers intended to launch wireless parachute probes to gather and transmit data on tornadoes to a chase. At the end of the 2010 Season, the Dominator was sliding while intercepting a mile wide EF4 tornado in Wadena, Minnesota nearly ending in a disaster. [5] Early in the 2011 storm season, the Dominator suffered various mechanical issues; such as the Four Wheel Drive not working, the Lexan on the drivers side not fully closing, the braking system, borderline total brake failure and hydraulic system failed before the Super Outbreak, but were later fixed.
Sometime after the 2013 season, Dominator 1 was left in the parking lot of Tornado Safe, a Oklahoma City company that built storm shelters. In 2022, after many years of sitting, Timmer was able to get Dominator 1 running and was able to drive it to a new storage location. Dominator 1 had suffered damage sustained from sitting such as faded Lexan windows, Timmer losing the keys and other various repairs needed. [6] Dominator 1 was put into service for a limited amount of storm chasing during the 2023 season. [7]
SRV Dominator 2 | |
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Overview | |
Designer | Reed Timmer, Kevin Barton |
Body and chassis | |
Class | Second Generation Storm Research Vehicle |
Layout | 4-Wheel Drive |
Powertrain | |
Engine | GM LS based small block V-8, E85 |
Transmission | Automatic Transmission |
Chronology | |
Predecessor | Stock 2011 Yukon XL |
In early 2011, Timmer and other members of TVN purchased a 2011 GMC Yukon XL, which would be the base vehicle for a second Dominator vehicle named Dominator 2. Changes from the first Dominator are said to include a flex fuel engine, improved aerodynamic streamlining thanks to the fully sealed outer shell, higher ride height, swiveling rear passenger seats, improved hydraulics, and upgraded armor protection as well as anchoring spikes that could allow it to engage tornadoes stronger than those the original Dominator could safely face. Timmer also stated that both vehicles would be used with one going into tornadoes to gather data from inside the funnel while the other would collect data from just outside the tornado, with the intention of comparing the two sets of data. [8] The second generation Dominator features reinforced sheet metal and transparent Lexan has been strengthened with higher-quality steel and an additional LINE-X coating. This shell is firmly affixed to the frame and chassis of the GMC Yukon. The new model retains a roll cage and racing-car safety seats with full-torso belts for added crew protection. [9]
Dominator 2 first saw action during the tornado outbreak sequence of May 21–26, 2011 in central Oklahoma, shown on the fifth season of Storm Chasers.[ citation needed ]
On May 31, 2013, Dominator 2 was damaged when it intercepted a record breaking multiple-vortex tornado near El Reno. According to KFOR-TV, posts by Reed on Facebook, and as shown in Season 2, episodes 11 and 12 of Tornado Chasers, the hood was ripped off of the vehicle when the Dominator 2 collided with a downed power line. The tornado would go on to be 2.6 miles (4.2 km) wide with winds measured by radar exceeding 290 mph (470 km/h) (at about 100 m (330 ft) above the surface), making this the largest and strongest tornado ever intercepted by any of the Dominator vehicles. [10] During the chase, Reed and his team found the wrecked SUV of Mike Bettes and his team from The Weather Channel's Great Tornado Hunt after it had been rolled into a field by a sub-vortex from the main tornado. Joined by members from Oklahoma City's KFOR-TV Channel 4 storm chasing team and first responders like the Oklahoma Highway Patrol, Bettes and his crew were rescued and evacuated to receive medical attention. Reed later learned that TWISTEX founder Tim Samaras, his son Paul, and storm chasing partner Carl Young, were fatalities of the El Reno tornado.
Dominator 2 sustained engine damage during a storm chase and was parked in a storage lot in Norman, where it sat for several years. In 2022, Timmer made plans to get Dominator 2 back on the road. Dominator 2 needed to be towed to the new warehouse. [11] As of 2024, Dominator 2 remains inoperable.
SRV Dominator 3 | |
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Overview | |
Designer | Reed Timmer, Kevin Barton, Sean Schofer |
Body and chassis | |
Class | Third Generation Storm Research Vehicle |
Layout | 4-Wheel Drive with Locking Rear Differential. |
Powertrain | |
Engine | Ford Powerstroke V-8, diesel |
Transmission | Automatic Transmission |
Dimensions | |
Curb weight | 11,000 LBS |
Chronology | |
Predecessor | Stock 2012 Ford F-350 Super Duty Crew Cab SRW |
A third Dominator vehicle was completed in late April 2013. [12] This vehicle, named Dominator 3, was built using a 2012 Ford F-350 Super Duty pickup truck as the base vehicle — the first Dominator vehicle not to use a General Motors vehicle as the base. The vehicle features an electric winch, airbag lowering suspension, hydraulic anchoring spikes, and gull-wing doors (which were augmented with touch-activated actuators in early 2014) for the driver, front and rear passengers. It is also the first Dominator vehicle to utilize a diesel powerplant.
Dominator 3 first saw action during the tornado outbreak of May 18–21, 2013, making three separate intercepts on an EF4 tornado near Shawnee, Oklahoma on May 19.[ citation needed ]
Dominator 3 successfully intercepted an EF1 Tornado near Spalding, Nebraska on May 12th, 2023. [13]
On May 31, 2024, the Dominator 3 hit a large deer while driving in Texas, causing structural damage and a radiator leak. [14]
SRV Dominator Fore | |
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Overview | |
Designer | Reed Timmer |
Body and chassis | |
Class | Fourth Generation Storm Research Vehicle |
Layout | 4-Wheel Drive. |
Powertrain | |
Engine | Subaru 2.5 L FB25 H4 |
Transmission | Automatic Transmission |
Dimensions | |
Curb weight | 3,717 Lbs |
Chronology | |
Predecessor | Stock 2018 Subaru Forester 2.0 XT |
Successor | Stock 2016 Subaru Forester PEZV 2.5i |
Dominator Fore is a Subaru Forester. The Dominator Fore is a stock vehicle, unlike Timmer's other storm-chasing vehicles, which are heavily fortified trucks. Timmer has said that the Forester is a good choice for certain situations due to its smaller size and maneuverability. This allows him to navigate tight spaces and avoid debris during storms. While not specifically built for the purpose like Timmer's other Dominator vehicles, the Subaru has taken its fair share of punishment over the years. Timmer has documented the car's many dents and dings sustained while chasing storms, including hail damage and encounters with tornadoes. In September 2022, the original Dominator Fore was caught in the storm surge of Hurricane Ian and left battered and non-functional. In December 2022, Timmer purchased a 2016 Subaru Forester 2.5i as a replacement Dominator Fore. Timmer swapped the hood from the original Dominator Fore onto the replacement vehicle. In June 2024, while chasing a tornado in Texas, the engine on the replacement Dominator Fore seized up, [15] and the vehicle was subsequently scrapped. [16]
In July 2024, Timmer announced plans to construct Dominator 5. [17] Timmer stated that Jake's Custom Diesel out of Norman, Oklahoma would be spearheading the build. [18]
The Subaru Forester is a compact crossover SUV that has been manufactured by Subaru since 1997. The first generation was built on the platform of the Impreza in the style of a taller station wagon, a style that continued to the second generation, while the third-generation model onwards moved towards a crossover SUV design. A performance model was available for the second-generation Forester in Japan as the Forester STi.
Twister is a 1996 American disaster film directed by Jan de Bont and written by Michael Crichton and Anne-Marie Martin. It was produced by Crichton, Kathleen Kennedy, and Ian Bryce, with Steven Spielberg, Walter Parkes, Laurie MacDonald, and Gerald R. Molen serving as executive producers. The film stars an ensemble cast that includes Helen Hunt, Bill Paxton, Jami Gertz, Cary Elwes, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Alan Ruck, and Todd Field as a group of amateur but spirited storm chasers trying to deploy a tornado research device during a severe outbreak in Oklahoma. Twister was released in theaters on May 10, 1996. It is notable for being among the first films to be released on DVD in the United States.
Storm chasing is broadly defined as the deliberate pursuit of any severe weather phenomenon, regardless of motive, but most commonly for curiosity, adventure, scientific investigation, or for news or media coverage. A person who chases storms is known as a storm chaser or simply a chaser.
Michael Bettes is an American television meteorologist and storm chaser who works for The Weather Channel in Atlanta, Georgia. He was a co-host of AMHQ: America's Morning Headquarters. He hosts Weather Underground TV. Bettes has been an on-camera meteorologist for TWC since 2003, and is also an occasional fill-in weather anchor on The Today Show.
The Tornado Intercept Vehicle 1 and Tornado Intercept Vehicle 2 are vehicles used to film with an IMAX camera from very close to or within a tornado. They were designed by film director Sean Casey. Both TIVs have "intercepted" numerous tornadoes, including the June 12, 2005, Jayton, Texas tornado, the June 5, 2009, Goshen County, Wyoming tornado, and the strongest intercept, made by TIV 2, the May 27, 2013, Lebanon, Kansas tornado.
Doppler on Wheels is a fleet of X-band and C-band mobile and quickly-deployable truck-borne radars which are the core instrumentation of the Flexible Array of Radars and Mesonets affiliated with the University of Illinois and led by Joshua Wurman, with the funding partially provided by the National Science Foundation (NSF), as part of the "Community Instruments and Facilities," (CIF) program. The DOW fleet and its associated Mobile Mesonets and deployable weather stations have been used throughout the United States since 1995, as well as occasionally in Europe and Southern America. The Doppler on Wheels network has deployed itself through hazardous and challenging weather to gather data and information that may be missed by conventional stationary radar systems.
Tornado Glory is an American documentary film that was released in 2006 by PBS. Produced by Angry Sky Entertainment, the program follows storm chasers Reed Timmer and Joel Taylor through Tornado Alley during the 2003 storm season. The film was produced and directed by Ken Cole.
Storm Chasers is an American documentary reality television series that premiered on October 17, 2007, on the Discovery Channel. Produced by Original Media, the program follows several teams of storm chasers as they attempt to intercept tornadoes in Tornado Alley in the United States. The show was canceled at the end of its 5th season by Discovery Communications on January 21, 2012.
The Verification of the Origins of Rotation in Tornadoes Experiment are field experiments that study tornadoes. VORTEX1 was the first time scientists completely researched the entire evolution of a tornado with an array of instrumentation, enabling a greater understanding of the processes involved with tornadogenesis. A violent tornado near Union City, Oklahoma was documented in its entirety by chasers of the Tornado Intercept Project (TIP) in 1973. Their visual observations led to advancement in understanding of tornado structure and life cycles.
Tony Laubach is an American storm chaser and meteorologist. He has participated in several field research projects and is one of the surviving members of TWISTEX. He has been contracted as a severe weather photojournalist for various major television networks, and has starred in several television shows, including Seasons 3 through 5 of Storm Chasers on the Discovery Channel.
TWISTEX was a tornado research experiment that was founded and led by Tim Samaras of Bennett, Colorado, US, that ended in the deaths of three researchers in the 2013 El Reno tornado. The experiment announced in 2015 that there were some plans for future operations, but no additional information has been announced since.
Reed Timmer is an American meteorologist and storm chaser. Born in Grand Rapids, Michigan, he took an interest in science, including weather, at a young age, before experiencing severe weather, including a hailstorm at age 13. After presenting weather forecasts at his high school, he began studying meteorology at the University of Oklahoma, completing his PhD in 2015.
Sean Cameron Casey is an American IMAX filmmaker and storm chaser who appeared in the Discovery Channel reality television series Storm Chasers. Casey created an IMAX film called Tornado Alley about chasing tornadoes and had to build the Tornado Intercept Vehicle (TIV) and the Tornado Intercept Vehicle 2 (TIV2) to film inside a tornado. Tornado Alley was released worldwide on March 18, 2011. Casey has been named one of the 50 best minds of 2008 by Discover Magazine.
Storm Riders is a reality television series following two meteorologists as they travel across the Great Plains and East Coast of the United States in search of thunderstorms, tornadoes, and other severe weather. Storm Riders was aired on The Weather Channel, and it was included on the channel's Tornado Week programming.
A prolonged and widespread tornado outbreak affected a large portion of the United States in late-May 2013 and early-June 2013. The outbreak was the result of a slow-moving but powerful storm system that produced several strong tornadoes across the Great Plains states, especially in Kansas and Oklahoma. Other strong tornadoes caused severe damage in Nebraska, Missouri, Illinois, and Michigan. The outbreak extended as far east as Upstate New York. 27 fatalities were reported in total, with nine resulting from tornadoes.
Timothy Michael Samaras was an American engineer and storm chaser best known for his field research on tornadoes and time on the Discovery Channel show Storm Chasers. He died in the 2013 El Reno tornado.
The 2013 El Reno tornado was an extremely large, powerful, and erratic tornado that occurred over rural areas of Central Oklahoma during the early evening of Friday, May 31, 2013. This rain-wrapped, multiple-vortex tornado was the widest tornado ever recorded and was part of a larger weather system that produced dozens of tornadoes over the preceding days. The tornado initially touched down at 6:03 p.m. Central Daylight Time (2303 UTC) about 8.3 miles (13.4 km) west-southwest of El Reno, rapidly growing in size and becoming more violent as it tracked through central portions of Canadian County. Remaining over mostly open terrain, the tornado did not impact many structures; however, measurements from mobile weather radars revealed extreme winds in excess of 313 mph (504 km/h) within the vortex. These are among the highest observed wind speeds on Earth, just slightly lower than the wind speeds of the 1999 Bridge Creek–Moore tornado. As it crossed U.S. 81, it had grown to a record-breaking width of 2.6 miles (4.2 km), beating the previous width record set in 2004. Turning northeastward, the tornado soon weakened. Upon crossing Interstate 40, the tornado dissipated around 6:43 p.m. CDT (2343 UTC), after tracking for 16.2 miles (26.1 km), it avoided affecting the more densely populated areas near and within the Oklahoma City metropolitan area.
Tornado Chasers is an American documentary series that premiered on September 19, 2012, on TVNweather.com. The program follows Reed Timmer and his team of storm chasers as they attempt to intercept tornadoes in Tornado Alley in the United States and Canada. Season 2, funded largely through a successful Kickstarter campaign, commenced on September 30, 2013. The series is a two-time Webby Award Honoree, once for Best Documentary Series in 2013, and again for Best Editing in 2014.
James M. Leonard, also known as "Cyclone Jim", was an American professional storm chaser, photographer, and videographer. Intercepting severe weather including thunderstorms, tornadoes, hurricanes and typhoons, he was among the earliest storm chasers. He was the first to photograph an anticyclonic tornado.
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