The afternoon of May 31,2013, was a date that went down in tornado forecasting history. Violent supercell thunderstorms developed in central Oklahoma near El Reno. The largest storm produced a large EF5 wedge tornado-one of the strongest twisters in recent history. The unusually large size of the tornado and its fast movement cornered many storm chasers out on open roads. Before it dissipated, it claimed the lives of storm researcher Tim Samaras, his son Paul Samaras, and fellow storm chaser Carl Young. This storm would go on to be studied in weather conferences, technical papers, and numerous You-Tube videos. The weather map shown here reveals conditions about an hour before this storm developed.
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