Editing Storm chasing (section)

===Incidents===
For nearly sixty years, the only known chaser deaths were driving-related. As of 22 May 2024, there have been 4 direct storm chasing deaths and 12 indirect deaths. Nearly half of the indirect deaths are a result of hydroplaning in conditions after a chase.

The first was Christopher Phillips, a [[University of Oklahoma]] (OU) undergraduate student, who died in a [[hydroplaning]] accident when swerving to miss a rabbit in 1984.<ref>{{Cite web |date=24 May 2010 |title='It Sounded Like a Freight Train': The Dangers of Storm Chasing |url=http://www.accuweather.com/en/weather-news/it-sounded-like-a-freight-trai/26588 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131029192118/http://www.accuweather.com/en/weather-news/it-sounded-like-a-freight-trai/26588 |archive-date=29 October 2013 |access-date=23 October 2013 |work=AccuWeather}}</ref> Other incidents included Jeff Wear driving home in East Texas from a [[Hurricane Dennis]] chase in 2005,<ref>{{Cite web |title=Jeff Wear |url=http://www.stormtrack.org/forum/showthread.php?5199-**JEFF-WEAR** |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130126231718/http://www.stormtrack.org/forum/showthread.php?5199-**JEFF-WEAR** |archive-date=26 January 2013 |access-date=3 August 2019}}</ref> and Fabian Guerra swerving to miss a deer while driving to a chase on [[Interstate 80 in Iowa|I-80]] in Iowa in 2009.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Fabian Guerra |url=http://www.stormtrack.org/forum/showthread.php?20997-Fabian-Guerra-ST-Member |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131029193136/http://www.stormtrack.org/forum/showthread.php?20997-Fabian-Guerra-ST-Member |archive-date=29 October 2013 |access-date=3 August 2019}}</ref> A wrong-way driver resulted in a head-on collision that killed Andy Gabrielson who was on the [[Turner Turnpike]] ([[Interstate 44 in Oklahoma|I-44]]) near Sapulpa, Oklahoma, returning to Luverne, Minnesota, from a chase in 2012.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Storm chaser is killed in collision on Oklahoma's Turner Turnpike |url=https://www.oklahoman.com/story/news/nation-world/2012/02/04/storm-chaser-is-killed-in-collision-on-oklahomas-turner-turnpike/61098989007/}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=https://texasstormchasers.com/weather/remembering-andy-gabrielson-3-years-later/# |title=Remembering Andy Gabrielson 3 Years Later |date=February 4, 2015 |access-date=June 28, 2024 |work=Texas Storm Chasers |first=David |last=Reimer }}</ref><ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.oklahoman.com/story/news/nation-world/2012/02/04/storm-chaser-is-killed-in-collision-on-oklahomas-turner-turnpike/61098989007/ |title=Storm chaser is killed in collision on Oklahoma's Turner Turnpike |first= |last=Staff |work=[[The Oklahoman]] |date=February 5, 2012 |access-date=June 28, 2024 }}</ref>

On 31 May 2013, an extreme event led to the first known chaser deaths inflicted directly by weather when [[2013 El Reno tornado|the widest tornado ever recorded]] struck near [[El Reno, Oklahoma]]. Engineer [[Tim Samaras]], his photographer son Paul, and meteorologist Carl Young were killed on a rural road by the tornado while doing in situ probe and [[infrasonic]] [[field research]]. An amateur storm chaser was also killed in the tornado in a separate vehicle. In an exceptional combination of events, the already large and rain-obscured yet partially translucent tornado swiftly swelled to {{convert|2.6|mi|abbr=on}} wide as it simultaneously changed direction and accelerated.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Davies |first=Jon |author-link=Jonathan M. Davies |date=4 June 2013 |title=The El Reno tornado – unusual & very deadly |url=http://www.davieswx.blogspot.com/2013/06/the-el-reno-tornado-unusual-very-deadly.html |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131024094414/http://www.davieswx.blogspot.com/2013/06/the-el-reno-tornado-unusual-very-deadly.html |archive-date=24 October 2013 |access-date=23 October 2013}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |date=13 November 2013 |title=Safety Lessons From El Reno |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bJOjjzHUwsk |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160307092319/https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bJOjjzHUwsk |archive-date=7 March 2016 |access-date=26 August 2016 |publisher=Skip Talbot's Storm Chasing Chronicles (YouTube)}}</ref> Several other chasers were also struck and some injured by this tornado and its parent supercell's [[rear flank downdraft]] (RFD).<ref>{{Cite web |last=Masters |first=Jeff |date=2 June 2013 |title=Tornado Scientist Tim Samaras and Team Killed in Friday's El Reno, OK Tornado |url=http://www.wunderground.com/blog/JeffMasters/article.html?entrynum=2423 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131031083904/http://www.wunderground.com/blog/JeffMasters/article.html?entrynum=2423 |archive-date=31 October 2013 |access-date=23 October 2013 |publisher=Weather Underground}}</ref>

While chasing severe storms, a vehicle driven by Randall Yarnall for Kelley Williamson, who were contracting for [[The Weather Channel]] (TWC) as stars of their own show, ''Storm Wranglers'', ran a [[stop sign]] while northbound on [[Farm to Market Road 1081]] and struck a vehicle driven by Corbin Lee Jaeger going west on [[Farm to Market Road 2794]] in West Texas in 2017. All three died at the scene,<ref>{{Cite news |last=Flynn |first=Meagan |date=27 March 2019 |title=Three storm chasers died in a violent Texas collision. One mother now blames the Weather Channel |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2019/03/27/three-storm-chasers-died-violent-texas-collision-one-mother-now-blames-weather-channel/ |access-date=1 June 2022 |newspaper=The Washington Post}}</ref><ref name="Wranglers">{{Cite news |last=Livingston |first=Ian |date=1 April 2019 |title=Storm chasers react to the wrongful death lawsuit against the Weather Channel |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/weather/2019/04/01/storm-chasers-react-wrongful-death-lawsuit-against-weather-channel/ |access-date=1 June 2022 |newspaper=The Washington Post}}</ref> and the mother of Jaeger sued the estates of Williamson and Yarnall, as well as TWC, as there was a history of reckless driving by the pair for which it was alleged TWC ignored warnings to them by other chasers. The suit filed in 2019 was resolved in 2021.<ref name="Burt">{{Cite news |last=Burt |first=Brad |date=2 June 2021 |title=Woman resolves $125 million lawsuit against Weather Channel for storm chaser crash |url=https://www.kcbd.com/2021/06/03/woman-resolves-125-million-lawsuit-against-weather-channel-for-storm-chaser-crash/ |access-date=1 June 2022 |publisher=KCBD}}</ref>

Another fatality occurred in 2019 when Dale Sharpe, an Australian, struck a deer and subsequently became disabled on [[K-42 (Kansas highway)|Kansas Highway 42]]. As he fled the vehicle, an oncoming vehicle struck him and he later died at the hospital.<ref>{{Cite news |last=<!--staff byline; no author given--> |title=Australian man killed in Harper County crash |url=https://www.kake.com/story/40686519/australian-man-killed-in-harper-county-crash |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190620172528/http://www.kake.com/story/40686519/australian-man-killed-in-harper-county-crash |archive-date=20 June 2019 |access-date=20 June 2019 |work=[[KAKE]]}}</ref>

Two separate fatal accidents occurred in 2022. In April three OU meteorology students, Drake Brooks, Nicholas Nair, and Gavin Short, died after hydroplaning on [[Interstate 35 in Oklahoma|I-35]] in Oklahoma while returning from a chase<ref>{{Cite news |last=Hayes |first=Jana |date=30 April 2022 |title=Three OU meteorology students die in car crash Friday on way home from storm chasing |url=https://www.oklahoman.com/story/news/2022/04/30/three-ou-meteorology-students-die-car-crash-kansas-storm-chasing/9600043002/ |access-date=1 May 2022 |work=[[The Oklahoman]]}}</ref> and in May, Martha Llanos Rodriguez, a storm chasing meteorologist from Mexico City was killed and three meteorologist colleagues were injured (two Chileans sustained non-life-threatening injuries and the other, Bradford Barrett, an American stationed in Chile, sustained life-threatening injuries) when they stopped for downed power lines on [[Interstate 90 in Minnesota|I-90]] in southwestern Minnesota and their vehicle was hit by a [[semi-trailer truck]].<ref>{{Cite news |last=Livingston |first=Ian |date=12 May 2022 |title=Storm chaser killed, four people injured in Minnesota crash |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/weather/2022/05/12/storm-chaser-accident-minnesota/ |newspaper=The Washington Post}}</ref>

There are other incidents in which chasers were injured by automobile accidents, lightning strikes, and tornado impacts.{{citation needed|date=October 2013}} While chasing [[March 1990 Central United States tornado outbreak|a tornado outbreak]] on 13 March 1990, [[KWTV]] television photographer Bill Merickel was shot and injured upon accidentally stumbling on a drug deal near [[Lindsay, Oklahoma]].<ref>{{Cite book |last=England |first=Gary |author-link=Gary England |url=https://archive.org/details/weatheringstormt00engl/page/182 |title=Weathering the Storm: Tornadoes, Television, and Turmoil |publisher=University of Oklahoma Press |year=1996 |isbn=978-0-8061-2823-8 |location=Norman, OK |pages=[https://archive.org/details/weatheringstormt00engl/page/182 182–5]}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |date=14 March 1990 |title=Television cameraman photographing severe weather shot and critically wounded |url=http://articles.orlandosentinel.com/1990-03-14/news/9003143142_1_merickel-cameraman-shot-stormy-weather |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140413131632/http://articles.orlandosentinel.com/1990-03-14/news/9003143142_1_merickel-cameraman-shot-stormy-weather |archive-date=13 April 2014 |access-date=12 April 2014}}</ref>