Joel Taylor, the star of Storm Chasers, passed away on Tuesday, Jan. 23. The Discovery Channel personality is mourned by his friends in the industry.
Taylor's cause of death has not yet been released by authorities. His good friend and Storm Chasers costar Reed Timmer was shocked by Taylor's sudden demise. Timmer expressed his sadness over Taylor's death on his Twitter account.
RIP my best friend and storm chasing partner, Joel Taylor. I am shocked and absolutely devastated by the loss of my incredible, caring friend. We chased so many intense storms, and I wish we could have just one more storm chase. I'll miss you forever, Joel. We lost a legend pic.twitter.com/htN45t8wik
— Reed Timmer (@ReedTimmerAccu) January 24, 2018
The 38-year-old star grew up in Oklahoma. He studied meteorology at one of the universities in the state. Taylor was cast in Storm Chasers in 2008. Discovery Channel canceled the show four years later. The network revealed that Taylor and Timmer had a falling out after the latter decided to focus more on the Tornado Videos website. Taylor was also part of the website, but he quit the TVN team months later. The Storm Chasers star and Timmer reconnected and patched things up afterward.
Joel Taylor's Friends' Tribute
I’m heartbroken to hear of the passing of Joel Taylor. My heart goes out to his parents. Long before his Discovery fame, Joel and his parents accompanied us on a trip to Hawaii while we taped our show Atmosphere’s. His passion for tornadoes was infectioushttps://t.co/tXUiUF5aUo — Jim Cantore (@JimCantore) January 24, 2018
Photographer Mike Olbinski also remembered Taylor after his passing. He revealed that he met Taylor a few years ago at Timmer's wedding. Team Western Oklahoma Chaser also paid a touching tribute to Taylor on social media. The post was updated hours later to reiterate that no cause of death has been released by officials. However, Taylor's death had nothing to do with chasing.
"Our community of Elk City and the Storm Chasing community lost a great guy today. Joel Taylor was truly an inspiration to myself and many who knew him. He was one of the most level headed chasers on the roads and truly a classy guy outside of chasing. He didn't chase for the glory; he chased because he had a true passion for storms," read the post.
Discovery Channel also released a statement regarding Taylor's death.
"We are so saddened to hear about Joel's passing. We will always remember him fondly as an incredible meteorologist and driver of 'The Dominator.' Our thoughts and prayers are with his family and friends at this difficult time," read the statement.
Taylor is survived by his parents, Jimmy and Tracy Taylor, his brother and sister, as well as his siblings' children.
