1 00:00:04,400 --> 00:00:07,760 Speaker 1: Welcome to text Stuff, a production from my Heart Radio. 2 00:00:12,000 --> 00:00:14,520 Speaker 1: Hey there, and welcome to tech Stuff. I'm your host, 3 00:00:14,640 --> 00:00:17,160 Speaker 1: Jonathan Strickland. I'm an executive producer with our Heart Radio 4 00:00:17,200 --> 00:00:20,239 Speaker 1: and I love all things tech and today it's time 5 00:00:20,280 --> 00:00:22,480 Speaker 1: for another classic episode. We are going to listen to 6 00:00:22,560 --> 00:00:26,960 Speaker 1: how storm chasers work. This episode originally published on July 7 00:00:27,200 --> 00:00:32,080 Speaker 1: twenty two, two thousand thirteen, and we've been getting a 8 00:00:32,080 --> 00:00:35,680 Speaker 1: lot of storms here in Georgia, so it seems pretty 9 00:00:35,720 --> 00:00:38,680 Speaker 1: a proposed that we go back and revisit this, So 10 00:00:38,760 --> 00:00:42,800 Speaker 1: let's listen in. This is our warning, which we will 11 00:00:42,840 --> 00:00:45,760 Speaker 1: be repeating at the end of the episode. Storm chasing 12 00:00:45,920 --> 00:00:50,760 Speaker 1: is seriously dangerous business. This is not a hobbyist thing, um, 13 00:00:51,080 --> 00:00:53,800 Speaker 1: though some people treated that way. It is you are 14 00:00:53,800 --> 00:00:58,000 Speaker 1: putting yourself at serious risk when you are encountering major 15 00:00:58,200 --> 00:01:02,840 Speaker 1: storm fronts, including but not limited to tornadoes. So we 16 00:01:02,920 --> 00:01:05,720 Speaker 1: want to get all the way and um, the people 17 00:01:05,800 --> 00:01:09,440 Speaker 1: who go about storm chasing our professionals. They are researchers, 18 00:01:09,520 --> 00:01:13,360 Speaker 1: they have been trained, um and and they do serious work. 19 00:01:13,560 --> 00:01:16,000 Speaker 1: It's it's not just all about the thrill. I'm sure 20 00:01:16,000 --> 00:01:17,600 Speaker 1: that part of it for these people is a thrill. 21 00:01:17,680 --> 00:01:21,319 Speaker 1: But but but the number of tornadoes in the United 22 00:01:21,360 --> 00:01:24,400 Speaker 1: States has increased since the nineteen sixties, but the number 23 00:01:24,400 --> 00:01:27,720 Speaker 1: of deaths in the US has declined due to these 24 00:01:27,760 --> 00:01:31,119 Speaker 1: brave people's work. Right, we're learning more about these systems 25 00:01:31,240 --> 00:01:34,280 Speaker 1: and how to predict them. Now, granted, prediction is about 26 00:01:34,319 --> 00:01:38,319 Speaker 1: all we can do because these are major storm systems 27 00:01:38,360 --> 00:01:43,279 Speaker 1: that we don't understand so much energy, and the energy 28 00:01:43,280 --> 00:01:46,840 Speaker 1: and these storm systems rivals that of a nuclear bomb. 29 00:01:47,040 --> 00:01:50,000 Speaker 1: They can they can reach above three miles an hour. Yeah, 30 00:01:50,080 --> 00:01:52,880 Speaker 1: this is this is serious business. So let's talk a 31 00:01:52,880 --> 00:01:55,440 Speaker 1: little bit about what storm chasers are and what they do. 32 00:01:55,520 --> 00:01:59,360 Speaker 1: So they do tend to fall into three major categories. 33 00:01:59,680 --> 00:02:02,360 Speaker 1: You've at your scientific researchers, which I would say are 34 00:02:02,360 --> 00:02:05,840 Speaker 1: probably the majority of well until recently, anyway, we're the 35 00:02:05,840 --> 00:02:08,840 Speaker 1: majority of storm chasers. These are the men and women 36 00:02:08,919 --> 00:02:13,520 Speaker 1: who dedicate their their lives to studying storm systems, gathering data, 37 00:02:13,600 --> 00:02:16,520 Speaker 1: and trying to learn everything we can about them so 38 00:02:16,600 --> 00:02:20,400 Speaker 1: that our forecast models get more and more precise, so 39 00:02:20,440 --> 00:02:23,600 Speaker 1: that we can increase the levels of safety not just 40 00:02:23,800 --> 00:02:26,120 Speaker 1: of where we build things, but how we build them 41 00:02:26,120 --> 00:02:29,920 Speaker 1: and how to get people in out of harm's way. 42 00:02:29,960 --> 00:02:33,920 Speaker 1: So that's one group. Another group are professionals who are 43 00:02:33,960 --> 00:02:37,840 Speaker 1: trying to capture video or still images of storms and 44 00:02:37,840 --> 00:02:41,360 Speaker 1: then sell them to either a news outlet or a 45 00:02:41,400 --> 00:02:46,120 Speaker 1: magazine or television show, or just to any other type 46 00:02:46,120 --> 00:02:49,320 Speaker 1: of customer. So they're trying to turn storm chasing into profit. 47 00:02:49,880 --> 00:02:53,320 Speaker 1: And then your third category are your thrill seekers, who 48 00:02:53,400 --> 00:02:55,920 Speaker 1: are treating it like a hobby. They want they want 49 00:02:55,919 --> 00:02:58,800 Speaker 1: to witness the awesome power of a storm, which can 50 00:02:58,840 --> 00:03:02,880 Speaker 1: be really amazing to behold, but it is so dangerous. Yeah, 51 00:03:03,080 --> 00:03:06,000 Speaker 1: I would say that really technically most storm chasers fall 52 00:03:06,040 --> 00:03:08,919 Speaker 1: into all three categories in some way, shape or form. 53 00:03:08,960 --> 00:03:11,120 Speaker 1: I mean, you know, it's it's it's that's true. It's 54 00:03:11,120 --> 00:03:12,799 Speaker 1: not like it is a business. And most of them 55 00:03:12,840 --> 00:03:15,200 Speaker 1: do take footage while they're in the most of them 56 00:03:15,200 --> 00:03:19,200 Speaker 1: are also doing research and are probably excited about. Right, 57 00:03:19,240 --> 00:03:21,760 Speaker 1: You've got you've got some hobbyists who are just trying 58 00:03:21,760 --> 00:03:23,720 Speaker 1: to see a really cool storm. And you've got some 59 00:03:23,760 --> 00:03:27,799 Speaker 1: companies that are operating tourism where it's actually they're creating 60 00:03:27,840 --> 00:03:30,840 Speaker 1: a business where they're taking people out on tours to 61 00:03:30,919 --> 00:03:34,880 Speaker 1: try and see one of these storms. Uh So there, 62 00:03:34,920 --> 00:03:38,080 Speaker 1: it's not necessarily that you you only belong to one category. 63 00:03:38,120 --> 00:03:42,120 Speaker 1: You might span multiple categories, but that's generally how folks 64 00:03:42,160 --> 00:03:46,360 Speaker 1: kind of classify them. Uh Now, really, when it comes 65 00:03:46,360 --> 00:03:48,480 Speaker 1: down to what we need to talk about, what is 66 00:03:49,320 --> 00:03:52,520 Speaker 1: an actual tornado, because that's mainly what storm chasers are 67 00:03:52,560 --> 00:03:56,160 Speaker 1: concerned with. They also will take a look into huge 68 00:03:56,280 --> 00:04:00,760 Speaker 1: thunderstorm systems, super cells, things like that. Uh. Also, some 69 00:04:00,840 --> 00:04:05,040 Speaker 1: storm chasers will have some experience with things like hurricanes, 70 00:04:05,080 --> 00:04:08,400 Speaker 1: which are different from tornadoes. Yeah, it is. It is 71 00:04:08,480 --> 00:04:13,080 Speaker 1: kind of um implied that hurricane chasers are not really 72 00:04:13,160 --> 00:04:15,840 Speaker 1: storm chasers because you're not so much chasing a hurricane 73 00:04:15,880 --> 00:04:18,880 Speaker 1: you know where it is. Yeah, it's pretty obvious. Yeah, 74 00:04:18,960 --> 00:04:23,720 Speaker 1: hurricanes are very different from tornadoes. Tornadoes are, Like we said, 75 00:04:23,720 --> 00:04:29,040 Speaker 1: they are pretty mysterious. We don't understand fully how they form, 76 00:04:29,240 --> 00:04:32,040 Speaker 1: what it is that's making them form, or why they 77 00:04:32,080 --> 00:04:36,520 Speaker 1: form in once circumstances. But in another set that seems identical, 78 00:04:37,120 --> 00:04:40,479 Speaker 1: they don't. So that means there's there's probably some other 79 00:04:40,520 --> 00:04:43,719 Speaker 1: factors there that we just aren't really completely aware of. 80 00:04:44,320 --> 00:04:48,080 Speaker 1: Uh that creates some randomness in this event which would 81 00:04:48,120 --> 00:04:50,480 Speaker 1: cause them to form in one case and not another. 82 00:04:50,560 --> 00:04:52,760 Speaker 1: So I guess we need to kind of define what 83 00:04:52,800 --> 00:04:56,080 Speaker 1: a tornado is. Okay, well, so it's a it's a swirling, 84 00:04:56,080 --> 00:05:00,359 Speaker 1: massive air um It is spawned from a areas of 85 00:05:00,400 --> 00:05:04,760 Speaker 1: severe thunderstorms called super cells, which are storm clouds that 86 00:05:04,800 --> 00:05:08,880 Speaker 1: can reach like six miles up into the atmosphere. These 87 00:05:08,880 --> 00:05:13,560 Speaker 1: are tall, tall cloud systems, and it has enough energy 88 00:05:13,720 --> 00:05:17,920 Speaker 1: to create a cyclone, a spinning air right now, if 89 00:05:17,960 --> 00:05:20,960 Speaker 1: we want to go into an even more in depth definition, 90 00:05:21,000 --> 00:05:25,120 Speaker 1: the Glossary of Meteorology says that it's a violently rotating 91 00:05:25,200 --> 00:05:29,240 Speaker 1: column of air pendant from a cumuli form cloud or 92 00:05:29,320 --> 00:05:32,839 Speaker 1: underneath a cumuli form cloud, and often but not always 93 00:05:32,920 --> 00:05:36,120 Speaker 1: visible as a funnel cloud. So literally, in order for 94 00:05:36,160 --> 00:05:38,520 Speaker 1: a vortex to be classified as a tornado, it must 95 00:05:38,560 --> 00:05:41,960 Speaker 1: actually be in contact with the ground and otherwise otherwise 96 00:05:42,040 --> 00:05:44,479 Speaker 1: it is just a funnel right, yeah, So it has 97 00:05:44,520 --> 00:05:46,279 Speaker 1: to be in contact with the ground, has to be 98 00:05:46,320 --> 00:05:48,159 Speaker 1: from the ground all the way up to the cloud base. 99 00:05:48,240 --> 00:05:50,280 Speaker 1: If it's not all the way up to the cloud base, 100 00:05:50,360 --> 00:05:53,400 Speaker 1: it could be what is called a gust nado or 101 00:05:53,440 --> 00:05:55,680 Speaker 1: you know some people call them like you know, even 102 00:05:55,760 --> 00:05:58,279 Speaker 1: little dust storms you'll see like a little twisting motion. 103 00:05:58,720 --> 00:06:01,480 Speaker 1: Those are not actually tornadoes unless they extend all the 104 00:06:01,480 --> 00:06:03,400 Speaker 1: way up to the cloud base. So it has to 105 00:06:03,440 --> 00:06:05,320 Speaker 1: be from the cloud base to the ground for it 106 00:06:05,360 --> 00:06:08,840 Speaker 1: to actually be a tornado. Now, usually within a tornado 107 00:06:08,880 --> 00:06:11,040 Speaker 1: you've got wind sheer going on. That's that's winds at 108 00:06:11,040 --> 00:06:14,120 Speaker 1: different altitudes that are blowing in different directions. Um, that 109 00:06:14,120 --> 00:06:17,719 Speaker 1: that end up, you know, creating this rotation. Yeah, and 110 00:06:17,720 --> 00:06:22,000 Speaker 1: the rotation in the northern hemisphere tends to be counterclockwise 111 00:06:22,240 --> 00:06:24,919 Speaker 1: and in the southern hemisphere it tends to be clockwise. 112 00:06:25,000 --> 00:06:27,880 Speaker 1: But that's not a hard and fast rule. You can 113 00:06:27,920 --> 00:06:31,240 Speaker 1: actually have the same way that that you can technically 114 00:06:31,520 --> 00:06:35,680 Speaker 1: in the northern hemisphere. See water go down the drain. Yeah. Yeah. 115 00:06:35,800 --> 00:06:37,680 Speaker 1: The core Lanus effect is one of those things that 116 00:06:37,720 --> 00:06:40,159 Speaker 1: a lot of people will cite when it comes to 117 00:06:40,200 --> 00:06:44,719 Speaker 1: this sort of stuff that really applies to huge bodies, 118 00:06:44,839 --> 00:06:49,080 Speaker 1: not tiny ones. But in this relatively tiny ones, I 119 00:06:49,080 --> 00:06:51,840 Speaker 1: should say. But in this case, you can actually find 120 00:06:51,920 --> 00:06:55,960 Speaker 1: storm systems that have both counter clockwise and clockwise moving 121 00:06:56,560 --> 00:07:00,080 Speaker 1: tornadoes within one system. So it's not like a in 122 00:07:00,120 --> 00:07:03,839 Speaker 1: fast rule, it's just more of a tendency. So. Um, 123 00:07:03,880 --> 00:07:07,720 Speaker 1: there's also this thing called a messo cyclone. All right, 124 00:07:07,800 --> 00:07:11,640 Speaker 1: this is a a twisting vortex of air that goes 125 00:07:11,720 --> 00:07:16,240 Speaker 1: through a cloud system. But imagine that it's horizontal, all right, 126 00:07:16,480 --> 00:07:19,200 Speaker 1: So it doesn't it's not it's not vertical yet. It's 127 00:07:19,200 --> 00:07:20,960 Speaker 1: so it's a messo cyclone. It's kind of like what 128 00:07:21,000 --> 00:07:23,040 Speaker 1: a tornado would look like if you put it on 129 00:07:23,080 --> 00:07:26,440 Speaker 1: its side up in the clouds, all right, and then 130 00:07:26,680 --> 00:07:30,600 Speaker 1: you get these these wind sheer uh factors, these these 131 00:07:30,640 --> 00:07:35,400 Speaker 1: sharp moving horizontal winds that can telt the messo cyclone 132 00:07:35,600 --> 00:07:38,040 Speaker 1: so that it is upright. And if it does in 133 00:07:38,080 --> 00:07:41,280 Speaker 1: fact go upright and the base of it touches the ground, 134 00:07:41,320 --> 00:07:44,360 Speaker 1: that's when you get your tornado. And like I said, 135 00:07:44,440 --> 00:07:48,680 Speaker 1: you can have a very similar set of circumstances that 136 00:07:49,880 --> 00:07:52,680 Speaker 1: in one case spawn a tornado and then another do not. 137 00:07:53,360 --> 00:07:55,880 Speaker 1: Right right, Um, what what helps with the tornado is 138 00:07:55,960 --> 00:07:58,360 Speaker 1: when you get these inflow bands, which are which are 139 00:07:58,480 --> 00:08:03,360 Speaker 1: ragged bands of cumulance clouds that that um extend out away, 140 00:08:03,840 --> 00:08:06,400 Speaker 1: usually to the south or southeast here in the northern hemisphere. 141 00:08:06,520 --> 00:08:09,280 Speaker 1: Um and uh. It suggests that the storm is is 142 00:08:09,360 --> 00:08:12,560 Speaker 1: gathering low level air from several miles away and and 143 00:08:12,680 --> 00:08:16,000 Speaker 1: sucking in that that hot moist air that is going 144 00:08:16,040 --> 00:08:19,600 Speaker 1: to be fueling the storm. Right now, I've heard another 145 00:08:19,720 --> 00:08:21,720 Speaker 1: term when it comes to tornadoes, and I wonder if 146 00:08:21,760 --> 00:08:25,120 Speaker 1: you actually know anything about it, because it intrigues me, 147 00:08:25,440 --> 00:08:29,960 Speaker 1: it tasks me. And this is the term beaver tail. 148 00:08:30,240 --> 00:08:33,200 Speaker 1: A beaver's tail, Am I am? I crazy? Or is 149 00:08:33,200 --> 00:08:35,720 Speaker 1: that associated with tornadoes? Now? This is a thing. It's 150 00:08:35,800 --> 00:08:39,080 Speaker 1: it's a smooth, flat cloud band that that extends again 151 00:08:39,120 --> 00:08:41,320 Speaker 1: in the northern hemisphere from the from the eastern edge 152 00:08:41,679 --> 00:08:44,199 Speaker 1: of the storm going out to the east or southeast 153 00:08:44,800 --> 00:08:48,640 Speaker 1: or eastern northeast. I'm sorry, um, and uh it It 154 00:08:48,760 --> 00:08:52,000 Speaker 1: also just suggests the presence of rotation. Got you. Yeah, So, 155 00:08:52,000 --> 00:08:55,200 Speaker 1: so in the storm systems, you have areas where there 156 00:08:55,320 --> 00:08:58,640 Speaker 1: is precipitation and you have areas where there's no precipitation. 157 00:08:59,240 --> 00:09:02,360 Speaker 1: I think the beaver's tail is in the no precipitation area. 158 00:09:02,480 --> 00:09:04,640 Speaker 1: So it's kind of one of the borders of these 159 00:09:04,679 --> 00:09:07,160 Speaker 1: storm systems. So if you see a storm system that 160 00:09:07,520 --> 00:09:11,600 Speaker 1: has several of these indicators, that's one of those those 161 00:09:11,640 --> 00:09:14,479 Speaker 1: warning signs to say this is the sort of situation 162 00:09:14,679 --> 00:09:17,960 Speaker 1: in which tornadoes can form. Right, all of these situations 163 00:09:18,000 --> 00:09:21,960 Speaker 1: can happen in completely benign, regular old thunderstorms, that nearly 164 00:09:22,080 --> 00:09:26,160 Speaker 1: terrify your dog. And uh, wall cloud is another one 165 00:09:26,200 --> 00:09:29,040 Speaker 1: that said, that's a cloud that seems like it's descending 166 00:09:29,120 --> 00:09:32,120 Speaker 1: from the bottom of the storm. Um, and those are 167 00:09:32,160 --> 00:09:35,600 Speaker 1: actually one of the more present that that's like your 168 00:09:35,600 --> 00:09:38,600 Speaker 1: ten to twenty minute warning if a tornado is going 169 00:09:38,679 --> 00:09:40,920 Speaker 1: to form. There, you've got about ten to twenty minutes 170 00:09:40,960 --> 00:09:43,800 Speaker 1: from when that's when that Yeah, that's that's scary stuff. 171 00:09:44,160 --> 00:09:48,439 Speaker 1: And so when this tornado is forming, you get an updraft, 172 00:09:48,800 --> 00:09:51,120 Speaker 1: all right, and that up dress sars to pull in 173 00:09:51,400 --> 00:09:55,079 Speaker 1: low level air from several miles around. I mean, we're 174 00:09:55,120 --> 00:09:58,440 Speaker 1: talking a huge system here, and that low level air 175 00:09:58,480 --> 00:10:01,000 Speaker 1: is pulled up through the updraft from the rain area, 176 00:10:01,040 --> 00:10:04,040 Speaker 1: and the rain cooled air is incredibly humid, like you 177 00:10:04,080 --> 00:10:08,520 Speaker 1: were saying, the moisture in the rain cool air quickly condenses, 178 00:10:09,160 --> 00:10:11,640 Speaker 1: and uh, that's why you get that wall cloud. And 179 00:10:11,679 --> 00:10:15,280 Speaker 1: then you know you know that they're the conditions are 180 00:10:15,360 --> 00:10:18,439 Speaker 1: ripe for a tornado to form. And then you've got 181 00:10:18,520 --> 00:10:23,000 Speaker 1: the rear flank down draft or RFD, and that's that's 182 00:10:23,000 --> 00:10:25,720 Speaker 1: this downward rush of air from from the back end 183 00:10:25,760 --> 00:10:29,200 Speaker 1: of the storm. That's a that's descending along with the 184 00:10:29,200 --> 00:10:32,120 Speaker 1: funnel Wow. Yeah, so this this looks like it's a 185 00:10:32,720 --> 00:10:35,960 Speaker 1: bright spot, right, that's what that's what this usually looks like. 186 00:10:36,040 --> 00:10:38,720 Speaker 1: It's usually to the rear, and in the northern hemisphere 187 00:10:38,760 --> 00:10:41,520 Speaker 1: it's the southwest side, which I think actually leads to 188 00:10:41,600 --> 00:10:44,320 Speaker 1: a wives tale. There's an old wives tale that if 189 00:10:44,360 --> 00:10:46,880 Speaker 1: you were to if a tornado is approaching and you 190 00:10:46,880 --> 00:10:49,080 Speaker 1: have a basement, you should go and huddle in the 191 00:10:49,080 --> 00:10:52,760 Speaker 1: southwest corner, the idea being that that would be the 192 00:10:52,800 --> 00:10:55,840 Speaker 1: safest way from the path of the tornado. But as 193 00:10:55,920 --> 00:10:59,559 Speaker 1: it turns out, tornado pathways are not nearly so predictable. 194 00:10:59,640 --> 00:11:02,840 Speaker 1: They are very unpredictable in fact. And um and and 195 00:11:02,880 --> 00:11:06,760 Speaker 1: also that that clear spot just doesn't have rain in it, 196 00:11:06,760 --> 00:11:11,800 Speaker 1: it's still actually a space of extreme wind activity. And 197 00:11:11,880 --> 00:11:15,240 Speaker 1: so yeah, then you've got the funnel itself, um and 198 00:11:15,320 --> 00:11:19,920 Speaker 1: which the visibility of a tornado will often depend upon 199 00:11:19,960 --> 00:11:24,160 Speaker 1: how much material is in it. Sometimes if usually if 200 00:11:24,200 --> 00:11:26,240 Speaker 1: it's if it's a little bit of material, that's when 201 00:11:26,240 --> 00:11:28,600 Speaker 1: it's it's most visible. That's when you can really see 202 00:11:28,640 --> 00:11:31,680 Speaker 1: the definition of the funnel cloud. If it's hits some 203 00:11:31,760 --> 00:11:34,000 Speaker 1: dust or something, right, right, if it's got some debris 204 00:11:34,040 --> 00:11:35,920 Speaker 1: in there, when it's got a lot. It makes it 205 00:11:35,960 --> 00:11:37,480 Speaker 1: hard to see because it just it looks like a 206 00:11:37,520 --> 00:11:41,120 Speaker 1: massive darkness coming at you. By the way, we'll probably 207 00:11:41,240 --> 00:11:43,960 Speaker 1: have some personal stories that we can relate a little 208 00:11:44,000 --> 00:11:49,440 Speaker 1: bit because Lauren and I have both experienced being through tornadoes. Um, 209 00:11:49,520 --> 00:11:52,520 Speaker 1: you know, I I grew up in Northeast Georgia and 210 00:11:52,559 --> 00:11:56,080 Speaker 1: I grew up in Ohio, and both areas have have 211 00:11:56,240 --> 00:12:00,320 Speaker 1: been the site of tornado activity. Granted, not nearly at 212 00:12:00,360 --> 00:12:02,760 Speaker 1: least in Northeast Georgia. It's not nearly to the same 213 00:12:02,800 --> 00:12:04,960 Speaker 1: extent as places in the Midwest that are in what 214 00:12:05,120 --> 00:12:09,600 Speaker 1: is called tornado Alley, but we still get quite a few. Yeah, 215 00:12:09,640 --> 00:12:13,560 Speaker 1: speaking of tornado Alley, the United States has, or North 216 00:12:13,600 --> 00:12:18,040 Speaker 1: America in general, has has the most tornadoes of any 217 00:12:18,040 --> 00:12:23,959 Speaker 1: place on the planet, about about twelve hundred per year UM. 218 00:12:24,320 --> 00:12:26,559 Speaker 1: And this is because of of what's called a dry line, 219 00:12:26,679 --> 00:12:30,920 Speaker 1: which is a center of cool, dry air that is 220 00:12:31,000 --> 00:12:33,679 Speaker 1: coming off of the deserts to the west and meeting 221 00:12:33,760 --> 00:12:36,760 Speaker 1: up with the warm, wet air from the oceans of 222 00:12:36,800 --> 00:12:40,400 Speaker 1: the east and causing all kinds of havoc right right, So, 223 00:12:40,640 --> 00:12:42,840 Speaker 1: you know, a lot of people will say that tornadoes 224 00:12:42,840 --> 00:12:46,400 Speaker 1: are kind of the result of cold Canadian air mixing 225 00:12:46,440 --> 00:12:51,040 Speaker 1: with the warm, moist air of the Caribbean. And then 226 00:12:51,080 --> 00:12:54,040 Speaker 1: the party gets together and the snowbirds come down and 227 00:12:54,160 --> 00:12:57,360 Speaker 1: the crazy steel drums come up, and then we have 228 00:12:57,400 --> 00:12:59,600 Speaker 1: a big old party in the form of tornado. And 229 00:13:00,040 --> 00:13:04,120 Speaker 1: any storm institute will tell you that's really simplification. That's 230 00:13:04,120 --> 00:13:06,600 Speaker 1: not really that thing. Tornadoes do occur in other parts 231 00:13:06,600 --> 00:13:09,720 Speaker 1: of the world. Absolutely, you find them in pretty much everywhere. 232 00:13:09,720 --> 00:13:11,920 Speaker 1: It's just that the frequency is much greater in the 233 00:13:12,000 --> 00:13:15,319 Speaker 1: United States. Sure, after the US, North America, I should say, yes, 234 00:13:15,360 --> 00:13:19,840 Speaker 1: after the US, Argentina and Bangladesh have the next two 235 00:13:19,880 --> 00:13:22,400 Speaker 1: highest proportions of tornadoes in per year. But but yeah, 236 00:13:22,440 --> 00:13:26,359 Speaker 1: they happen everywhere, right, So a lot of the conversation 237 00:13:26,400 --> 00:13:29,520 Speaker 1: we're going to have is again, and this comes as 238 00:13:29,559 --> 00:13:31,800 Speaker 1: a surprise to nobody who's been listening to tech stuff 239 00:13:31,800 --> 00:13:34,559 Speaker 1: for a long time, going to be very US centric. 240 00:13:34,720 --> 00:13:37,760 Speaker 1: But that kind of makes sense because North America does 241 00:13:38,080 --> 00:13:42,240 Speaker 1: play home to tornadoes. Get a pass in this particular instance. 242 00:13:42,559 --> 00:13:44,520 Speaker 1: Trusts us if you if you live in a place 243 00:13:44,559 --> 00:13:48,000 Speaker 1: that is very, very infrequently hit by tornadoes, just listen 244 00:13:48,040 --> 00:13:51,960 Speaker 1: and enjoy as we discuss the terrifying experience that we 245 00:13:52,040 --> 00:13:55,640 Speaker 1: have gone through as tornadoes have uh you know, rereaked 246 00:13:55,640 --> 00:13:59,080 Speaker 1: havoc in our homeland. Um. In fact, we can go 247 00:13:59,080 --> 00:14:02,200 Speaker 1: ahead and say this, we live in Atlanta right now. Um. 248 00:14:02,240 --> 00:14:05,480 Speaker 1: And Atlanta a few years ago was hit by some 249 00:14:06,000 --> 00:14:08,680 Speaker 1: by by a pretty massive tornado that did some major 250 00:14:08,760 --> 00:14:12,240 Speaker 1: damage in downtown went right through downtown Atlanta, which is unusual. 251 00:14:12,400 --> 00:14:16,520 Speaker 1: You don't frequently have tornadoes passed through metropolitan areas. And 252 00:14:16,520 --> 00:14:18,600 Speaker 1: in fact, there were some theories for a while that 253 00:14:18,720 --> 00:14:22,520 Speaker 1: the the island effect, the heat island effective of cities 254 00:14:22,640 --> 00:14:26,520 Speaker 1: might have something to do with tornado formation. But it 255 00:14:26,600 --> 00:14:29,280 Speaker 1: may just be that's the odds, you know, just one 256 00:14:29,280 --> 00:14:33,640 Speaker 1: of those things where it's kind of pretty small. Yeah, 257 00:14:33,640 --> 00:14:35,760 Speaker 1: when you when you when you're talking about the grand 258 00:14:35,800 --> 00:14:37,960 Speaker 1: scheme of things in the city is a tiny target 259 00:14:38,120 --> 00:14:41,360 Speaker 1: and when you talk about the entire United States. Um, 260 00:14:41,440 --> 00:14:45,360 Speaker 1: but yeah, one went through downtown Atlanta and there for 261 00:14:45,360 --> 00:14:48,800 Speaker 1: for months. There were major buildings in Atlanta that had 262 00:14:49,360 --> 00:14:53,200 Speaker 1: temporary covers over a lot of windows, like high rise building, 263 00:14:53,240 --> 00:14:57,040 Speaker 1: skyscraper buildings had these these temporary covers on their windows 264 00:14:57,040 --> 00:14:58,920 Speaker 1: because they had to start replacing all of them, some 265 00:14:58,960 --> 00:15:03,360 Speaker 1: of which are and buildings that have very um specific 266 00:15:03,520 --> 00:15:08,040 Speaker 1: types of surfaces, Like we have one hotel in downtown 267 00:15:08,040 --> 00:15:12,760 Speaker 1: Atlanta that's essentially a cylinders. It's beautiful, but it does 268 00:15:12,800 --> 00:15:16,080 Speaker 1: mean that replacing the glass is somewhat difficult. And there 269 00:15:16,080 --> 00:15:20,640 Speaker 1: were entire neighborhoods east of downtown that were just laid 270 00:15:20,680 --> 00:15:24,040 Speaker 1: to waste, including some lofts that had just been built. 271 00:15:24,080 --> 00:15:29,040 Speaker 1: They had been converted from old warehouses and old manufacturing plants. Yeah, 272 00:15:29,320 --> 00:15:31,720 Speaker 1: and they had just been converted into the hill offs 273 00:15:31,840 --> 00:15:35,760 Speaker 1: and then destroyed. Um that's all been rebuilt now, but 274 00:15:36,160 --> 00:15:39,000 Speaker 1: you know, it can hit major cities. We wanted to 275 00:15:39,000 --> 00:15:41,920 Speaker 1: talk a bit about the history of storm chasing and 276 00:15:41,960 --> 00:15:44,960 Speaker 1: just that I've got some about the history of weather 277 00:15:45,040 --> 00:15:47,480 Speaker 1: forecasting in general, just to kind of get an idea 278 00:15:47,960 --> 00:15:51,400 Speaker 1: of how we've come to the point where we're at now. Now, Lauren, 279 00:15:51,440 --> 00:15:53,200 Speaker 1: the very first date I have is eight forty nine. 280 00:15:53,240 --> 00:15:57,480 Speaker 1: Do you have anything before that? What? Yes? That was 281 00:15:57,640 --> 00:16:01,800 Speaker 1: the first first or corded account of a tornado. It 282 00:16:01,920 --> 00:16:05,880 Speaker 1: was sure as windy, elt there goes Johnny. It's the 283 00:16:05,960 --> 00:16:10,840 Speaker 1: village of Rosdala, Ireland. Um, sure as windy, there goes 284 00:16:10,920 --> 00:16:15,040 Speaker 1: all Shaughnessy and the the the account said that it 285 00:16:15,080 --> 00:16:20,160 Speaker 1: looked like a steeple of fire. Wow, that's poetic. We 286 00:16:20,280 --> 00:16:24,400 Speaker 1: usually say that there's a tornado's coming at us right now. 287 00:16:24,440 --> 00:16:27,640 Speaker 1: You hear that train of coming coming around the band? Um, 288 00:16:28,040 --> 00:16:32,240 Speaker 1: so four, do you have anything else before the smarty pants? 289 00:16:32,360 --> 00:16:37,840 Speaker 1: So in Professor Joseph Henry of the Smithsonian established a 290 00:16:37,880 --> 00:16:43,320 Speaker 1: network of weather instruments along telegraph companies. So he partnered 291 00:16:43,320 --> 00:16:46,720 Speaker 1: with telegraph companies and helped install these weather instruments at 292 00:16:46,760 --> 00:16:50,080 Speaker 1: their offices in various places around the United States. Uh. 293 00:16:50,080 --> 00:16:53,800 Speaker 1: And he used maps to coordinate between these these different 294 00:16:53,800 --> 00:16:57,320 Speaker 1: telegraph companies, and so the observations they sent back he 295 00:16:57,400 --> 00:17:00,800 Speaker 1: would end up note making notes on the map, and 296 00:17:00,840 --> 00:17:03,680 Speaker 1: then from that he would start to create weather predictions. 297 00:17:04,400 --> 00:17:06,959 Speaker 1: So that's some of the first weather forecasting in the 298 00:17:07,040 --> 00:17:10,040 Speaker 1: United States, beyond just the my knee is aching, it's 299 00:17:10,080 --> 00:17:13,160 Speaker 1: going to rain soon, or my dog is freaking out. 300 00:17:13,760 --> 00:17:16,600 Speaker 1: That's so he starts doing this. But there was a 301 00:17:16,640 --> 00:17:19,160 Speaker 1: little event in the United States that kind of disrupted 302 00:17:19,240 --> 00:17:23,680 Speaker 1: the whole project. That was called the Civil War. Yeah. Yeah, 303 00:17:23,680 --> 00:17:27,720 Speaker 1: that kind of ended up taking over the telegraph lines 304 00:17:27,760 --> 00:17:31,760 Speaker 1: for a while or mysterious reasons in eighteen sixty five. However, 305 00:17:31,880 --> 00:17:35,119 Speaker 1: after the conclusion of the Civil War, Professor Henry then 306 00:17:35,160 --> 00:17:41,159 Speaker 1: suggested that all meteorological observations reorganized under a single agency 307 00:17:41,560 --> 00:17:44,320 Speaker 1: as a means of predicting storms and warning coastal shipping. 308 00:17:44,359 --> 00:17:49,400 Speaker 1: So this was the very beginning of developing a national 309 00:17:49,840 --> 00:17:54,160 Speaker 1: bureau to oversee this and study it and make forecasts. 310 00:17:54,200 --> 00:17:57,879 Speaker 1: So eighteen seventy was when the United States formed the 311 00:17:57,920 --> 00:18:01,840 Speaker 1: Weather Bureau, and that's a year Congress established a National 312 00:18:01,920 --> 00:18:05,359 Speaker 1: Weather Warning Service under the Secretary of War. Now this 313 00:18:05,440 --> 00:18:07,960 Speaker 1: is going to get interesting because this particular office ended 314 00:18:08,040 --> 00:18:11,400 Speaker 1: up playing hop scotch with the various departments of government. 315 00:18:11,720 --> 00:18:14,399 Speaker 1: It started off under the Secretary of War mainly because 316 00:18:14,440 --> 00:18:18,080 Speaker 1: the military had the most advanced censors will not really 317 00:18:18,119 --> 00:18:21,200 Speaker 1: even censors at this point, but just communication lines. So 318 00:18:21,280 --> 00:18:23,720 Speaker 1: the military was put in charge of this. And also 319 00:18:23,800 --> 00:18:26,720 Speaker 1: it was a matter of national security in many cases, 320 00:18:27,080 --> 00:18:30,640 Speaker 1: so the Secretary of War oversaw this Weather Bureau department, 321 00:18:30,840 --> 00:18:34,160 Speaker 1: and the Army Signal Corps assumed responsibility for taking observations 322 00:18:34,160 --> 00:18:39,040 Speaker 1: at military installations and warning people of storms. Uh. About 323 00:18:39,119 --> 00:18:43,359 Speaker 1: twenty years later, in eight nine, the Weather Service Organic 324 00:18:43,440 --> 00:18:47,040 Speaker 1: Act transferred the Weather Reporting Services from the Secretary of 325 00:18:47,040 --> 00:18:50,280 Speaker 1: War to the Department of Agriculture. Would not be the 326 00:18:50,400 --> 00:18:53,919 Speaker 1: last time that it would jump ship. Meanwhile, in eighteen 327 00:18:54,000 --> 00:18:58,159 Speaker 1: seventy four, there's a report of John Mere crazy person, 328 00:18:58,400 --> 00:19:00,960 Speaker 1: climbing the top of a hundred foot hauled Douglas spruce 329 00:19:01,040 --> 00:19:05,240 Speaker 1: during a fierce windstorm and writing extensively about how really 330 00:19:05,280 --> 00:19:09,879 Speaker 1: cool it was. Storm chaser, storm chaser, early storm chaser. 331 00:19:10,200 --> 00:19:13,879 Speaker 1: Also in um in eighteen eighty four that August is 332 00:19:13,920 --> 00:19:17,359 Speaker 1: the first known photograph of a tornado taken UM, specifically 333 00:19:17,359 --> 00:19:21,440 Speaker 1: in South Dakota. Yeah, not from the inside. No. In 334 00:19:21,760 --> 00:19:25,959 Speaker 1: eighteen nineties six, that was when the first hurricane warning 335 00:19:26,040 --> 00:19:29,320 Speaker 1: service was established in the United States, And in nineteen 336 00:19:29,359 --> 00:19:32,919 Speaker 1: o nine, the Weather Bureau began a regular program of 337 00:19:33,359 --> 00:19:36,439 Speaker 1: balloon upper air observation. So this is sort of the 338 00:19:36,480 --> 00:19:40,960 Speaker 1: beginning of weather balloons. There had been some work with 339 00:19:41,040 --> 00:19:43,560 Speaker 1: it earlier, but this was the first time that the 340 00:19:43,680 --> 00:19:47,560 Speaker 1: Bureau itself had started to fund a weather balloon program. 341 00:19:47,560 --> 00:19:49,439 Speaker 1: And weather balloons are pretty much what they sound like. 342 00:19:49,480 --> 00:19:54,040 Speaker 1: They are balloons that carry some form of sensor, whether 343 00:19:54,160 --> 00:19:57,520 Speaker 1: it's just something to measure wind speed or humidity or 344 00:19:57,560 --> 00:20:02,080 Speaker 1: barometric pressure or whatever. And the and send either record 345 00:20:02,160 --> 00:20:04,520 Speaker 1: it and then you retreat the balloon and see what 346 00:20:04,520 --> 00:20:07,159 Speaker 1: the recordings were, or if it has some sort of 347 00:20:07,160 --> 00:20:11,000 Speaker 1: transfre modern ly, it will transmit back to a computer exactly, yeah, 348 00:20:11,119 --> 00:20:13,840 Speaker 1: or at least a radio station, so you'll get some 349 00:20:13,880 --> 00:20:17,879 Speaker 1: sort of report back on current atmospheric conditions and in 350 00:20:17,920 --> 00:20:20,639 Speaker 1: the upper atmosphere where you know, you can't just go 351 00:20:20,680 --> 00:20:24,520 Speaker 1: outside and say it's raining, you know, this is more 352 00:20:24,600 --> 00:20:29,159 Speaker 1: like what are the directions of of airflow at higher 353 00:20:29,200 --> 00:20:35,639 Speaker 1: elevation the temperature exactly. Uh. In n a Russian meteorologist 354 00:20:35,680 --> 00:20:40,320 Speaker 1: attached a radio mediocraft to a sounding balloon. Oh there's 355 00:20:40,320 --> 00:20:43,920 Speaker 1: some thunder out there, And that was the development of 356 00:20:44,119 --> 00:20:47,360 Speaker 1: what we consider the modern weather balloons. So the previous 357 00:20:47,400 --> 00:20:51,280 Speaker 1: weather balloons were kind of early attempts at using balloons 358 00:20:51,320 --> 00:20:54,080 Speaker 1: together more information. But this is when we're actually starting 359 00:20:54,119 --> 00:20:59,160 Speaker 1: to get information in real time radioed back very early 360 00:20:59,200 --> 00:21:02,639 Speaker 1: on still and by six that's when the Weather Bureau 361 00:21:02,680 --> 00:21:07,800 Speaker 1: began operation of weather balloons, collecting information such as atmospheric pressure, temperature, humidity, 362 00:21:07,840 --> 00:21:11,800 Speaker 1: wind direction, and speed. So by six we're starting to 363 00:21:11,840 --> 00:21:18,040 Speaker 1: get a fairly robust weather reporting system. Uh. In ninety 364 00:21:18,119 --> 00:21:20,800 Speaker 1: the weather breh jumps ship again and becomes part of 365 00:21:20,800 --> 00:21:25,640 Speaker 1: the Department of Commerce, so once again playing hop scotch. 366 00:21:25,760 --> 00:21:29,440 Speaker 1: Which is which is where it still is today, I believe. Yeah, 367 00:21:29,800 --> 00:21:32,840 Speaker 1: although it's not the Weather Bureau anymore. We'll we'll talk 368 00:21:32,880 --> 00:21:35,680 Speaker 1: about that in the second right. Also circuit circer World 369 00:21:35,720 --> 00:21:38,680 Speaker 1: War two. Um, we started to see people flying into 370 00:21:38,800 --> 00:21:44,040 Speaker 1: hurricanes directly to study them. Yes, we call these crazy people, uh, 371 00:21:44,240 --> 00:21:48,320 Speaker 1: brave people who really were really were trying to advance science. 372 00:21:48,880 --> 00:21:51,359 Speaker 1: They were not doing this, you know, Willy nilly. This 373 00:21:51,520 --> 00:21:55,359 Speaker 1: was wow. There when that storm's coming right up on us, 374 00:21:56,200 --> 00:21:59,919 Speaker 1: it's hitting rant forest. Uh, it's a tornador. Um, it's not, 375 00:22:00,080 --> 00:22:03,760 Speaker 1: it's just a thunder storm. Hey guys, it's Jonathan here. 376 00:22:04,200 --> 00:22:06,040 Speaker 1: I got a storm rolling in. So I'm going to 377 00:22:06,119 --> 00:22:16,680 Speaker 1: take a quick break, but we'll be right back. Is 378 00:22:16,720 --> 00:22:21,760 Speaker 1: also when Roger Jensen started to become active, and he 379 00:22:22,280 --> 00:22:25,879 Speaker 1: is one of the people that we referred to as 380 00:22:25,920 --> 00:22:29,080 Speaker 1: an early storm chaser, right. I believe he chased his 381 00:22:29,160 --> 00:22:32,600 Speaker 1: first storm in nineteen fifty three with his father. That's 382 00:22:32,600 --> 00:22:34,320 Speaker 1: the date that I have. Oh yeah, I got I 383 00:22:34,440 --> 00:22:38,000 Speaker 1: just had. Nineteen forties was when he started. But it's 384 00:22:38,440 --> 00:22:40,840 Speaker 1: that was that was a very general kind of answer 385 00:22:41,119 --> 00:22:44,679 Speaker 1: from the site I was looking at a time, maybe 386 00:22:44,680 --> 00:22:48,119 Speaker 1: in fact more accurate and uh. Roger Jensen was was 387 00:22:48,160 --> 00:22:53,000 Speaker 1: a Turkey processing plant worker and farmer who got deeply 388 00:22:53,200 --> 00:22:56,479 Speaker 1: involved in the storm in the growing storm chasing movement. 389 00:22:56,480 --> 00:22:58,359 Speaker 1: He was, yeah, really one of the founders there, right, 390 00:22:58,400 --> 00:23:01,560 Speaker 1: another one being David Hold And you have some information 391 00:23:01,600 --> 00:23:04,480 Speaker 1: about him, right, Um. I think he began in nineteen 392 00:23:04,520 --> 00:23:09,720 Speaker 1: sixty five and following his his first experience there, he 393 00:23:10,800 --> 00:23:15,679 Speaker 1: chased storms just all the time. He was from False Church, Virginia. Yes, 394 00:23:16,000 --> 00:23:18,720 Speaker 1: and yeah, he was very much active in that, along 395 00:23:18,760 --> 00:23:22,800 Speaker 1: with another UM scientist of one of the first storm 396 00:23:22,880 --> 00:23:26,920 Speaker 1: chasing scientists, Neil Ward. Uh. Again in a very early 397 00:23:26,960 --> 00:23:31,040 Speaker 1: storm chaser. Meanwhile, while all this storm chasing is starting, 398 00:23:31,280 --> 00:23:34,480 Speaker 1: and it's just the earliest days of storm chasing. Back 399 00:23:34,560 --> 00:23:38,080 Speaker 1: in ninety eight, there was an Air Force captain who 400 00:23:38,320 --> 00:23:42,159 Speaker 1: later became a colonel named Robert Miller and also Major 401 00:23:42,320 --> 00:23:46,600 Speaker 1: Ernest Fawbush, who were the first on record in the 402 00:23:46,640 --> 00:23:51,320 Speaker 1: United States to successfully forecast a tornado. They actually forecasted 403 00:23:51,359 --> 00:23:54,840 Speaker 1: in central Oklahoma. They were observing conditions that were very 404 00:23:54,880 --> 00:23:59,160 Speaker 1: similar to a tornado that had hit the base four 405 00:23:59,280 --> 00:24:03,560 Speaker 1: days earlier, and they said, these conditions are ripe for 406 00:24:03,600 --> 00:24:06,560 Speaker 1: another tornado based on all that information, and so they 407 00:24:06,560 --> 00:24:11,000 Speaker 1: actually began to discuss with the higher ranked members of 408 00:24:11,080 --> 00:24:15,679 Speaker 1: the base there about whether or not they should take action. Ultimately, 409 00:24:15,720 --> 00:24:18,960 Speaker 1: they decided that they should prepare for the potential of 410 00:24:19,000 --> 00:24:21,480 Speaker 1: another tornado. So they acted as if another tornado was 411 00:24:21,520 --> 00:24:24,200 Speaker 1: going to hit. The next day, another tornado did hit 412 00:24:24,240 --> 00:24:27,480 Speaker 1: the base. That was two tornadoes that hit the very 413 00:24:27,520 --> 00:24:30,800 Speaker 1: same base within the span of five days, which was, 414 00:24:31,000 --> 00:24:33,440 Speaker 1: you know, pretty remarkable. I mean, you're talking about again, 415 00:24:33,480 --> 00:24:36,639 Speaker 1: a massive area, and for two tornadoes to hit the 416 00:24:36,680 --> 00:24:40,160 Speaker 1: same place within the span of a week is pretty rare. 417 00:24:41,040 --> 00:24:43,399 Speaker 1: But yeah, that was the first successful forecasting of a 418 00:24:43,400 --> 00:24:46,760 Speaker 1: tornado on record in the United States. UM and nine, 419 00:24:47,400 --> 00:24:51,920 Speaker 1: the Weather Bureau provoked a ban on mentioning tornadoes forecasts. 420 00:24:52,520 --> 00:24:55,080 Speaker 1: So you might wonder why was there a ban in place. 421 00:24:55,119 --> 00:24:59,000 Speaker 1: Why could not weather forecasters say, hey, conditions are right 422 00:24:59,080 --> 00:25:03,640 Speaker 1: for tornado. Here are the reasons. One, tornadoes at that time, 423 00:25:03,680 --> 00:25:07,919 Speaker 1: in particular, were largely mysterious forces that were just kind 424 00:25:07,920 --> 00:25:11,040 Speaker 1: of considered acts of God, that these were events that 425 00:25:11,040 --> 00:25:14,400 Speaker 1: would come down strike with incredible fury, things that would 426 00:25:14,480 --> 00:25:19,760 Speaker 1: say insight, large spread panic Exactly. The thought was that 427 00:25:19,840 --> 00:25:22,680 Speaker 1: you would do more harm than good by saying, hey, 428 00:25:22,720 --> 00:25:24,840 Speaker 1: there may be a tornado on the way, because no 429 00:25:24,880 --> 00:25:27,560 Speaker 1: one knew exactly what they were supposed to do. By 430 00:25:27,640 --> 00:25:31,080 Speaker 1: n fifty, they the Weather Bureau had decided that this 431 00:25:31,200 --> 00:25:34,119 Speaker 1: was no longer a responsible course of action, and that, 432 00:25:34,200 --> 00:25:36,880 Speaker 1: in fact, it would revoke that ban. By the way, 433 00:25:36,880 --> 00:25:39,720 Speaker 1: the band was not always a formal band. Sometimes it 434 00:25:39,800 --> 00:25:43,560 Speaker 1: was just highly discouraged from mentioning that conditions were right 435 00:25:43,600 --> 00:25:46,680 Speaker 1: for a tornado. But at this point they said that 436 00:25:46,680 --> 00:25:49,760 Speaker 1: that was no longer going to be an official policy. 437 00:25:49,880 --> 00:25:54,439 Speaker 1: Uh in uh, you had mentioned that earlier about the 438 00:25:54,440 --> 00:25:58,240 Speaker 1: storm chasers. That's also the same year when the Weather 439 00:25:58,280 --> 00:26:02,840 Speaker 1: Bureau changed. It's uh, well, there was a reorganization of 440 00:26:02,880 --> 00:26:06,560 Speaker 1: the Department of Commerce, and so that reorganization ended up 441 00:26:06,600 --> 00:26:11,600 Speaker 1: creating something called the Environmental Science and Services Administration, or SA, 442 00:26:12,160 --> 00:26:16,480 Speaker 1: and that organization changed the Weather Bureau to the National 443 00:26:16,560 --> 00:26:19,399 Speaker 1: Weather Service, which will sound a lot more familiar I 444 00:26:19,440 --> 00:26:22,560 Speaker 1: think to many of our listeners. Um. And in nineteen 445 00:26:22,680 --> 00:26:27,560 Speaker 1: seventy the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration formed and replaced SA. 446 00:26:27,760 --> 00:26:31,000 Speaker 1: So that's also known as Noah in o a A. 447 00:26:32,080 --> 00:26:35,439 Speaker 1: We got to see the headquarters of Noah. We we 448 00:26:35,600 --> 00:26:38,920 Speaker 1: visited Discovery headquarters up in Maryland right down the street. Yeah, 449 00:26:39,000 --> 00:26:42,400 Speaker 1: we saw Noah, and then people from Noah invited us 450 00:26:42,400 --> 00:26:44,680 Speaker 1: to go and see their stuff and talk to them, 451 00:26:44,720 --> 00:26:46,520 Speaker 1: which we are totally going to do as soon as 452 00:26:46,520 --> 00:26:50,320 Speaker 1: we can arrange it because that is mega awesome, cool, 453 00:26:50,520 --> 00:26:53,760 Speaker 1: really exciting. UM. Part part of what Noah was doing 454 00:26:53,800 --> 00:26:57,439 Speaker 1: in the nineteen seventies was establishing sky Warn, which is 455 00:26:57,480 --> 00:27:00,680 Speaker 1: a volunteer program that that currently certainly at the time 456 00:27:00,680 --> 00:27:02,479 Speaker 1: it did not have this money. It currently has like 457 00:27:02,800 --> 00:27:08,040 Speaker 1: two thousand trained volunteers working across the country. Is a 458 00:27:08,080 --> 00:27:11,760 Speaker 1: network to to observe and report storms. Yeah, in nineteen 459 00:27:11,840 --> 00:27:16,520 Speaker 1: seventy two, you had the first federally funded storm chasing program. 460 00:27:16,520 --> 00:27:19,200 Speaker 1: Where before we had storm chasers, but they were all 461 00:27:19,240 --> 00:27:22,399 Speaker 1: acting more or less on their own. They had, you know, 462 00:27:22,520 --> 00:27:26,320 Speaker 1: no official government backing, at least not from the federal level. 463 00:27:26,480 --> 00:27:29,000 Speaker 1: And now that had changed in nineteen seventy two, you 464 00:27:29,080 --> 00:27:33,359 Speaker 1: had a federally funded program. Uh, their first sampling of 465 00:27:33,359 --> 00:27:37,640 Speaker 1: a tornado wouldn't happen until nineteen seventy three in Oklahoma, 466 00:27:37,800 --> 00:27:39,560 Speaker 1: which as we know right there in the middle of 467 00:27:39,600 --> 00:27:43,440 Speaker 1: tornado Alley. Uh Now, I'm going to skip a whole 468 00:27:43,480 --> 00:27:45,520 Speaker 1: bunch of years here only to mention one of the 469 00:27:45,560 --> 00:27:50,280 Speaker 1: most famous programs in storm chasing, which is Vortex. Vortex 470 00:27:50,400 --> 00:27:53,719 Speaker 1: is an acronym. Of course, it stands for a Verification 471 00:27:53,760 --> 00:27:58,080 Speaker 1: of the Origin of Rotation in Tornadoes experiment. So the 472 00:27:58,119 --> 00:28:01,000 Speaker 1: E X and VORTEX is from X barriment that was 473 00:28:01,080 --> 00:28:05,280 Speaker 1: led by Eric Resmussen of Noah's National Severe Storms Laboratory 474 00:28:05,400 --> 00:28:08,800 Speaker 1: or in S. S. L UM And hey, I said 475 00:28:08,880 --> 00:28:12,320 Speaker 1: laboratory instead of laboratory. You did it. I didn't even 476 00:28:12,320 --> 00:28:14,720 Speaker 1: have to think about that time. Vortex, by the way, 477 00:28:14,800 --> 00:28:17,159 Speaker 1: was not the only program called that. There was a 478 00:28:17,200 --> 00:28:20,960 Speaker 1: second one, Vortex two, which launched in two thousand nine. 479 00:28:21,000 --> 00:28:24,000 Speaker 1: But there was an unusually quiet tornadoes season in two 480 00:28:24,000 --> 00:28:27,440 Speaker 1: thousand nine, which meant only one tornado was sampled that year. 481 00:28:28,040 --> 00:28:31,720 Speaker 1: It was sampled in Lagrange, Wyoming, but it was the 482 00:28:31,760 --> 00:28:36,000 Speaker 1: most intensively observed tornado at that time because there was 483 00:28:36,119 --> 00:28:41,120 Speaker 1: so much equipment present at that moment. In two, Vortex 484 00:28:41,160 --> 00:28:44,160 Speaker 1: to actually sampled quite a few super cells and a 485 00:28:44,160 --> 00:28:48,040 Speaker 1: few week tornadoes as well, and gathered a lot of information. Now, 486 00:28:48,520 --> 00:28:50,160 Speaker 1: during this span of time. There were a lot of 487 00:28:50,160 --> 00:28:54,480 Speaker 1: other UH storm chasers that were active right UM. During 488 00:28:54,520 --> 00:28:58,960 Speaker 1: during the nine seventies, UH David Hoadley founded storm Track magazine. 489 00:28:59,000 --> 00:29:01,920 Speaker 1: It was becoming that hobbyist movement that we were talking 490 00:29:02,000 --> 00:29:04,200 Speaker 1: about a little bit before. UM and and you know, 491 00:29:04,280 --> 00:29:08,280 Speaker 1: he was publishing articles in National Geographic and Scientific American UM. 492 00:29:08,320 --> 00:29:11,240 Speaker 1: There were programs on the History Channel in ABC. UM. 493 00:29:11,360 --> 00:29:14,080 Speaker 1: It was becoming very much in the public eye, especially 494 00:29:14,120 --> 00:29:17,640 Speaker 1: with the creation of these government agencies or the recreation 495 00:29:17,680 --> 00:29:21,400 Speaker 1: of these government agents. Yeah. Yeah, some of these agencies. 496 00:29:21,440 --> 00:29:22,960 Speaker 1: By the way, you know, we talked about it. You know, 497 00:29:23,040 --> 00:29:25,600 Speaker 1: the eighteen sixties, there were there was more than a 498 00:29:25,680 --> 00:29:29,720 Speaker 1: hundred years of information gathered. UH. And it's interesting that 499 00:29:29,840 --> 00:29:32,040 Speaker 1: it was kind of a you know, that chain was 500 00:29:32,080 --> 00:29:35,360 Speaker 1: never broken. It It did transform quite a few times, 501 00:29:35,480 --> 00:29:40,000 Speaker 1: but they remained like the information itself remained intact. And 502 00:29:40,040 --> 00:29:43,880 Speaker 1: it really wasn't until we started getting um uh you know, 503 00:29:44,480 --> 00:29:48,440 Speaker 1: small commercial or small non commercial vehicles, UM cars that 504 00:29:48,520 --> 00:29:51,040 Speaker 1: people could go out and drive around in too to 505 00:29:51,200 --> 00:29:53,920 Speaker 1: respond very quickly to the movement of a storm and 506 00:29:54,040 --> 00:29:58,680 Speaker 1: UM and furthermore, the UH you know, communication technology advancing 507 00:29:58,720 --> 00:30:02,719 Speaker 1: to the point where through through radio and the beginnings 508 00:30:02,720 --> 00:30:05,320 Speaker 1: of satellite and cell phones and etcetera, that we can 509 00:30:05,360 --> 00:30:09,120 Speaker 1: start to be responsive right right. In fact, we're gonna 510 00:30:09,120 --> 00:30:12,120 Speaker 1: talk some more about that technology, the stuff that storm 511 00:30:12,200 --> 00:30:15,360 Speaker 1: chasers use in order to track storms and to measure 512 00:30:15,480 --> 00:30:19,800 Speaker 1: their impact. We'll also talk about how we classify tornadoes, 513 00:30:19,840 --> 00:30:22,440 Speaker 1: which is an interesting story all on its own. But 514 00:30:22,520 --> 00:30:24,320 Speaker 1: before we get into all of that, let's take a 515 00:30:24,360 --> 00:30:27,560 Speaker 1: quick moment to thank our sponsor, Audible. Audible dot com 516 00:30:27,640 --> 00:30:30,520 Speaker 1: is the leading provider of downloadable digital audio books and 517 00:30:30,600 --> 00:30:34,800 Speaker 1: spoken word entertainment. 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My wife is a huge 528 00:31:04,400 --> 00:31:06,120 Speaker 1: fan of the series. I am also a fan of 529 00:31:06,120 --> 00:31:09,960 Speaker 1: the series. It is narrated by James Marsters, who are 530 00:31:10,040 --> 00:31:14,560 Speaker 1: Buffy fans will recognize as spoke. Anyway, if you are 531 00:31:14,600 --> 00:31:18,960 Speaker 1: interested in fantasy and sort of a noir feel and 532 00:31:19,040 --> 00:31:22,600 Speaker 1: detective fiction, I highly recommend it check that out. Remember, 533 00:31:22,960 --> 00:31:25,480 Speaker 1: just go to audible podcast dot com slash tech stuff 534 00:31:25,600 --> 00:31:29,040 Speaker 1: to get that free audio book download of your choice. Alright, 535 00:31:29,400 --> 00:31:33,400 Speaker 1: so back to tornadoes. Let's talk about how we measure 536 00:31:33,720 --> 00:31:36,480 Speaker 1: how strong a tornado is. It's actually kind of an 537 00:31:36,520 --> 00:31:40,360 Speaker 1: interesting story. Yeah, there's a scale called the Fugita scale. Yeah, 538 00:31:40,360 --> 00:31:45,000 Speaker 1: the Fugita Pierson Tornado scale. Originally in its in its 539 00:31:45,240 --> 00:31:50,120 Speaker 1: first format, it ranged from F zero up to theoretically 540 00:31:50,200 --> 00:31:53,320 Speaker 1: F twelve. F twelve would have measured the wind speed 541 00:31:53,360 --> 00:31:56,280 Speaker 1: at mock one, which is the speed of sound. I 542 00:31:56,320 --> 00:32:00,120 Speaker 1: don't I don't like that idea. So well, uh, those 543 00:32:00,160 --> 00:32:03,640 Speaker 1: people would say that that to really think of the 544 00:32:03,680 --> 00:32:06,000 Speaker 1: scale and practical terms, you would go from F zero 545 00:32:06,080 --> 00:32:08,960 Speaker 1: to F six, the idea being that anything over F 546 00:32:09,080 --> 00:32:11,720 Speaker 1: six would have probably not we never would see wind 547 00:32:11,760 --> 00:32:16,040 Speaker 1: speeds at that intenscy. Hey, man, don't argue with me, thunder. 548 00:32:16,160 --> 00:32:18,760 Speaker 1: I'm just saying what I read. I really hope that's 549 00:32:18,760 --> 00:32:20,560 Speaker 1: actually coming through on the mic, because if not, we 550 00:32:20,600 --> 00:32:23,880 Speaker 1: sound really just crazy. Particularly so it's okay, there really 551 00:32:23,920 --> 00:32:25,480 Speaker 1: is thunder out there. You might not hear it, but 552 00:32:25,600 --> 00:32:29,640 Speaker 1: we do anyway. So the scale was proposed back in 553 00:32:29,760 --> 00:32:35,800 Speaker 1: ninete and it was proposed by Professor Fujita and Alan Pearson, 554 00:32:35,920 --> 00:32:38,560 Speaker 1: who was the director of the National Severe Storm Forecast 555 00:32:38,600 --> 00:32:42,920 Speaker 1: Center at that time. And it's kind of a weird 556 00:32:43,600 --> 00:32:46,280 Speaker 1: scale in the way. Um it's a scale that determines 557 00:32:46,320 --> 00:32:49,440 Speaker 1: the tornado's strength based upon the amount of damage it did, right, 558 00:32:49,560 --> 00:32:53,160 Speaker 1: And the problem being that, um, we've never really been 559 00:32:53,320 --> 00:32:56,600 Speaker 1: very good at measuring how powerful a tornado is at 560 00:32:56,600 --> 00:32:59,440 Speaker 1: the time, because first of all, they're pretty unpredictable. Second 561 00:32:59,440 --> 00:33:01,840 Speaker 1: of all, they have been very quickly and end very quickly. 562 00:33:01,920 --> 00:33:05,320 Speaker 1: And third of all, they're so powerful that our sentation 563 00:33:05,480 --> 00:33:08,640 Speaker 1: gets pretty banged up. Yeah it gets it gets jankie. Yeah, 564 00:33:08,880 --> 00:33:12,440 Speaker 1: you don't really end up with like a working sensor 565 00:33:12,680 --> 00:33:16,200 Speaker 1: after a tornado has finished playing with it in many 566 00:33:16,240 --> 00:33:19,840 Speaker 1: In many cases, so getting a tornado's wind speed while 567 00:33:19,880 --> 00:33:23,600 Speaker 1: the tornado is actually active is incredibly difficult. Like you said, Lauren, 568 00:33:23,680 --> 00:33:25,760 Speaker 1: we don't even know where they're going to form or 569 00:33:25,760 --> 00:33:29,280 Speaker 1: where they're going to go from and to that we 570 00:33:29,280 --> 00:33:32,320 Speaker 1: don't know what path they'll take. Um So getting an 571 00:33:32,360 --> 00:33:35,800 Speaker 1: accurate reading on wind speed while it's happening is really 572 00:33:35,800 --> 00:33:38,000 Speaker 1: hard to do, right. And of course we can tell 573 00:33:38,040 --> 00:33:41,480 Speaker 1: how fast they're traveling along the ground, how sure clouds 574 00:33:41,480 --> 00:33:45,560 Speaker 1: are going in relation to the ground due to Doppler radar. Yeah, yeah, 575 00:33:45,560 --> 00:33:48,400 Speaker 1: we can. We can track a tornado and say, all right, 576 00:33:48,400 --> 00:33:51,680 Speaker 1: the tornado itself traveled at a speed of sixteen miles 577 00:33:51,720 --> 00:33:54,440 Speaker 1: per hour from west to east, like we can say 578 00:33:54,440 --> 00:33:56,760 Speaker 1: that what's going on within it? It's very different, much 579 00:33:56,760 --> 00:34:01,160 Speaker 1: more mysterious. So Professor Fagitta and Alan Pearson came up 580 00:34:01,160 --> 00:34:03,480 Speaker 1: with a scale where they would look at the damage 581 00:34:03,960 --> 00:34:06,880 Speaker 1: that was left after a tornado had passed through and 582 00:34:06,960 --> 00:34:10,640 Speaker 1: said what speed of wind would be required in order 583 00:34:10,719 --> 00:34:13,600 Speaker 1: to do this amount of damage. In other words, we 584 00:34:13,600 --> 00:34:16,440 Speaker 1: were establishing how strong the tornado was after it had 585 00:34:16,480 --> 00:34:21,160 Speaker 1: already happened by just looking at the devastation that had left. Now, 586 00:34:21,200 --> 00:34:27,400 Speaker 1: the early scale was not terribly specific, and uh was 587 00:34:28,400 --> 00:34:31,440 Speaker 1: not really or maybe I should say not terribly precise. 588 00:34:31,920 --> 00:34:35,080 Speaker 1: There was an attempt to increase the precision and create 589 00:34:35,120 --> 00:34:40,080 Speaker 1: the enhanced Fujita Pearson scale. Yeah, every first two thousand 590 00:34:40,080 --> 00:34:42,799 Speaker 1: seven was when it was updated. We call e F 591 00:34:43,040 --> 00:34:45,359 Speaker 1: not just F. So if you ever hear like an 592 00:34:45,400 --> 00:34:49,960 Speaker 1: F five tornado, that's really using an outdated format. It's 593 00:34:49,960 --> 00:34:52,640 Speaker 1: really e F five what we would say now And 594 00:34:52,680 --> 00:34:55,919 Speaker 1: what does that translate to in terms that we mere 595 00:34:56,080 --> 00:34:58,759 Speaker 1: mortals can understand? Well, First of all, the way they 596 00:34:58,800 --> 00:35:01,799 Speaker 1: determine the scale is they look at the type of 597 00:35:01,880 --> 00:35:05,799 Speaker 1: damage that's done and to the type of structures or 598 00:35:06,760 --> 00:35:10,839 Speaker 1: landscape that it hits. So to really determine that, they 599 00:35:10,840 --> 00:35:13,160 Speaker 1: look at, you know, if you say that a building 600 00:35:13,200 --> 00:35:17,359 Speaker 1: was completely demolished, what was the type of building right now? 601 00:35:17,680 --> 00:35:19,320 Speaker 1: How is how is it built, how sturdy was it 602 00:35:19,360 --> 00:35:22,360 Speaker 1: in the first place, what materials went into making it exactly? 603 00:35:22,440 --> 00:35:25,319 Speaker 1: And then and then and there's this really complex fact 604 00:35:25,400 --> 00:35:28,560 Speaker 1: sheet that they have ranked out of different types of 605 00:35:28,560 --> 00:35:31,040 Speaker 1: buildings and feel like twenty eight or twenty nine different 606 00:35:31,080 --> 00:35:34,319 Speaker 1: designations for the type of building or landscape. And then 607 00:35:34,360 --> 00:35:37,400 Speaker 1: they numerical scale for how much damage was done to 608 00:35:37,800 --> 00:35:40,800 Speaker 1: from one day eight right, so eight being the greatest. 609 00:35:40,840 --> 00:35:44,360 Speaker 1: So if you had like a concrete steel reinforced building 610 00:35:44,400 --> 00:35:47,919 Speaker 1: and the devastation was at eight that was the most 611 00:35:48,000 --> 00:35:52,120 Speaker 1: unimaginably powerful tornado that could have possibly hit us. And 612 00:35:52,160 --> 00:35:55,280 Speaker 1: then here's the thing, there's no upper limit to this scale, 613 00:35:55,440 --> 00:35:59,200 Speaker 1: because there may be tornadoes that can destroy the strongest 614 00:35:59,200 --> 00:36:03,160 Speaker 1: stuff we build old, and since we're basing it on devastation, 615 00:36:03,680 --> 00:36:07,399 Speaker 1: you can't get more devastating than total loss. Right, So 616 00:36:07,520 --> 00:36:10,279 Speaker 1: if you have total loss, you essentially say that was 617 00:36:10,320 --> 00:36:13,040 Speaker 1: a really powerful tornado. You know, you can't get more 618 00:36:13,040 --> 00:36:15,319 Speaker 1: specific than that, because it could be that it's more 619 00:36:15,320 --> 00:36:19,080 Speaker 1: powerful than our scale would even indicate. But after you've 620 00:36:19,120 --> 00:36:22,040 Speaker 1: lost everything, that's kind of a moot point, right right, 621 00:36:22,239 --> 00:36:24,040 Speaker 1: which is basically what they're saying with a with a 622 00:36:24,320 --> 00:36:27,040 Speaker 1: e F five would be wind speeds over two hundred 623 00:36:27,120 --> 00:36:29,680 Speaker 1: miles an hour, yeah, which, yeah, you get into a 624 00:36:29,680 --> 00:36:32,719 Speaker 1: point where strong frame houses could be lifted into the 625 00:36:32,760 --> 00:36:35,800 Speaker 1: air and carried a considerable distance before it was dropped 626 00:36:35,840 --> 00:36:39,920 Speaker 1: again to oz for example. Yeah, So e F zero 627 00:36:40,000 --> 00:36:43,279 Speaker 1: would be the lowest. That's between sixty five miles per 628 00:36:43,480 --> 00:36:46,759 Speaker 1: hour winds. Then at e F one would be two 629 00:36:47,320 --> 00:36:50,680 Speaker 1: miles per hour. Two goes up to a hundred and 630 00:36:50,680 --> 00:36:53,160 Speaker 1: thirty five miles per hour, three goes up to a 631 00:36:53,239 --> 00:36:56,120 Speaker 1: hundred and sixty five four goes up to two hundred 632 00:36:56,120 --> 00:36:59,320 Speaker 1: and then anything over that. Yeah, five now, and in 633 00:36:59,400 --> 00:37:03,440 Speaker 1: the old scale you had up to F six really 634 00:37:03,640 --> 00:37:06,440 Speaker 1: was what was being described. And under that old scale 635 00:37:06,440 --> 00:37:10,960 Speaker 1: and F six tornado was called an inconceivable tornado. Was 636 00:37:11,000 --> 00:37:13,560 Speaker 1: it for real? Yes, that's amazing. I don't think that 637 00:37:13,600 --> 00:37:17,279 Speaker 1: tornado means what you think it means, um. But at 638 00:37:17,320 --> 00:37:20,080 Speaker 1: that point they said that the wind speeds were unlikely 639 00:37:20,320 --> 00:37:23,839 Speaker 1: to happen at that intensity that was described as three 640 00:37:24,080 --> 00:37:27,440 Speaker 1: D nineteen to three hundred and seventy nine miles per hour. 641 00:37:27,719 --> 00:37:31,800 Speaker 1: I think the highest on record is three I believe, 642 00:37:32,200 --> 00:37:35,319 Speaker 1: which is why would be the F six And that 643 00:37:35,520 --> 00:37:37,840 Speaker 1: the idea here was that you might not even be 644 00:37:37,880 --> 00:37:40,839 Speaker 1: able to tell that it was in F six tornado 645 00:37:41,440 --> 00:37:45,520 Speaker 1: because anything from F five would leave essentially total devastation 646 00:37:45,560 --> 00:37:51,040 Speaker 1: in its wake, right, so more total devastation, they said, 647 00:37:51,160 --> 00:37:53,560 Speaker 1: Essentially you would have to verify it by looking at 648 00:37:53,600 --> 00:37:57,680 Speaker 1: the evidence of the ground swirl pattern. Yeah, it's kind 649 00:37:57,680 --> 00:38:00,759 Speaker 1: of crazy. So the point being that it's about the 650 00:38:00,800 --> 00:38:04,799 Speaker 1: best we can do simply because again it's really hard 651 00:38:04,800 --> 00:38:07,320 Speaker 1: to get a read on a tornado while it's happening. 652 00:38:07,360 --> 00:38:11,399 Speaker 1: We really can only look at what happened afterward and say, well, 653 00:38:11,480 --> 00:38:15,760 Speaker 1: based upon this, we deduce the tornado was x strong. 654 00:38:16,480 --> 00:38:19,279 Speaker 1: You know. So with that in mind, what is the 655 00:38:19,360 --> 00:38:23,440 Speaker 1: kind of gear that we use for storm chasing and 656 00:38:23,520 --> 00:38:25,319 Speaker 1: measuring this kind of stuff? I mean, you've got your 657 00:38:25,320 --> 00:38:30,560 Speaker 1: basic weather uh sensors, things like a barometer, which reads 658 00:38:30,560 --> 00:38:34,600 Speaker 1: barometric pressure. In general, tornado's form after a drop in 659 00:38:34,719 --> 00:38:37,440 Speaker 1: air pressure, but that doesn't necessarily mean that it's a 660 00:38:37,480 --> 00:38:40,800 Speaker 1: sudden drop followed by a tornado. The drop can actually 661 00:38:40,840 --> 00:38:43,840 Speaker 1: happen several days before a tornado forms if there's a 662 00:38:43,880 --> 00:38:47,120 Speaker 1: low pressure system moving in on a broad scale. So 663 00:38:47,400 --> 00:38:51,279 Speaker 1: it's also very difficult to measure barometric pressure within a 664 00:38:51,320 --> 00:38:54,960 Speaker 1: tornado because the instruments very rarely survived. However, we will 665 00:38:55,000 --> 00:38:58,759 Speaker 1: talk about uh someone who did manage to do that. 666 00:38:58,760 --> 00:39:00,920 Speaker 1: That will be towards the end of our pot cast. Um. 667 00:39:01,040 --> 00:39:08,160 Speaker 1: Then there's the anemometer, right, there's there's blade and anemometers 668 00:39:08,239 --> 00:39:11,560 Speaker 1: and thermometers. And I had to I had to steady 669 00:39:11,640 --> 00:39:13,920 Speaker 1: myself to say anemometer, you did, you didn't? He took 670 00:39:13,920 --> 00:39:18,839 Speaker 1: a release afterwards, UM, And the analog blade ones are 671 00:39:19,120 --> 00:39:22,480 Speaker 1: if you've ever seen a like a spoked series of 672 00:39:22,560 --> 00:39:28,040 Speaker 1: arms or cups perched atop field cylinder. That's that is why. Yeah, 673 00:39:28,400 --> 00:39:30,520 Speaker 1: it's designed to measure wind speed. So if you've ever 674 00:39:30,560 --> 00:39:32,680 Speaker 1: seen one of those things, it looks like it's a 675 00:39:32,680 --> 00:39:36,080 Speaker 1: little pin wheel type thing, sometimes horizontally aligned with little 676 00:39:36,080 --> 00:39:38,560 Speaker 1: cups at the end of the arms. It's spinning around 677 00:39:38,560 --> 00:39:41,160 Speaker 1: in a circle. Uh. This does not tell us anything 678 00:39:41,200 --> 00:39:44,560 Speaker 1: about wind direction, but it does tell us about wind speed. Essentially, 679 00:39:44,600 --> 00:39:48,160 Speaker 1: you're talking about how quickly is this thing spinning, and 680 00:39:48,239 --> 00:39:51,520 Speaker 1: from that we can derive how how fast the wind 681 00:39:51,600 --> 00:39:54,239 Speaker 1: is blowing. It only really works at the wind is 682 00:39:54,239 --> 00:39:56,319 Speaker 1: blowing in a steady direction. If it starts blowing in 683 00:39:56,480 --> 00:40:00,560 Speaker 1: various directions, that can really mess with the readings. But um, 684 00:40:00,600 --> 00:40:03,399 Speaker 1: you know that that's how we kind of determine wind speed. 685 00:40:03,520 --> 00:40:06,520 Speaker 1: Of course, thermometers tell us things about temperature, uh, and 686 00:40:06,560 --> 00:40:09,720 Speaker 1: we can learn about humidity through various means. So getting 687 00:40:09,760 --> 00:40:12,600 Speaker 1: to the basic gears of storm chasers. A lot of 688 00:40:12,600 --> 00:40:14,680 Speaker 1: the basic gears the kind of stuff that you might 689 00:40:14,840 --> 00:40:19,240 Speaker 1: have at your disposal already, things like laptop computers, which WiFi, 690 00:40:19,920 --> 00:40:23,920 Speaker 1: digital cameras, video cameras that are both for video or 691 00:40:24,040 --> 00:40:29,480 Speaker 1: for still photography, radio's walkie talkies, ham CB anything that 692 00:40:29,480 --> 00:40:32,279 Speaker 1: they can get their hands on, police scanners, that kind 693 00:40:32,280 --> 00:40:34,799 Speaker 1: of stuff. Stuff that allows them to keep track of 694 00:40:34,840 --> 00:40:38,080 Speaker 1: the movement of weather systems. Uh, you know, anything that 695 00:40:38,120 --> 00:40:40,680 Speaker 1: will give them the most up to date, mediate communication 696 00:40:40,760 --> 00:40:43,759 Speaker 1: with anyone who is providing information about that storm. Right. 697 00:40:43,800 --> 00:40:46,040 Speaker 1: And then you know, the video cameras are obviously there 698 00:40:46,040 --> 00:40:49,360 Speaker 1: to document the actual storms, to watch their behavior, to 699 00:40:49,520 --> 00:40:53,000 Speaker 1: take footage, possibly to sell that footage later on, or 700 00:40:53,040 --> 00:40:55,320 Speaker 1: maybe it's just so that you can use it for 701 00:40:55,880 --> 00:40:59,960 Speaker 1: research purposes. Uh, it could be a combination purposes, journalists 702 00:41:00,080 --> 00:41:05,239 Speaker 1: purposes obviously. Yeah, and so those are those are your basic, uh, 703 00:41:05,280 --> 00:41:10,160 Speaker 1: pieces of equipment. There's some interesting approaches to studying tornadoes, 704 00:41:10,200 --> 00:41:13,040 Speaker 1: some of which are not necessarily used that frequently today. 705 00:41:13,680 --> 00:41:17,600 Speaker 1: Did you run into the term tornado photo grammy tree? 706 00:41:17,680 --> 00:41:20,880 Speaker 1: I did not photographm A tree is an older form 707 00:41:21,000 --> 00:41:23,200 Speaker 1: and we don't tend to use it as much because 708 00:41:23,200 --> 00:41:26,520 Speaker 1: it's not terribly precise. That's the use of film or 709 00:41:26,680 --> 00:41:29,720 Speaker 1: video to determine the speed of movement of some kind 710 00:41:29,840 --> 00:41:33,319 Speaker 1: of tracer element. So you take a tracer element as 711 00:41:33,360 --> 00:41:36,160 Speaker 1: a point of reference. This is not necessarily something that 712 00:41:36,200 --> 00:41:38,640 Speaker 1: you've introduced to the tornado. It may be something that 713 00:41:38,640 --> 00:41:40,880 Speaker 1: the tornado has already picked up, like I don't know, 714 00:41:41,040 --> 00:41:44,440 Speaker 1: a tractor, and it's usually a large piece of debris 715 00:41:44,760 --> 00:41:48,600 Speaker 1: of or some sort of persistent element in the cloud itself. 716 00:41:49,040 --> 00:41:51,680 Speaker 1: And from this you can start to infer what the 717 00:41:51,680 --> 00:41:57,359 Speaker 1: wind speed is with varying and sometimes unknown reliability. So 718 00:41:57,440 --> 00:42:01,680 Speaker 1: you analyze how the winds beat is by measuring the 719 00:42:01,719 --> 00:42:06,000 Speaker 1: movement of this this persistent element. You know, you're how 720 00:42:06,040 --> 00:42:08,319 Speaker 1: frequently is it coming around over and over? And from 721 00:42:08,320 --> 00:42:10,160 Speaker 1: that you can sit there and say, well, the wind 722 00:42:10,160 --> 00:42:13,400 Speaker 1: speed appears to be this. It was used more in 723 00:42:13,400 --> 00:42:16,399 Speaker 1: the nineteen seventies and the nine eighties, but we kind 724 00:42:16,400 --> 00:42:20,680 Speaker 1: of replace this with something that's far more reliable, namely 725 00:42:21,000 --> 00:42:25,120 Speaker 1: Doppler radar. Uh. In fact, we have Doppler radar that's mobile. 726 00:42:25,160 --> 00:42:30,320 Speaker 1: It's called Doppler on wheels or Dow Dow and Doppler 727 00:42:30,360 --> 00:42:32,360 Speaker 1: on wheels. Those are the main tools used in the 728 00:42:32,360 --> 00:42:35,839 Speaker 1: effort to determine the strength of tornado winds today. So 729 00:42:36,160 --> 00:42:38,839 Speaker 1: that raises the question what is Doppler radar and how 730 00:42:38,880 --> 00:42:43,200 Speaker 1: does that work? Well? The Doppler effect we we have 731 00:42:43,200 --> 00:42:46,120 Speaker 1: talked about on the show before. But it is the 732 00:42:46,160 --> 00:42:52,839 Speaker 1: effect of electromagnetic waves crunching up as something moves towards you, 733 00:42:53,000 --> 00:42:55,120 Speaker 1: right right. It's same thing with sound, right, So it's 734 00:42:55,120 --> 00:42:58,440 Speaker 1: not it's any kind of wave. If it's moving toward you, 735 00:42:58,719 --> 00:43:02,320 Speaker 1: the frequency of the way of increases because the object 736 00:43:02,360 --> 00:43:05,240 Speaker 1: is actually moving, uh, towards you. If it's moving away, 737 00:43:05,560 --> 00:43:09,800 Speaker 1: the frequency decreases. Those waves along gate. So in sound 738 00:43:10,320 --> 00:43:12,480 Speaker 1: and for once, it's amazing that we can't hear it 739 00:43:12,520 --> 00:43:15,040 Speaker 1: because whenever we record tech stuff there seems to always 740 00:43:15,080 --> 00:43:18,800 Speaker 1: be sirens going off in the background. But with sound, 741 00:43:18,840 --> 00:43:21,800 Speaker 1: like if a police car has its siren running and 742 00:43:21,840 --> 00:43:24,000 Speaker 1: it's coming towards you, you might hear a higher pitch 743 00:43:24,360 --> 00:43:26,279 Speaker 1: and then after it passes you, it goes to a 744 00:43:26,320 --> 00:43:29,520 Speaker 1: lower pitch. That's an example of the Doppler effect with 745 00:43:29,600 --> 00:43:32,520 Speaker 1: sound waves. Same thing is true with electromagnetic waves. And 746 00:43:32,640 --> 00:43:35,880 Speaker 1: radar uses electronomagnetic waves to kind of get an idea 747 00:43:35,960 --> 00:43:39,200 Speaker 1: of where other objects are. Radio waves right, um, it's 748 00:43:39,400 --> 00:43:42,440 Speaker 1: it will shoot a very quick like millisecond burst of 749 00:43:42,520 --> 00:43:45,600 Speaker 1: radio waves called a pulse, called a pulse out you know, 750 00:43:45,640 --> 00:43:49,040 Speaker 1: hopefully towards an object or sometimes just to see what's 751 00:43:49,080 --> 00:43:51,360 Speaker 1: out there. And um, and then it will measure the 752 00:43:51,480 --> 00:43:54,400 Speaker 1: length of time between when it's sent and when an 753 00:43:54,400 --> 00:43:58,239 Speaker 1: echo comes back, and we'll also measure the the the 754 00:43:58,280 --> 00:44:01,360 Speaker 1: Doppler effect, the phase is the phase of that of 755 00:44:01,440 --> 00:44:03,719 Speaker 1: that wave. So between the phase of the wave and 756 00:44:03,760 --> 00:44:06,000 Speaker 1: how long it took for the wave to return back 757 00:44:06,160 --> 00:44:09,000 Speaker 1: from the echo of the wave to return back, it 758 00:44:09,080 --> 00:44:13,520 Speaker 1: can determine the location and uh, whether or not something's 759 00:44:13,520 --> 00:44:15,680 Speaker 1: moving toward it or away from it. And in a 760 00:44:15,800 --> 00:44:19,440 Speaker 1: vague concept of how fast by kind of mathematically computing, 761 00:44:19,960 --> 00:44:22,879 Speaker 1: if you measure between pulses, you start to get an idea, Oh, well, 762 00:44:23,000 --> 00:44:24,640 Speaker 1: not only is it moving towards me, but it's moving 763 00:44:24,680 --> 00:44:29,400 Speaker 1: towards me at this general speed. So double on wheels 764 00:44:29,440 --> 00:44:31,399 Speaker 1: of course very useful because that means that you can 765 00:44:31,480 --> 00:44:34,440 Speaker 1: move the the the radar around so that you can 766 00:44:34,480 --> 00:44:36,600 Speaker 1: get a better idea of the speed of the storm 767 00:44:36,640 --> 00:44:39,040 Speaker 1: itself and even get an idea of the strength of 768 00:44:39,080 --> 00:44:42,480 Speaker 1: the tornado. Right. However, these these vehicles have to stay 769 00:44:42,520 --> 00:44:44,920 Speaker 1: between two and eight miles away from a tornado to 770 00:44:45,000 --> 00:44:48,759 Speaker 1: be effective, right, And it's mostly effective if it's encountering 771 00:44:48,800 --> 00:44:52,760 Speaker 1: stuff that is fairly large in the in the relative 772 00:44:52,800 --> 00:44:56,080 Speaker 1: scheme of things. So in other words, if there's precipitation, 773 00:44:56,160 --> 00:44:59,040 Speaker 1: that's great. That means that there's more stuff for the 774 00:44:59,160 --> 00:45:02,200 Speaker 1: radar waves to bounce off of, and that could be. 775 00:45:02,680 --> 00:45:05,600 Speaker 1: If it's larger range ups, that's even better. If it's hailstones, 776 00:45:05,840 --> 00:45:10,760 Speaker 1: that's fantastic because that gets a lot more for the Doppler. 777 00:45:10,920 --> 00:45:14,200 Speaker 1: For anyone who's caught underneath it, hailstones are terrible. You 778 00:45:14,280 --> 00:45:16,640 Speaker 1: do not want to be under them. But for for 779 00:45:16,680 --> 00:45:19,719 Speaker 1: the purposes of radar, it works really, really well. And 780 00:45:19,760 --> 00:45:23,120 Speaker 1: I think the strongest wind speed determined from a DOW 781 00:45:23,920 --> 00:45:26,480 Speaker 1: is at least from the data I was able to find. 782 00:45:26,640 --> 00:45:29,520 Speaker 1: Keep in mind, some of this data is several years 783 00:45:29,520 --> 00:45:32,560 Speaker 1: old because all of it comes from government sources and 784 00:45:33,000 --> 00:45:37,680 Speaker 1: reports can take a while and to become publicly available. 785 00:45:38,280 --> 00:45:41,040 Speaker 1: But the strongest I was able to find was three 786 00:45:41,120 --> 00:45:44,440 Speaker 1: hundred and two miles per hour. So I saw I 787 00:45:44,480 --> 00:45:49,239 Speaker 1: saw a report of one from Oklahoma in that that 788 00:45:49,239 --> 00:45:54,600 Speaker 1: that recorded the world record speed of three Okay, gotcha, gotcha. Yeah, 789 00:45:55,000 --> 00:45:58,359 Speaker 1: my my latest records are later than your latest. Rick. 790 00:45:59,680 --> 00:46:03,839 Speaker 1: Hey guys, Jonathan, again, storm has gone through. But now 791 00:46:03,920 --> 00:46:06,319 Speaker 1: I kind of have to go outside and pick up 792 00:46:06,320 --> 00:46:08,200 Speaker 1: some branches. So we're gonna take a quick break, but 793 00:46:08,239 --> 00:46:18,680 Speaker 1: we'll be right back. There's a specific type of radar 794 00:46:18,800 --> 00:46:22,680 Speaker 1: that has been used for some storm tracking technology. It's 795 00:46:22,680 --> 00:46:27,440 Speaker 1: called smart R, which is again yet another acronym, stands 796 00:46:27,480 --> 00:46:31,840 Speaker 1: for Shared Mobile Atmospheric Research and Teaching Radar. This is 797 00:46:31,920 --> 00:46:34,919 Speaker 1: one that is mainly used for research. It's used both 798 00:46:34,920 --> 00:46:39,160 Speaker 1: for hurricanes and for tornadoes and UM. So you know 799 00:46:39,239 --> 00:46:42,719 Speaker 1: that this combination of technology is used to really get 800 00:46:42,760 --> 00:46:46,280 Speaker 1: as much information about strength and speed as we possibly 801 00:46:46,320 --> 00:46:49,720 Speaker 1: can so that we can add to our body of knowledge. UM. 802 00:46:49,760 --> 00:46:53,400 Speaker 1: And then there's some private chase teams and tours that 803 00:46:53,520 --> 00:46:57,319 Speaker 1: have marine radars mounted on their vehicles. However, you should 804 00:46:57,360 --> 00:47:02,239 Speaker 1: know this is decoration. Marine radars are useless when it 805 00:47:02,239 --> 00:47:06,160 Speaker 1: comes to storm chasing and storm tracking. It's promotional purposes 806 00:47:06,200 --> 00:47:10,800 Speaker 1: only they're not used in research UM and actually marine 807 00:47:10,920 --> 00:47:16,680 Speaker 1: radar signals can interfere with research units like DOWS. So 808 00:47:16,760 --> 00:47:20,600 Speaker 1: don't do it. Storm chasing companies, don't put marine radar 809 00:47:20,800 --> 00:47:23,719 Speaker 1: on your trucks and then use them. Yeah, that's pretty silly. 810 00:47:24,080 --> 00:47:27,879 Speaker 1: There are some projects that have been very interesting but 811 00:47:27,920 --> 00:47:31,840 Speaker 1: not very successful. Uh. TOTO is one of my favorites. 812 00:47:32,280 --> 00:47:36,239 Speaker 1: TOTO standing for total BO Tornado Observatory now TOTO, of course, 813 00:47:36,320 --> 00:47:42,840 Speaker 1: is also obviously a reference to fantastic documentary about a 814 00:47:42,920 --> 00:47:48,760 Speaker 1: tourist from Kansas who visits an exotic land and kills 815 00:47:48,800 --> 00:47:51,960 Speaker 1: the one of the leaders of that land, two of them. Actually. 816 00:47:52,239 --> 00:47:56,760 Speaker 1: Total was developed by Dr Allen Bettard and Carl Ramsey 817 00:47:56,920 --> 00:48:00,479 Speaker 1: in ninety nine, first deployed by them in nineteen d one, 818 00:48:00,920 --> 00:48:05,160 Speaker 1: and basically it was an oil drum, like a fifty 819 00:48:05,160 --> 00:48:08,880 Speaker 1: five gallon oil drum with some stuff in it, with 820 00:48:08,960 --> 00:48:11,560 Speaker 1: some instruments in it. The idea that the tornado would 821 00:48:11,600 --> 00:48:14,280 Speaker 1: pick this drum up and we would gather the information 822 00:48:14,320 --> 00:48:17,040 Speaker 1: from the instruments inside, and hopefully the drum would protect 823 00:48:17,080 --> 00:48:21,279 Speaker 1: the instruments so that the information would be usable. Right, So, 824 00:48:21,480 --> 00:48:24,680 Speaker 1: how did that work out? Well? Um, it weighed four 825 00:48:24,760 --> 00:48:29,719 Speaker 1: hundred pounds, which is or so and so not actually 826 00:48:29,840 --> 00:48:31,440 Speaker 1: very well. I mean, first of all, you know they 827 00:48:31,440 --> 00:48:34,680 Speaker 1: were working in the early nine eighties when, uh we 828 00:48:34,800 --> 00:48:37,680 Speaker 1: did not have the kind of communication technology that would 829 00:48:37,719 --> 00:48:41,759 Speaker 1: allow people to really effectively chase storms. So it was 830 00:48:41,800 --> 00:48:43,719 Speaker 1: it was it was pretty much a crapshoot of whether 831 00:48:43,800 --> 00:48:45,960 Speaker 1: or not they would leave this thing in a place 832 00:48:46,600 --> 00:48:49,759 Speaker 1: that would were likely to get picked up. Keep in mind, 833 00:48:49,800 --> 00:48:52,360 Speaker 1: they don't have the benefit of a laptop with WiFi, 834 00:48:53,800 --> 00:48:57,600 Speaker 1: so they have radio. They could have radio, so they 835 00:48:57,600 --> 00:49:00,600 Speaker 1: could they could get radio updates, but without the ability 836 00:49:00,640 --> 00:49:03,680 Speaker 1: to actually track a storm on a computer and see 837 00:49:03,719 --> 00:49:06,399 Speaker 1: it and be able to anticipate where it's going to move, 838 00:49:06,719 --> 00:49:08,719 Speaker 1: it made it much more difficult to get to the 839 00:49:08,760 --> 00:49:10,879 Speaker 1: right place at the right time. Sure Also, it took 840 00:49:10,880 --> 00:49:12,920 Speaker 1: thirty seconds to deploy from the back of a of 841 00:49:12,920 --> 00:49:16,920 Speaker 1: a specially created truck um which is which sounds like 842 00:49:17,000 --> 00:49:19,640 Speaker 1: a short period of time, but but that is tremendously 843 00:49:19,680 --> 00:49:22,359 Speaker 1: long when a tornado is bearing down on you, yea, 844 00:49:22,600 --> 00:49:25,040 Speaker 1: or if you're anticipating a tornado, keep in mind we 845 00:49:25,040 --> 00:49:27,240 Speaker 1: were talking about that wall cloud, which was the indicator 846 00:49:27,280 --> 00:49:29,600 Speaker 1: that a tornado could touch down within ten to twenty minutes. 847 00:49:29,640 --> 00:49:32,040 Speaker 1: If it takes you half an hour to unpack your equipment, 848 00:49:32,520 --> 00:49:35,759 Speaker 1: just finding out where the tornado might touch down and 849 00:49:35,800 --> 00:49:38,520 Speaker 1: then getting the equipment out and set on the ground. 850 00:49:38,719 --> 00:49:40,719 Speaker 1: First of all, it may be too late, maybe that 851 00:49:40,760 --> 00:49:42,640 Speaker 1: the tornado has touched down while you were trying to 852 00:49:42,680 --> 00:49:44,960 Speaker 1: get your your equipment out, in which case you may 853 00:49:44,960 --> 00:49:48,759 Speaker 1: be in serious danger or things conditions could have changed 854 00:49:48,800 --> 00:49:51,040 Speaker 1: to the point where the place where you thought was 855 00:49:51,080 --> 00:49:54,000 Speaker 1: the perfect spot is no longer anywhere close to where 856 00:49:54,000 --> 00:49:57,640 Speaker 1: the tornado may touch down. So it was very difficult. 857 00:49:57,960 --> 00:50:00,640 Speaker 1: It as a surprise to no one. Was never really 858 00:50:00,640 --> 00:50:02,920 Speaker 1: picked up by a tornado. Uh No, it did it. 859 00:50:03,120 --> 00:50:08,719 Speaker 1: A tornado did run over it once in um when 860 00:50:08,840 --> 00:50:13,600 Speaker 1: the NSSL had had taken over for it, and um, 861 00:50:13,640 --> 00:50:16,960 Speaker 1: mostly the tornado just knocked it over and damaged the instruments. 862 00:50:17,160 --> 00:50:20,800 Speaker 1: Yeah so, but then it served as inspiration for another 863 00:50:21,360 --> 00:50:26,279 Speaker 1: fictional device, didn't, Yes, it did. Toto was the inspiration 864 00:50:26,640 --> 00:50:32,000 Speaker 1: for Dorothy, which was the fictional device in the film Twister. Yeah. 865 00:50:32,080 --> 00:50:34,439 Speaker 1: So the movie that made us believe that a cow 866 00:50:34,520 --> 00:50:36,360 Speaker 1: could be picked up by a tornado and still be 867 00:50:37,040 --> 00:50:40,799 Speaker 1: perfectly cow like, willing to move at any rate. Yeah, 868 00:50:40,880 --> 00:50:45,040 Speaker 1: and and not turned into hamburger. Um. Yeah it was. Uh. 869 00:50:45,719 --> 00:50:48,120 Speaker 1: Dorothy was the name of the device they wanted to 870 00:50:48,160 --> 00:50:50,319 Speaker 1: deploy in the film and try and get it in 871 00:50:50,320 --> 00:50:52,360 Speaker 1: the path of the tornado. It was inspired by the 872 00:50:52,400 --> 00:50:57,600 Speaker 1: real world analog Toto in in reality, Toto was scrapped 873 00:50:57,640 --> 00:51:02,439 Speaker 1: in ya um. But yeah. However, there are many other 874 00:51:02,480 --> 00:51:06,839 Speaker 1: instruments that have been created for similar purposes. UM. One 875 00:51:06,920 --> 00:51:10,359 Speaker 1: is called a turtle, which is a kind of hub 876 00:51:10,400 --> 00:51:13,920 Speaker 1: cap looking little devices that are They were debuted, I 877 00:51:13,960 --> 00:51:17,480 Speaker 1: believe in nineteen six, and we're we're on that beginning 878 00:51:17,560 --> 00:51:21,000 Speaker 1: edge of digital technology. They were not meant to be 879 00:51:21,120 --> 00:51:25,840 Speaker 1: picked up. They were actually designed as heavy, squat and aerodynamic, 880 00:51:26,200 --> 00:51:29,440 Speaker 1: the idea being that they could withstand the the wind 881 00:51:29,480 --> 00:51:32,200 Speaker 1: forces of a tornado so that you could retrieve them 882 00:51:32,200 --> 00:51:35,759 Speaker 1: and find out all the information you needed things like temperature, pressure, humidity, 883 00:51:36,040 --> 00:51:41,200 Speaker 1: and not just get picked up like the like total was. 884 00:51:41,239 --> 00:51:42,840 Speaker 1: It was just meant to be there so that you 885 00:51:42,840 --> 00:51:45,879 Speaker 1: can recover it afterward the tornado had passed through. There 886 00:51:45,880 --> 00:51:48,439 Speaker 1: are also snails which are similar in appearance, but are 887 00:51:48,480 --> 00:51:52,960 Speaker 1: outfitted with these seismic sensors because there was a theory 888 00:51:52,960 --> 00:51:56,400 Speaker 1: at some point that UM, if we can study the 889 00:51:56,640 --> 00:52:00,680 Speaker 1: vibrations that tornadoes create in the ground, it we would 890 00:52:00,680 --> 00:52:04,400 Speaker 1: be able to learn new fun stuff about them. Huh interesting, 891 00:52:05,000 --> 00:52:07,880 Speaker 1: I had not heard about that. UM also dellocams and 892 00:52:08,200 --> 00:52:13,360 Speaker 1: Observation zero O Z s ozes. Okay, I just I 893 00:52:13,400 --> 00:52:17,160 Speaker 1: just got that. I'm sorry, Dorothy Toto and OZ right UM, 894 00:52:17,200 --> 00:52:20,840 Speaker 1: which are which are camera equipment that that has been 895 00:52:20,880 --> 00:52:23,319 Speaker 1: designed to be put in the place, and I totally 896 00:52:23,360 --> 00:52:25,960 Speaker 1: forgot to write down there's also munchkins, because, as it 897 00:52:25,960 --> 00:52:29,040 Speaker 1: turns out, storm chasers get hungry and occasionally stop at 898 00:52:29,080 --> 00:52:31,600 Speaker 1: Dunkin Donuts and they just order a bunch of those 899 00:52:31,640 --> 00:52:34,000 Speaker 1: to eat while they're waiting. I just figured that we 900 00:52:34,080 --> 00:52:35,680 Speaker 1: might as well keep on going down this Wizard of 901 00:52:35,680 --> 00:52:39,360 Speaker 1: Oz route. So what about our vehicles? Yeah, okay, so 902 00:52:39,360 --> 00:52:43,359 Speaker 1: you're talking about the TIV. Yes, the Tornado intercept vehicle. Uh, 903 00:52:43,400 --> 00:52:46,720 Speaker 1: there's actually been a couple of these, um and in fact, 904 00:52:46,920 --> 00:52:50,160 Speaker 1: there well, tornado intercept vehicle is kind of a generic 905 00:52:50,239 --> 00:52:52,080 Speaker 1: name at this time. At this point, you're really talking 906 00:52:52,120 --> 00:52:55,839 Speaker 1: about any kind of reinforced vehicle, but specifically we're talking 907 00:52:55,840 --> 00:52:58,800 Speaker 1: about essentially, you take you take a pretty heavy vehicle, 908 00:52:58,960 --> 00:53:02,000 Speaker 1: one that's already pretty rugged, and then you turn it 909 00:53:02,040 --> 00:53:08,760 Speaker 1: into a reinforced possibly armor plated, uh possibly augmented vehicle, 910 00:53:08,960 --> 00:53:11,560 Speaker 1: something that looks like it came out of Mad Max. Yeah. Yeah, 911 00:53:11,719 --> 00:53:14,960 Speaker 1: you might be wondering, you know who rules Bartertown by 912 00:53:14,960 --> 00:53:17,919 Speaker 1: the time you see one of these things. Uh, they 913 00:53:17,960 --> 00:53:23,760 Speaker 1: are meant to withstand high wind speeds, hail, massive, massive trauma, 914 00:53:23,880 --> 00:53:27,440 Speaker 1: they're reinforced, and sometimes they have hydraulic panels that can 915 00:53:27,440 --> 00:53:30,120 Speaker 1: actually extend down to the sides of the vehicle. The 916 00:53:30,160 --> 00:53:33,799 Speaker 1: idea being that if you extend the hydraulic panel so 917 00:53:33,840 --> 00:53:37,160 Speaker 1: that it goes from the ground and and leaves no 918 00:53:37,320 --> 00:53:41,000 Speaker 1: space under the vehicle, then you can't have wind sweeping 919 00:53:41,200 --> 00:53:44,560 Speaker 1: underneath the vehicle and and lift it off or push 920 00:53:44,640 --> 00:53:48,600 Speaker 1: it off. It's it's perch um. Some of them even 921 00:53:48,640 --> 00:53:52,440 Speaker 1: have stabilizing jacks that will that will extend down and 922 00:53:52,600 --> 00:53:55,719 Speaker 1: into the ground and stable again, stabilize this so that 923 00:53:55,800 --> 00:53:58,680 Speaker 1: when heavy wind hits it, it doesn't rock over and 924 00:53:58,680 --> 00:54:02,200 Speaker 1: and tilt over and fall right um. The tip too 925 00:54:03,400 --> 00:54:06,160 Speaker 1: specifically was was was one that was created that wighed 926 00:54:06,160 --> 00:54:09,120 Speaker 1: about eight tons. Yeah, that's a pretty hefty vehicle and 927 00:54:09,200 --> 00:54:13,120 Speaker 1: also usually has has windows designed so that someone with 928 00:54:13,160 --> 00:54:16,240 Speaker 1: a camera can get as many different angles as possible. 929 00:54:16,400 --> 00:54:19,440 Speaker 1: The the the original was created by one Sean Casey, 930 00:54:19,480 --> 00:54:22,600 Speaker 1: who was an Imax cinematographer who was working towards some 931 00:54:22,719 --> 00:54:25,840 Speaker 1: some documentary pieces. I remember seeing bits from that. I 932 00:54:25,880 --> 00:54:29,320 Speaker 1: never got to see the full I assume they eventually 933 00:54:29,320 --> 00:54:32,640 Speaker 1: had a more, probably more than one documentary based on this, 934 00:54:32,719 --> 00:54:34,719 Speaker 1: but I do remember seeing excerpts of this, and they 935 00:54:34,719 --> 00:54:39,799 Speaker 1: were pretty fantastic. I also remember seeing at least one 936 00:54:39,840 --> 00:54:43,040 Speaker 1: clip where the crew was concerned that his desire to 937 00:54:43,160 --> 00:54:49,359 Speaker 1: get the best footage was possibly a little reckless. That's 938 00:54:49,360 --> 00:54:51,799 Speaker 1: probably the best way for me to put it. I 939 00:54:51,880 --> 00:54:54,440 Speaker 1: have no doubt that that that could be a thing 940 00:54:54,480 --> 00:54:58,040 Speaker 1: that could have happened. Well, what kind of information have 941 00:54:58,280 --> 00:55:02,680 Speaker 1: storm chasers gathered? Mainly we're talking about atmospheric conditions, things 942 00:55:02,760 --> 00:55:06,200 Speaker 1: like the rotation of the clouds, getting more information about that, 943 00:55:06,280 --> 00:55:09,279 Speaker 1: more information about the actual sequence of events that leads 944 00:55:09,360 --> 00:55:12,920 Speaker 1: up to tornado formation, the behavior of the tornadoes themselves, 945 00:55:13,400 --> 00:55:16,719 Speaker 1: the strength of the tornado. Uh, the you know, We've 946 00:55:16,760 --> 00:55:20,320 Speaker 1: got some information about barometric pressure, some things about temperature, 947 00:55:21,040 --> 00:55:24,040 Speaker 1: wind speeds and all this kind of stuff. Humidity. It's 948 00:55:24,080 --> 00:55:27,560 Speaker 1: really just trying to get as much data as possible 949 00:55:27,600 --> 00:55:30,480 Speaker 1: and sift through it to learn what is it that 950 00:55:30,560 --> 00:55:33,640 Speaker 1: really makes these things happen? Right, Because some of the 951 00:55:33,760 --> 00:55:35,960 Speaker 1: leading theories for a long time had a lot to 952 00:55:35,960 --> 00:55:39,680 Speaker 1: do with um with temperature differences, right up until we 953 00:55:39,800 --> 00:55:42,560 Speaker 1: got some data in from tornadoes that said that temperature 954 00:55:42,560 --> 00:55:45,720 Speaker 1: differences in in in airflow do not have to exist 955 00:55:45,760 --> 00:55:48,160 Speaker 1: for a tornado to be created, right, doesn't have that's 956 00:55:48,200 --> 00:55:52,040 Speaker 1: not not a not a necessary factor, right, and so 957 00:55:52,360 --> 00:55:54,160 Speaker 1: you know, it's it's it's kind of one of those 958 00:55:54,160 --> 00:55:55,960 Speaker 1: things where the more we learn, the more we realize 959 00:55:55,960 --> 00:55:57,920 Speaker 1: that we have to learn, and it is so difficult 960 00:55:57,960 --> 00:56:01,600 Speaker 1: to get good readings. Yeah, and we will come so dangerous. Yeah, 961 00:56:01,600 --> 00:56:04,600 Speaker 1: We're talking about such huge forces here that getting a 962 00:56:04,600 --> 00:56:08,200 Speaker 1: good reading is just, uh, it's risky and a lot 963 00:56:08,200 --> 00:56:10,640 Speaker 1: of the stuff we've developed just can't live up, can't 964 00:56:10,719 --> 00:56:13,880 Speaker 1: hold up to those kind of forces. It can, as 965 00:56:13,920 --> 00:56:17,320 Speaker 1: we said, be very financially viable. Um one war in 966 00:56:17,440 --> 00:56:21,000 Speaker 1: Fadely is a kind of rock star storm chaser whose 967 00:56:21,040 --> 00:56:24,240 Speaker 1: photos of storms can sell for over ten tho dollars 968 00:56:24,239 --> 00:56:27,239 Speaker 1: a piece. Yeah, yeah, which has inspired a lot of 969 00:56:27,239 --> 00:56:30,399 Speaker 1: people to try and follow in his footsteps. In fact, 970 00:56:30,480 --> 00:56:33,200 Speaker 1: that's one of the big controversies. And we can go 971 00:56:33,239 --> 00:56:36,000 Speaker 1: ahead and move into the controversy of storm chasing. One 972 00:56:36,040 --> 00:56:41,239 Speaker 1: of them is that with documentaries with reality television, I mean, 973 00:56:41,239 --> 00:56:44,080 Speaker 1: we do have storm chasers on Discovery. We've got or 974 00:56:44,120 --> 00:56:46,560 Speaker 1: we had I believe it was. It was ended in 975 00:56:46,760 --> 00:56:50,960 Speaker 1: two eleven. Yeah, So, but but there's been some controversy 976 00:56:51,000 --> 00:56:54,439 Speaker 1: that these sort of things have inspired lots and lots 977 00:56:54,440 --> 00:56:57,120 Speaker 1: of people to either pursue it as a hobby or 978 00:56:57,200 --> 00:57:00,560 Speaker 1: go into the tourism trade, that sort of stuff, and 979 00:57:00,600 --> 00:57:05,040 Speaker 1: that that self can add to the already significant danger 980 00:57:05,680 --> 00:57:08,920 Speaker 1: of storm chasing for research purposes or even as a profession, 981 00:57:09,200 --> 00:57:11,719 Speaker 1: especially considering the fact that if you've got if you 982 00:57:11,760 --> 00:57:14,719 Speaker 1: do have research professionals who are out there trying to 983 00:57:14,760 --> 00:57:18,439 Speaker 1: be safe, and you get in their way bad times 984 00:57:18,440 --> 00:57:21,840 Speaker 1: for everybody you can, you can cause traffic jams right 985 00:57:21,920 --> 00:57:25,120 Speaker 1: when people need to have an open escape route in 986 00:57:25,200 --> 00:57:28,880 Speaker 1: case the storm changes dramatically, and that can happen. Storm 987 00:57:28,920 --> 00:57:32,040 Speaker 1: storms can travel in one direction and then suddenly veer 988 00:57:32,120 --> 00:57:34,640 Speaker 1: off and you need to be nimble enough to be 989 00:57:34,680 --> 00:57:37,040 Speaker 1: able to respond to that. But if you've got a 990 00:57:37,080 --> 00:57:39,680 Speaker 1: line of cars behind you and that's the only way out, 991 00:57:39,720 --> 00:57:42,680 Speaker 1: then you're kind of stuck. It also means adding the 992 00:57:42,760 --> 00:57:46,919 Speaker 1: danger of first responders needing to get to locations after 993 00:57:46,960 --> 00:57:49,919 Speaker 1: a tornado has passed through. So it's one of those 994 00:57:49,920 --> 00:57:53,920 Speaker 1: things that has raised some concerns because legally speaking, there 995 00:57:53,960 --> 00:57:58,280 Speaker 1: are no rules or laws regarding storm chasing apart from 996 00:57:58,320 --> 00:58:02,320 Speaker 1: obeying traffic laws and things like trespassing. Clearly, you are 997 00:58:02,360 --> 00:58:06,640 Speaker 1: not supposed to trespass on people's property. You aren't supposed to, uh, 998 00:58:06,720 --> 00:58:08,800 Speaker 1: you know, drive the wrong way down the street, that 999 00:58:08,840 --> 00:58:12,360 Speaker 1: kind of stuff. But beyond that, there's not really anything. 1000 00:58:12,880 --> 00:58:15,840 Speaker 1: You know, there's nothing illegal about storm chasing, but there 1001 00:58:15,840 --> 00:58:20,040 Speaker 1: have been some discussions about that. UM and in we 1002 00:58:20,080 --> 00:58:24,520 Speaker 1: had a tragedy in which three storm chasers, famous ones, 1003 00:58:24,600 --> 00:58:29,200 Speaker 1: Tim Samaris, Paul samarrass Son and Carl Young. Uh, they 1004 00:58:29,760 --> 00:58:33,440 Speaker 1: died in h an accident. They were caught in a 1005 00:58:33,440 --> 00:58:36,800 Speaker 1: tornado near El Reno, Oklahoma. This was on May thirty 1006 00:58:36,920 --> 00:58:40,040 Speaker 1: one and ending. They had been part of the Discovery 1007 00:58:40,080 --> 00:58:44,120 Speaker 1: show storm Chasers and full full disclosure, full disclosure. We 1008 00:58:44,160 --> 00:58:47,400 Speaker 1: are hastof works as a part company Discovery. Now we 1009 00:58:47,440 --> 00:58:51,600 Speaker 1: should also say that that they were experienced storm chasers, 1010 00:58:51,640 --> 00:58:55,640 Speaker 1: and they were. They were widely regarded as responsible members 1011 00:58:55,680 --> 00:58:59,160 Speaker 1: of the community, and they had provided quite a bit 1012 00:58:59,160 --> 00:59:03,200 Speaker 1: of scientific research. Absolutely. Tim in fact founded twist decks, 1013 00:59:03,280 --> 00:59:06,800 Speaker 1: which which is similar to vortex. It's it's an acronym 1014 00:59:06,880 --> 00:59:11,440 Speaker 1: for the tactical weather instrumented sampling in Tornado's experiment. Yeah, 1015 00:59:11,520 --> 00:59:15,880 Speaker 1: he had an engineering background, uh, and he successfully deployed 1016 00:59:15,920 --> 00:59:20,200 Speaker 1: a turtle that recorded the barometric pressure of two different tornadoes. 1017 00:59:20,440 --> 00:59:23,880 Speaker 1: One in two thousand three recorded a barometric drop in 1018 00:59:23,920 --> 00:59:27,240 Speaker 1: pressure of forty mill of bars, and another one another probe, 1019 00:59:27,240 --> 00:59:30,120 Speaker 1: recorded a one d milli bar drop in a violent 1020 00:59:30,160 --> 00:59:35,280 Speaker 1: tornado in South Dakota. UM Later on, other turtles would 1021 00:59:35,320 --> 00:59:38,200 Speaker 1: record more baro metic pressure, but his was the first 1022 00:59:38,200 --> 00:59:41,160 Speaker 1: one to do that. So he was really contributing to 1023 00:59:41,200 --> 00:59:46,320 Speaker 1: the scientific knowledge of tornadoes. And so, uh, their deaths 1024 00:59:47,280 --> 00:59:51,640 Speaker 1: were very tragic obviously, and also raised up a conversation 1025 00:59:51,840 --> 00:59:56,920 Speaker 1: about is storm chasing something responsible? Is it okay? Should 1026 00:59:57,040 --> 01:00:01,080 Speaker 1: should there be for other things, for for non human 1027 01:00:02,120 --> 01:00:05,080 Speaker 1: ways to collect the stata? And and you know, it's 1028 01:00:05,080 --> 01:00:07,280 Speaker 1: one of those things again where there's There's not been 1029 01:00:07,320 --> 01:00:11,920 Speaker 1: any official movement as far as I'm aware, but people 1030 01:00:12,120 --> 01:00:16,520 Speaker 1: like the Kansas Emergency Management Association president Brian Stone said 1031 01:00:16,520 --> 01:00:19,440 Speaker 1: it was worth looking into establishing at least some rules 1032 01:00:19,880 --> 01:00:24,120 Speaker 1: to guide storm chasers, if not formal laws, at least 1033 01:00:24,720 --> 01:00:28,760 Speaker 1: uh kind of a code really that storm chasers need 1034 01:00:28,800 --> 01:00:32,520 Speaker 1: to follow. Now, keep in mind, Tim Samaris and his 1035 01:00:32,640 --> 01:00:36,240 Speaker 1: crew were experts, I mean they were they were known 1036 01:00:36,360 --> 01:00:41,400 Speaker 1: for being very safety conscious. So this really shows how unpredictable. 1037 01:00:41,440 --> 01:00:43,920 Speaker 1: These storms can be and even if you are at 1038 01:00:43,920 --> 01:00:46,680 Speaker 1: the top of your game and you are very careful, 1039 01:00:47,400 --> 01:00:51,640 Speaker 1: tragedy can strike. Yeah, supposedly the storm that that they 1040 01:00:51,960 --> 01:00:55,200 Speaker 1: were killed and killed another ten people out in Oklahoma 1041 01:00:55,320 --> 01:00:59,680 Speaker 1: and supposedly had one of those very quick turns that 1042 01:00:59,800 --> 01:01:02,479 Speaker 1: no one could have predicted. They probably blocked their escape routes. 1043 01:01:02,560 --> 01:01:06,360 Speaker 1: And the National Weather Service does not endorse storm chasing 1044 01:01:06,560 --> 01:01:09,760 Speaker 1: because of the risk involved. However, they do welcome the 1045 01:01:09,840 --> 01:01:13,280 Speaker 1: reports that storm chasers bring in. So it's kind of, 1046 01:01:13,480 --> 01:01:15,200 Speaker 1: you know, it's one of those things where they say, yeah, 1047 01:01:15,240 --> 01:01:17,720 Speaker 1: we can't we can't say go out and be a 1048 01:01:17,760 --> 01:01:19,960 Speaker 1: storm chaser, but we will say that the data we 1049 01:01:20,040 --> 01:01:24,080 Speaker 1: get is invaluable. Yes, we can't put a price tag 1050 01:01:24,120 --> 01:01:27,560 Speaker 1: on that because it's it's helping us understand these systems 1051 01:01:28,080 --> 01:01:31,640 Speaker 1: and that's really the best way we know of doing it. 1052 01:01:31,760 --> 01:01:34,600 Speaker 1: And through sky Warn. In fact, they will conduct spot 1053 01:01:34,720 --> 01:01:37,560 Speaker 1: or training classes across the United States if you're if 1054 01:01:37,560 --> 01:01:40,720 Speaker 1: you are very interested in storm chasing, I would recommend 1055 01:01:40,880 --> 01:01:44,400 Speaker 1: not probably going on one of the tours. I don't 1056 01:01:44,480 --> 01:01:48,520 Speaker 1: think they're necessarily responsible, but um, you can't. You know, 1057 01:01:48,720 --> 01:01:52,240 Speaker 1: some may be very good at following safety rules and 1058 01:01:52,320 --> 01:01:55,680 Speaker 1: some maybe a little more lax in that. It's hard 1059 01:01:55,720 --> 01:01:57,760 Speaker 1: to say. It's hard to say, but but Sky Warren 1060 01:01:57,800 --> 01:02:02,560 Speaker 1: will will try. Yeah, you can do it. You can 1061 01:02:02,560 --> 01:02:06,240 Speaker 1: do this in the most responsible and safe way possible, 1062 01:02:06,640 --> 01:02:08,760 Speaker 1: which is that's the best thing. I mean, this is 1063 01:02:08,800 --> 01:02:11,200 Speaker 1: your passion, and this is you want to contribute to 1064 01:02:11,240 --> 01:02:14,240 Speaker 1: the scientific knowledge. I mean, I find that admirable. I 1065 01:02:14,320 --> 01:02:17,520 Speaker 1: personally also think it's crazy because I I've know well well, 1066 01:02:17,560 --> 01:02:19,160 Speaker 1: like I said, Lauren, and I can talk a little 1067 01:02:19,160 --> 01:02:22,360 Speaker 1: bit about our experience living through tornadoes. Uh, and I 1068 01:02:22,360 --> 01:02:25,360 Speaker 1: would never ever ever want to invite that experience on 1069 01:02:25,480 --> 01:02:28,200 Speaker 1: me again if I can avoid it. What what? What? 1070 01:02:28,200 --> 01:02:31,200 Speaker 1: What did happen? Okay, all right, well I can talk 1071 01:02:31,240 --> 01:02:34,919 Speaker 1: about that. So. I grew up in northeast Georgia, near 1072 01:02:35,000 --> 01:02:37,680 Speaker 1: a city called Gainesville, which actually has a history of 1073 01:02:37,800 --> 01:02:42,120 Speaker 1: tornado problems. There was a tornado that moved through early 1074 01:02:42,240 --> 01:02:45,640 Speaker 1: in the twentieth century and laid the city to waste. 1075 01:02:45,760 --> 01:02:49,680 Speaker 1: I mean, it completely destroyed Gainesville. My grandfather worked in 1076 01:02:49,680 --> 01:02:52,760 Speaker 1: a textile mill in New Holland, Georgia, which is just 1077 01:02:52,800 --> 01:02:57,200 Speaker 1: outside of Gainesville. And uh, he tells or he told 1078 01:02:57,240 --> 01:02:59,400 Speaker 1: the story he's passed on now, but he told a 1079 01:02:59,440 --> 01:03:02,960 Speaker 1: story about how working in the mill he was, you know, 1080 01:03:03,040 --> 01:03:05,520 Speaker 1: the tornado was bearing down the mill and he was 1081 01:03:05,600 --> 01:03:08,960 Speaker 1: moving toward the staircase to get down to a safe level, 1082 01:03:09,320 --> 01:03:11,840 Speaker 1: and as he was hitting the staircase, the roof of 1083 01:03:11,880 --> 01:03:14,880 Speaker 1: the building ripped off because of this tornado, the force 1084 01:03:14,960 --> 01:03:18,520 Speaker 1: of this wind. And uh, this was the same tornado 1085 01:03:18,560 --> 01:03:22,240 Speaker 1: that essentially leveled the city. When I was growing up, 1086 01:03:22,280 --> 01:03:25,480 Speaker 1: we had several tornadoes passed over the area of town 1087 01:03:25,520 --> 01:03:28,880 Speaker 1: I lived in, which is called Oakwood, Georgia. I grew 1088 01:03:28,960 --> 01:03:33,280 Speaker 1: up there, and I can remember like there were there 1089 01:03:33,280 --> 01:03:37,440 Speaker 1: were houses that were within just a very short walk, 1090 01:03:37,520 --> 01:03:38,880 Speaker 1: like you just walked up a hill and you could 1091 01:03:38,920 --> 01:03:41,800 Speaker 1: see them that were completely leveled by tornadoes on a 1092 01:03:41,840 --> 01:03:45,640 Speaker 1: couple of occasions. And I mean I remember huddling with 1093 01:03:45,680 --> 01:03:50,320 Speaker 1: my family at the base of our house, Um, not 1094 01:03:50,400 --> 01:03:53,480 Speaker 1: even sure if our house was going to be hit 1095 01:03:53,560 --> 01:03:57,760 Speaker 1: by these things. And uh, we had tornadoes passed directly 1096 01:03:57,800 --> 01:04:00,000 Speaker 1: over us where you know, sometimes a tornado will touch 1097 01:04:00,160 --> 01:04:03,080 Speaker 1: down and then lift up and touched down again. In fact, 1098 01:04:03,120 --> 01:04:05,280 Speaker 1: there's even an argument about whether or not that counts 1099 01:04:05,280 --> 01:04:09,120 Speaker 1: as two separate tornadoes or the same one we've had 1100 01:04:09,120 --> 01:04:13,000 Speaker 1: that happened where a tornado went directly over our house, 1101 01:04:13,080 --> 01:04:15,240 Speaker 1: where it lifted up and then set back down a 1102 01:04:15,280 --> 01:04:18,919 Speaker 1: little bit further out. So um, you know, as a kid, 1103 01:04:19,000 --> 01:04:21,960 Speaker 1: that was definitely like that was a life defining experience, 1104 01:04:21,960 --> 01:04:24,480 Speaker 1: to the point where I had trouble with storms for 1105 01:04:24,520 --> 01:04:27,760 Speaker 1: a while after I was after that. These days storms 1106 01:04:27,760 --> 01:04:30,000 Speaker 1: don't bother me so much. I can. I can handle 1107 01:04:30,040 --> 01:04:33,560 Speaker 1: that just fine. But if it starts turning like ominous, 1108 01:04:33,560 --> 01:04:37,320 Speaker 1: if I start noticing those little warning signs, I take cover, 1109 01:04:37,560 --> 01:04:41,640 Speaker 1: because it is serious business. I mean, it is absolutely 1110 01:04:41,760 --> 01:04:45,240 Speaker 1: terrifying to live through. Sure, yeah, I am. My My 1111 01:04:45,280 --> 01:04:48,040 Speaker 1: experience is a lot more spotty than that. I remember 1112 01:04:48,040 --> 01:04:50,800 Speaker 1: being maybe maybe about five years old, and my my 1113 01:04:50,920 --> 01:04:55,880 Speaker 1: mother and U are extremely dedicated black Labrador retriever UM 1114 01:04:55,960 --> 01:05:00,560 Speaker 1: hurting me down into the basement and U. But I 1115 01:05:00,600 --> 01:05:03,400 Speaker 1: think that mostly by the time we got there, like 1116 01:05:03,440 --> 01:05:05,760 Speaker 1: by the time we heard about it and got down there, 1117 01:05:06,120 --> 01:05:09,800 Speaker 1: the radio is already calling it off. So um. And 1118 01:05:09,800 --> 01:05:12,560 Speaker 1: and this is the to the two types of warnings 1119 01:05:12,560 --> 01:05:14,280 Speaker 1: that you may have heard of and had a tiny 1120 01:05:14,320 --> 01:05:16,720 Speaker 1: bit of confusion about, because I don't feel like they're 1121 01:05:16,880 --> 01:05:20,439 Speaker 1: very well publicized the differences between them all the time. 1122 01:05:20,720 --> 01:05:24,800 Speaker 1: Tornado watch is issued by the n o A a 1123 01:05:24,920 --> 01:05:28,800 Speaker 1: UH Storm Prediction Center meteorologists and and they are watching 1124 01:05:28,920 --> 01:05:34,600 Speaker 1: the entire United States all the time. UM. Tornado warning, however, 1125 01:05:34,800 --> 01:05:38,280 Speaker 1: is issued by a local n o A a UH 1126 01:05:38,480 --> 01:05:42,560 Speaker 1: National Weather Service forecast office who is watching your designated 1127 01:05:42,640 --> 01:05:46,160 Speaker 1: area all the time and UH the warning indicates that 1128 01:05:46,200 --> 01:05:49,840 Speaker 1: there are spotters who have seen a touchdown and that 1129 01:05:50,000 --> 01:05:52,520 Speaker 1: you need to get to safety. The the watch is 1130 01:05:52,600 --> 01:05:56,960 Speaker 1: more that there are conditions that are favorable for a tornado. 1131 01:05:57,080 --> 01:06:02,360 Speaker 1: Tornado could could form under such conditions. Yeah, I've I've 1132 01:06:02,360 --> 01:06:05,920 Speaker 1: seen so many of both. UM. It's one of the 1133 01:06:06,040 --> 01:06:09,840 Speaker 1: one of the risks of living in the Southeast United States, 1134 01:06:10,120 --> 01:06:12,920 Speaker 1: not again, not nearly as prone to tornadoes as other 1135 01:06:12,960 --> 01:06:15,400 Speaker 1: parts in the nation, which can get them even more 1136 01:06:15,440 --> 01:06:18,480 Speaker 1: regularly than we do. And I thought i'd close out. 1137 01:06:18,560 --> 01:06:22,400 Speaker 1: This is something that another storm chaser had said about 1138 01:06:22,920 --> 01:06:25,880 Speaker 1: the situation with with Tim Samaras and his son Paul 1139 01:06:25,960 --> 01:06:30,240 Speaker 1: and Carl Young. His name is Renny vander Wedge, and 1140 01:06:30,280 --> 01:06:33,640 Speaker 1: I apologize if I have butchered that name, but he 1141 01:06:33,720 --> 01:06:35,360 Speaker 1: had this to say, and I thought it was interesting. 1142 01:06:35,360 --> 01:06:37,640 Speaker 1: And there's actually quite a bit that he has written 1143 01:06:37,720 --> 01:06:40,560 Speaker 1: about the storm chasing in general. But I thought this, 1144 01:06:40,560 --> 01:06:44,280 Speaker 1: this really bears attention in our podcast, So he said. 1145 01:06:44,920 --> 01:06:47,480 Speaker 1: Many storm chasers do a lot of good. Some are 1146 01:06:47,560 --> 01:06:50,800 Speaker 1: researchers trying to understand why some storms produced tornadoes and 1147 01:06:50,840 --> 01:06:54,120 Speaker 1: others do not. Tim Samaras, for example, combined his background 1148 01:06:54,160 --> 01:06:57,520 Speaker 1: and engineering and whether to invent devices for measuring conditions 1149 01:06:57,520 --> 01:07:00,800 Speaker 1: inside a tornado. His research has been value able. Other 1150 01:07:00,840 --> 01:07:04,120 Speaker 1: researchers use mobile radar units to measure precipitation and wind 1151 01:07:04,120 --> 01:07:07,560 Speaker 1: inside a tornado from close range to gain a better 1152 01:07:07,640 --> 01:07:11,640 Speaker 1: understanding of how tornadoes develop. Other chasers are simply out 1153 01:07:11,640 --> 01:07:13,960 Speaker 1: there for the thrill of chasing, or to capture video 1154 01:07:14,080 --> 01:07:16,880 Speaker 1: to sell to media outlets. But as tornado video has 1155 01:07:16,920 --> 01:07:20,760 Speaker 1: become plentiful on YouTube and other websites, chasers have had 1156 01:07:20,800 --> 01:07:23,480 Speaker 1: to get closer than ever to get the kind of 1157 01:07:23,480 --> 01:07:26,360 Speaker 1: footage that will earn them a paycheck. They often find 1158 01:07:26,400 --> 01:07:30,160 Speaker 1: themselves in the bears cage, which is chaser lingo for 1159 01:07:30,200 --> 01:07:32,520 Speaker 1: the part of the storm where tornado forms. Some have 1160 01:07:32,600 --> 01:07:36,280 Speaker 1: built vehicles to drive directly into a twister. This carries 1161 01:07:36,480 --> 01:07:42,360 Speaker 1: enormous risk. Now, he teaches meteorology and bring students with 1162 01:07:42,440 --> 01:07:47,080 Speaker 1: him on trips where they they observe these stormfronts and 1163 01:07:47,200 --> 01:07:51,480 Speaker 1: the weather conditions, so that the meteorologists have direct experience 1164 01:07:51,520 --> 01:07:54,280 Speaker 1: with this before they go on to whatever their careers are. 1165 01:07:54,720 --> 01:07:57,120 Speaker 1: But I thought it was really interesting to have a 1166 01:07:57,200 --> 01:08:00,640 Speaker 1: professional opinion added in there, because of course, like we 1167 01:08:00,720 --> 01:08:03,160 Speaker 1: said at the very top of the show, this is 1168 01:08:03,240 --> 01:08:07,080 Speaker 1: and we've repeated several times, this is serious, dangerous business. Uh. 1169 01:08:07,080 --> 01:08:10,920 Speaker 1: It's not something for just a casual attempt. You know, 1170 01:08:11,360 --> 01:08:14,160 Speaker 1: you definitely want experienced people around you. If you are 1171 01:08:14,200 --> 01:08:18,280 Speaker 1: interested in the field, that's amazing, but definitely seek out 1172 01:08:18,800 --> 01:08:22,760 Speaker 1: training and make sure that you're following this as as 1173 01:08:22,800 --> 01:08:26,479 Speaker 1: many safety procedures as you can because this is this 1174 01:08:26,560 --> 01:08:29,759 Speaker 1: is deadly stuff. And that wraps up this classic episode 1175 01:08:29,760 --> 01:08:32,000 Speaker 1: of tech Stuff. Hope you guys enjoyed it. If you 1176 01:08:32,040 --> 01:08:35,240 Speaker 1: have any suggestions for future topics of tech Stuff, go 1177 01:08:35,280 --> 01:08:37,679 Speaker 1: ahead and reach out to me on Twitter or Facebook. 1178 01:08:37,680 --> 01:08:40,160 Speaker 1: The handle for both of those is tech Stuff hs 1179 01:08:40,439 --> 01:08:48,120 Speaker 1: W and I'll talk to you again really soon. Text 1180 01:08:48,120 --> 01:08:51,600 Speaker 1: Stuff is an I Heart Radio production. For more podcasts 1181 01:08:51,600 --> 01:08:54,360 Speaker 1: from my Heart Radio, visit the i Heart Radio app, 1182 01:08:54,520 --> 01:08:57,639 Speaker 1: Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to your favorite shows 1183 01:09:00,040 --> 01:09:00,080 Speaker 1: e