WEBVTT - TechStuff Classic: How Storm Chasers Work 0:00:04.400 --> 0:00:07.760 Welcome to text Stuff, a production from my Heart Radio. 0:00:12.000 --> 0:00:14.520 Hey there, and welcome to tech Stuff. I'm your host, 0:00:14.640 --> 0:00:17.160 Jonathan Strickland. I'm an executive producer with our Heart Radio 0:00:17.200 --> 0:00:20.239 and I love all things tech and today it's time 0:00:20.280 --> 0:00:22.480 for another classic episode. We are going to listen to 0:00:22.560 --> 0:00:26.960 how storm chasers work. This episode originally published on July 0:00:27.200 --> 0:00:32.080 twenty two, two thousand thirteen, and we've been getting a 0:00:32.080 --> 0:00:35.680 lot of storms here in Georgia, so it seems pretty 0:00:35.720 --> 0:00:38.680 a proposed that we go back and revisit this, So 0:00:38.760 --> 0:00:42.800 let's listen in. This is our warning, which we will 0:00:42.840 --> 0:00:45.760 be repeating at the end of the episode. Storm chasing 0:00:45.920 --> 0:00:50.760 is seriously dangerous business. This is not a hobbyist thing, um, 0:00:51.080 --> 0:00:53.800 though some people treated that way. It is you are 0:00:53.800 --> 0:00:58.000 putting yourself at serious risk when you are encountering major 0:00:58.200 --> 0:01:02.840 storm fronts, including but not limited to tornadoes. So we 0:01:02.920 --> 0:01:05.720 want to get all the way and um, the people 0:01:05.800 --> 0:01:09.440 who go about storm chasing our professionals. They are researchers, 0:01:09.520 --> 0:01:13.360 they have been trained, um and and they do serious work. 0:01:13.560 --> 0:01:16.000 It's it's not just all about the thrill. I'm sure 0:01:16.000 --> 0:01:17.600 that part of it for these people is a thrill. 0:01:17.680 --> 0:01:21.319 But but but the number of tornadoes in the United 0:01:21.360 --> 0:01:24.400 States has increased since the nineteen sixties, but the number 0:01:24.400 --> 0:01:27.720 of deaths in the US has declined due to these 0:01:27.760 --> 0:01:31.119 brave people's work. Right, we're learning more about these systems 0:01:31.240 --> 0:01:34.280 and how to predict them. Now, granted, prediction is about 0:01:34.319 --> 0:01:38.319 all we can do because these are major storm systems 0:01:38.360 --> 0:01:43.279 that we don't understand so much energy, and the energy 0:01:43.280 --> 0:01:46.840 and these storm systems rivals that of a nuclear bomb. 0:01:47.040 --> 0:01:50.000 They can they can reach above three miles an hour. Yeah, 0:01:50.080 --> 0:01:52.880 this is this is serious business. So let's talk a 0:01:52.880 --> 0:01:55.440 little bit about what storm chasers are and what they do. 0:01:55.520 --> 0:01:59.360 So they do tend to fall into three major categories. 0:01:59.680 --> 0:02:02.360 You've at your scientific researchers, which I would say are 0:02:02.360 --> 0:02:05.840 probably the majority of well until recently, anyway, we're the 0:02:05.840 --> 0:02:08.840 majority of storm chasers. These are the men and women 0:02:08.919 --> 0:02:13.520 who dedicate their their lives to studying storm systems, gathering data, 0:02:13.600 --> 0:02:16.520 and trying to learn everything we can about them so 0:02:16.600 --> 0:02:20.400 that our forecast models get more and more precise, so 0:02:20.440 --> 0:02:23.600 that we can increase the levels of safety not just 0:02:23.800 --> 0:02:26.120 of where we build things, but how we build them 0:02:26.120 --> 0:02:29.920 and how to get people in out of harm's way. 0:02:29.960 --> 0:02:33.920 So that's one group. Another group are professionals who are 0:02:33.960 --> 0:02:37.840 trying to capture video or still images of storms and 0:02:37.840 --> 0:02:41.360 then sell them to either a news outlet or a 0:02:41.400 --> 0:02:46.120 magazine or television show, or just to any other type 0:02:46.120 --> 0:02:49.320 of customer. So they're trying to turn storm chasing into profit. 0:02:49.880 --> 0:02:53.320 And then your third category are your thrill seekers, who 0:02:53.400 --> 0:02:55.920 are treating it like a hobby. They want they want 0:02:55.919 --> 0:02:58.800 to witness the awesome power of a storm, which can 0:02:58.840 --> 0:03:02.880 be really amazing to behold, but it is so dangerous. Yeah, 0:03:03.080 --> 0:03:06.000 I would say that really technically most storm chasers fall 0:03:06.040 --> 0:03:08.919 into all three categories in some way, shape or form. 0:03:08.960 --> 0:03:11.120 I mean, you know, it's it's it's that's true. It's 0:03:11.120 --> 0:03:12.799 not like it is a business. And most of them 0:03:12.840 --> 0:03:15.200 do take footage while they're in the most of them 0:03:15.200 --> 0:03:19.200 are also doing research and are probably excited about. Right, 0:03:19.240 --> 0:03:21.760 You've got you've got some hobbyists who are just trying 0:03:21.760 --> 0:03:23.720 to see a really cool storm. And you've got some 0:03:23.760 --> 0:03:27.799 companies that are operating tourism where it's actually they're creating 0:03:27.840 --> 0:03:30.840 a business where they're taking people out on tours to 0:03:30.919 --> 0:03:34.880 try and see one of these storms. Uh So there, 0:03:34.920 --> 0:03:38.080 it's not necessarily that you you only belong to one category. 0:03:38.120 --> 0:03:42.120 You might span multiple categories, but that's generally how folks 0:03:42.160 --> 0:03:46.360 kind of classify them. Uh Now, really, when it comes 0:03:46.360 --> 0:03:48.480 down to what we need to talk about, what is 0:03:49.320 --> 0:03:52.520 an actual tornado, because that's mainly what storm chasers are 0:03:52.560 --> 0:03:56.160 concerned with. They also will take a look into huge 0:03:56.280 --> 0:04:00.760 thunderstorm systems, super cells, things like that. Uh. Also, some 0:04:00.840 --> 0:04:05.040 storm chasers will have some experience with things like hurricanes, 0:04:05.080 --> 0:04:08.400 which are different from tornadoes. Yeah, it is. It is 0:04:08.480 --> 0:04:13.080 kind of um implied that hurricane chasers are not really 0:04:13.160 --> 0:04:15.840 storm chasers because you're not so much chasing a hurricane 0:04:15.880 --> 0:04:18.880 you know where it is. Yeah, it's pretty obvious. Yeah, 0:04:18.960 --> 0:04:23.720 hurricanes are very different from tornadoes. Tornadoes are, Like we said, 0:04:23.720 --> 0:04:29.040 they are pretty mysterious. We don't understand fully how they form, 0:04:29.240 --> 0:04:32.040 what it is that's making them form, or why they 0:04:32.080 --> 0:04:36.520 form in once circumstances. But in another set that seems identical, 0:04:37.120 --> 0:04:40.479 they don't. So that means there's there's probably some other 0:04:40.520 --> 0:04:43.719 factors there that we just aren't really completely aware of. 0:04:44.320 --> 0:04:48.080 Uh that creates some randomness in this event which would 0:04:48.120 --> 0:04:50.480 cause them to form in one case and not another. 0:04:50.560 --> 0:04:52.760 So I guess we need to kind of define what 0:04:52.800 --> 0:04:56.080 a tornado is. Okay, well, so it's a it's a swirling, 0:04:56.080 --> 0:05:00.359 massive air um It is spawned from a areas of 0:05:00.400 --> 0:05:04.760 severe thunderstorms called super cells, which are storm clouds that 0:05:04.800 --> 0:05:08.880 can reach like six miles up into the atmosphere. These 0:05:08.880 --> 0:05:13.560 are tall, tall cloud systems, and it has enough energy 0:05:13.720 --> 0:05:17.920 to create a cyclone, a spinning air right now, if 0:05:17.960 --> 0:05:20.960 we want to go into an even more in depth definition, 0:05:21.000 --> 0:05:25.120 the Glossary of Meteorology says that it's a violently rotating 0:05:25.200 --> 0:05:29.240 column of air pendant from a cumuli form cloud or 0:05:29.320 --> 0:05:32.839 underneath a cumuli form cloud, and often but not always 0:05:32.920 --> 0:05:36.120 visible as a funnel cloud. So literally, in order for 0:05:36.160 --> 0:05:38.520 a vortex to be classified as a tornado, it must 0:05:38.560 --> 0:05:41.960 actually be in contact with the ground and otherwise otherwise 0:05:42.040 --> 0:05:44.479 it is just a funnel right, yeah, So it has 0:05:44.520 --> 0:05:46.279 to be in contact with the ground, has to be 0:05:46.320 --> 0:05:48.159 from the ground all the way up to the cloud base. 0:05:48.240 --> 0:05:50.280 If it's not all the way up to the cloud base, 0:05:50.360 --> 0:05:53.400 it could be what is called a gust nado or 0:05:53.440 --> 0:05:55.680 you know some people call them like you know, even 0:05:55.760 --> 0:05:58.279 little dust storms you'll see like a little twisting motion. 0:05:58.720 --> 0:06:01.480 Those are not actually tornadoes unless they extend all the 0:06:01.480 --> 0:06:03.400 way up to the cloud base. So it has to 0:06:03.440 --> 0:06:05.320 be from the cloud base to the ground for it 0:06:05.360 --> 0:06:08.840 to actually be a tornado. Now, usually within a tornado 0:06:08.880 --> 0:06:11.040 you've got wind sheer going on. That's that's winds at 0:06:11.040 --> 0:06:14.120 different altitudes that are blowing in different directions. Um, that 0:06:14.120 --> 0:06:17.719 that end up, you know, creating this rotation. Yeah, and 0:06:17.720 --> 0:06:22.000 the rotation in the northern hemisphere tends to be counterclockwise 0:06:22.240 --> 0:06:24.919 and in the southern hemisphere it tends to be clockwise. 0:06:25.000 --> 0:06:27.880 But that's not a hard and fast rule. You can 0:06:27.920 --> 0:06:31.240 actually have the same way that that you can technically 0:06:31.520 --> 0:06:35.680 in the northern hemisphere. See water go down the drain. Yeah. Yeah. 0:06:35.800 --> 0:06:37.680 The core Lanus effect is one of those things that 0:06:37.720 --> 0:06:40.159 a lot of people will cite when it comes to 0:06:40.200 --> 0:06:44.719 this sort of stuff that really applies to huge bodies, 0:06:44.839 --> 0:06:49.080 not tiny ones. But in this relatively tiny ones, I 0:06:49.080 --> 0:06:51.840 should say. But in this case, you can actually find 0:06:51.920 --> 0:06:55.960 storm systems that have both counter clockwise and clockwise moving 0:06:56.560 --> 0:07:00.080 tornadoes within one system. So it's not like a in 0:07:00.120 --> 0:07:03.839 fast rule, it's just more of a tendency. So. Um, 0:07:03.880 --> 0:07:07.720 there's also this thing called a messo cyclone. All right, 0:07:07.800 --> 0:07:11.640 this is a a twisting vortex of air that goes 0:07:11.720 --> 0:07:16.240 through a cloud system. But imagine that it's horizontal, all right, 0:07:16.480 --> 0:07:19.200 So it doesn't it's not it's not vertical yet. It's 0:07:19.200 --> 0:07:20.960 so it's a messo cyclone. It's kind of like what 0:07:21.000 --> 0:07:23.040 a tornado would look like if you put it on 0:07:23.080 --> 0:07:26.440 its side up in the clouds, all right, and then 0:07:26.680 --> 0:07:30.600 you get these these wind sheer uh factors, these these 0:07:30.640 --> 0:07:35.400 sharp moving horizontal winds that can telt the messo cyclone 0:07:35.600 --> 0:07:38.040 so that it is upright. And if it does in 0:07:38.080 --> 0:07:41.280 fact go upright and the base of it touches the ground, 0:07:41.320 --> 0:07:44.360 that's when you get your tornado. And like I said, 0:07:44.440 --> 0:07:48.680 you can have a very similar set of circumstances that 0:07:49.880 --> 0:07:52.680 in one case spawn a tornado and then another do not. 0:07:53.360 --> 0:07:55.880 Right right, Um, what what helps with the tornado is 0:07:55.960 --> 0:07:58.360 when you get these inflow bands, which are which are 0:07:58.480 --> 0:08:03.360 ragged bands of cumulance clouds that that um extend out away, 0:08:03.840 --> 0:08:06.400 usually to the south or southeast here in the northern hemisphere. 0:08:06.520 --> 0:08:09.280 Um and uh. It suggests that the storm is is 0:08:09.360 --> 0:08:12.560 gathering low level air from several miles away and and 0:08:12.680 --> 0:08:16.000 sucking in that that hot moist air that is going 0:08:16.040 --> 0:08:19.600 to be fueling the storm. Right now, I've heard another 0:08:19.720 --> 0:08:21.720 term when it comes to tornadoes, and I wonder if 0:08:21.760 --> 0:08:25.120 you actually know anything about it, because it intrigues me, 0:08:25.440 --> 0:08:29.960 it tasks me. And this is the term beaver tail. 0:08:30.240 --> 0:08:33.200 A beaver's tail, Am I am? I crazy? Or is 0:08:33.200 --> 0:08:35.720 that associated with tornadoes? Now? This is a thing. It's 0:08:35.800 --> 0:08:39.080 it's a smooth, flat cloud band that that extends again 0:08:39.120 --> 0:08:41.320 in the northern hemisphere from the from the eastern edge 0:08:41.679 --> 0:08:44.199 of the storm going out to the east or southeast 0:08:44.800 --> 0:08:48.640 or eastern northeast. I'm sorry, um, and uh it It 0:08:48.760 --> 0:08:52.000 also just suggests the presence of rotation. Got you. Yeah, So, 0:08:52.000 --> 0:08:55.200 so in the storm systems, you have areas where there 0:08:55.320 --> 0:08:58.640 is precipitation and you have areas where there's no precipitation. 0:08:59.240 --> 0:09:02.360 I think the beaver's tail is in the no precipitation area. 0:09:02.480 --> 0:09:04.640 So it's kind of one of the borders of these 0:09:04.679 --> 0:09:07.160 storm systems. So if you see a storm system that 0:09:07.520 --> 0:09:11.600 has several of these indicators, that's one of those those 0:09:11.640 --> 0:09:14.479 warning signs to say this is the sort of situation 0:09:14.679 --> 0:09:17.960 in which tornadoes can form. Right, all of these situations 0:09:18.000 --> 0:09:21.960 can happen in completely benign, regular old thunderstorms, that nearly 0:09:22.080 --> 0:09:26.160 terrify your dog. And uh, wall cloud is another one 0:09:26.200 --> 0:09:29.040 that said, that's a cloud that seems like it's descending 0:09:29.120 --> 0:09:32.120 from the bottom of the storm. Um, and those are 0:09:32.160 --> 0:09:35.600 actually one of the more present that that's like your 0:09:35.600 --> 0:09:38.600 ten to twenty minute warning if a tornado is going 0:09:38.679 --> 0:09:40.920 to form. There, you've got about ten to twenty minutes 0:09:40.960 --> 0:09:43.800 from when that's when that Yeah, that's that's scary stuff. 0:09:44.160 --> 0:09:48.439 And so when this tornado is forming, you get an updraft, 0:09:48.800 --> 0:09:51.120 all right, and that up dress sars to pull in 0:09:51.400 --> 0:09:55.079 low level air from several miles around. I mean, we're 0:09:55.120 --> 0:09:58.440 talking a huge system here, and that low level air 0:09:58.480 --> 0:10:01.000 is pulled up through the updraft from the rain area, 0:10:01.040 --> 0:10:04.040 and the rain cooled air is incredibly humid, like you 0:10:04.080 --> 0:10:08.520 were saying, the moisture in the rain cool air quickly condenses, 0:10:09.160 --> 0:10:11.640 and uh, that's why you get that wall cloud. And 0:10:11.679 --> 0:10:15.280 then you know you know that they're the conditions are 0:10:15.360 --> 0:10:18.439 ripe for a tornado to form. And then you've got 0:10:18.520 --> 0:10:23.000 the rear flank down draft or RFD, and that's that's 0:10:23.000 --> 0:10:25.720 this downward rush of air from from the back end 0:10:25.760 --> 0:10:29.200 of the storm. That's a that's descending along with the 0:10:29.200 --> 0:10:32.120 funnel Wow. Yeah, so this this looks like it's a 0:10:32.720 --> 0:10:35.960 bright spot, right, that's what that's what this usually looks like. 0:10:36.040 --> 0:10:38.720 It's usually to the rear, and in the northern hemisphere 0:10:38.760 --> 0:10:41.520 it's the southwest side, which I think actually leads to 0:10:41.600 --> 0:10:44.320 a wives tale. There's an old wives tale that if 0:10:44.360 --> 0:10:46.880 you were to if a tornado is approaching and you 0:10:46.880 --> 0:10:49.080 have a basement, you should go and huddle in the 0:10:49.080 --> 0:10:52.760 southwest corner, the idea being that that would be the 0:10:52.800 --> 0:10:55.840 safest way from the path of the tornado. But as 0:10:55.920 --> 0:10:59.559 it turns out, tornado pathways are not nearly so predictable. 0:10:59.640 --> 0:11:02.840 They are very unpredictable in fact. And um and and 0:11:02.880 --> 0:11:06.760 also that that clear spot just doesn't have rain in it, 0:11:06.760 --> 0:11:11.800 it's still actually a space of extreme wind activity. And 0:11:11.880 --> 0:11:15.240 so yeah, then you've got the funnel itself, um and 0:11:15.320 --> 0:11:19.920 which the visibility of a tornado will often depend upon 0:11:19.960 --> 0:11:24.160 how much material is in it. Sometimes if usually if 0:11:24.200 --> 0:11:26.240 it's if it's a little bit of material, that's when 0:11:26.240 --> 0:11:28.600 it's it's most visible. That's when you can really see 0:11:28.640 --> 0:11:31.680 the definition of the funnel cloud. If it's hits some 0:11:31.760 --> 0:11:34.000 dust or something, right, right, if it's got some debris 0:11:34.040 --> 0:11:35.920 in there, when it's got a lot. It makes it 0:11:35.960 --> 0:11:37.480 hard to see because it just it looks like a 0:11:37.520 --> 0:11:41.120 massive darkness coming at you. By the way, we'll probably 0:11:41.240 --> 0:11:43.960 have some personal stories that we can relate a little 0:11:44.000 --> 0:11:49.440 bit because Lauren and I have both experienced being through tornadoes. Um, 0:11:49.520 --> 0:11:52.520 you know, I I grew up in Northeast Georgia and 0:11:52.559 --> 0:11:56.080 I grew up in Ohio, and both areas have have 0:11:56.240 --> 0:12:00.320 been the site of tornado activity. Granted, not nearly at 0:12:00.360 --> 0:12:02.760 least in Northeast Georgia. It's not nearly to the same 0:12:02.800 --> 0:12:04.960 extent as places in the Midwest that are in what 0:12:05.120 --> 0:12:09.600 is called tornado Alley, but we still get quite a few. Yeah, 0:12:09.640 --> 0:12:13.560 speaking of tornado Alley, the United States has, or North 0:12:13.600 --> 0:12:18.040 America in general, has has the most tornadoes of any 0:12:18.040 --> 0:12:23.959 place on the planet, about about twelve hundred per year UM. 0:12:24.320 --> 0:12:26.559 And this is because of of what's called a dry line, 0:12:26.679 --> 0:12:30.920 which is a center of cool, dry air that is 0:12:31.000 --> 0:12:33.679 coming off of the deserts to the west and meeting 0:12:33.760 --> 0:12:36.760 up with the warm, wet air from the oceans of 0:12:36.800 --> 0:12:40.400 the east and causing all kinds of havoc right right, So, 0:12:40.640 --> 0:12:42.840 you know, a lot of people will say that tornadoes 0:12:42.840 --> 0:12:46.400 are kind of the result of cold Canadian air mixing 0:12:46.440 --> 0:12:51.040 with the warm, moist air of the Caribbean. And then 0:12:51.080 --> 0:12:54.040 the party gets together and the snowbirds come down and 0:12:54.160 --> 0:12:57.360 the crazy steel drums come up, and then we have 0:12:57.400 --> 0:12:59.600 a big old party in the form of tornado. And 0:13:00.040 --> 0:13:04.120 any storm institute will tell you that's really simplification. That's 0:13:04.120 --> 0:13:06.600 not really that thing. Tornadoes do occur in other parts 0:13:06.600 --> 0:13:09.720 of the world. Absolutely, you find them in pretty much everywhere. 0:13:09.720 --> 0:13:11.920 It's just that the frequency is much greater in the 0:13:12.000 --> 0:13:15.319 United States. Sure, after the US, North America, I should say, yes, 0:13:15.360 --> 0:13:19.840 after the US, Argentina and Bangladesh have the next two 0:13:19.880 --> 0:13:22.400 highest proportions of tornadoes in per year. But but yeah, 0:13:22.440 --> 0:13:26.359 they happen everywhere, right, So a lot of the conversation 0:13:26.400 --> 0:13:29.520 we're going to have is again, and this comes as 0:13:29.559 --> 0:13:31.800 a surprise to nobody who's been listening to tech stuff 0:13:31.800 --> 0:13:34.559 for a long time, going to be very US centric. 0:13:34.720 --> 0:13:37.760 But that kind of makes sense because North America does 0:13:38.080 --> 0:13:42.240 play home to tornadoes. Get a pass in this particular instance. 0:13:42.559 --> 0:13:44.520 Trusts us if you if you live in a place 0:13:44.559 --> 0:13:48.000 that is very, very infrequently hit by tornadoes, just listen 0:13:48.040 --> 0:13:51.960 and enjoy as we discuss the terrifying experience that we 0:13:52.040 --> 0:13:55.640 have gone through as tornadoes have uh you know, rereaked 0:13:55.640 --> 0:13:59.080 havoc in our homeland. Um. In fact, we can go 0:13:59.080 --> 0:14:02.200 ahead and say this, we live in Atlanta right now. Um. 0:14:02.240 --> 0:14:05.480 And Atlanta a few years ago was hit by some 0:14:06.000 --> 0:14:08.680 by by a pretty massive tornado that did some major 0:14:08.760 --> 0:14:12.240 damage in downtown went right through downtown Atlanta, which is unusual. 0:14:12.400 --> 0:14:16.520 You don't frequently have tornadoes passed through metropolitan areas. And 0:14:16.520 --> 0:14:18.600 in fact, there were some theories for a while that 0:14:18.720 --> 0:14:22.520 the the island effect, the heat island effective of cities 0:14:22.640 --> 0:14:26.520 might have something to do with tornado formation. But it 0:14:26.600 --> 0:14:29.280 may just be that's the odds, you know, just one 0:14:29.280 --> 0:14:33.640 of those things where it's kind of pretty small. Yeah, 0:14:33.640 --> 0:14:35.760 when you when you when you're talking about the grand 0:14:35.800 --> 0:14:37.960 scheme of things in the city is a tiny target 0:14:38.120 --> 0:14:41.360 and when you talk about the entire United States. Um, 0:14:41.440 --> 0:14:45.360 but yeah, one went through downtown Atlanta and there for 0:14:45.360 --> 0:14:48.800 for months. There were major buildings in Atlanta that had 0:14:49.360 --> 0:14:53.200 temporary covers over a lot of windows, like high rise building, 0:14:53.240 --> 0:14:57.040 skyscraper buildings had these these temporary covers on their windows 0:14:57.040 --> 0:14:58.920 because they had to start replacing all of them, some 0:14:58.960 --> 0:15:03.360 of which are and buildings that have very um specific 0:15:03.520 --> 0:15:08.040 types of surfaces, Like we have one hotel in downtown 0:15:08.040 --> 0:15:12.760 Atlanta that's essentially a cylinders. It's beautiful, but it does 0:15:12.800 --> 0:15:16.080 mean that replacing the glass is somewhat difficult. And there 0:15:16.080 --> 0:15:20.640 were entire neighborhoods east of downtown that were just laid 0:15:20.680 --> 0:15:24.040 to waste, including some lofts that had just been built. 0:15:24.080 --> 0:15:29.040 They had been converted from old warehouses and old manufacturing plants. Yeah, 0:15:29.320 --> 0:15:31.720 and they had just been converted into the hill offs 0:15:31.840 --> 0:15:35.760 and then destroyed. Um that's all been rebuilt now, but 0:15:36.160 --> 0:15:39.000 you know, it can hit major cities. We wanted to 0:15:39.000 --> 0:15:41.920 talk a bit about the history of storm chasing and 0:15:41.960 --> 0:15:44.960 just that I've got some about the history of weather 0:15:45.040 --> 0:15:47.480 forecasting in general, just to kind of get an idea 0:15:47.960 --> 0:15:51.400 of how we've come to the point where we're at now. Now, Lauren, 0:15:51.440 --> 0:15:53.200 the very first date I have is eight forty nine. 0:15:53.240 --> 0:15:57.480 Do you have anything before that? What? Yes? That was 0:15:57.640 --> 0:16:01.800 the first first or corded account of a tornado. It 0:16:01.920 --> 0:16:05.880 was sure as windy, elt there goes Johnny. It's the 0:16:05.960 --> 0:16:10.840 village of Rosdala, Ireland. Um, sure as windy, there goes 0:16:10.920 --> 0:16:15.040 all Shaughnessy and the the the account said that it 0:16:15.080 --> 0:16:20.160 looked like a steeple of fire. Wow, that's poetic. We 0:16:20.280 --> 0:16:24.400 usually say that there's a tornado's coming at us right now. 0:16:24.440 --> 0:16:27.640 You hear that train of coming coming around the band? Um, 0:16:28.040 --> 0:16:32.240 so four, do you have anything else before the smarty pants? 0:16:32.360 --> 0:16:37.840 So in Professor Joseph Henry of the Smithsonian established a 0:16:37.880 --> 0:16:43.320 network of weather instruments along telegraph companies. So he partnered 0:16:43.320 --> 0:16:46.720 with telegraph companies and helped install these weather instruments at 0:16:46.760 --> 0:16:50.080 their offices in various places around the United States. Uh. 0:16:50.080 --> 0:16:53.800 And he used maps to coordinate between these these different 0:16:53.800 --> 0:16:57.320 telegraph companies, and so the observations they sent back he 0:16:57.400 --> 0:17:00.800 would end up note making notes on the map, and 0:17:00.840 --> 0:17:03.680 then from that he would start to create weather predictions. 0:17:04.400 --> 0:17:06.959 So that's some of the first weather forecasting in the 0:17:07.040 --> 0:17:10.040 United States, beyond just the my knee is aching, it's 0:17:10.080 --> 0:17:13.160 going to rain soon, or my dog is freaking out. 0:17:13.760 --> 0:17:16.600 That's so he starts doing this. But there was a 0:17:16.640 --> 0:17:19.160 little event in the United States that kind of disrupted 0:17:19.240 --> 0:17:23.680 the whole project. That was called the Civil War. Yeah. Yeah, 0:17:23.680 --> 0:17:27.720 that kind of ended up taking over the telegraph lines 0:17:27.760 --> 0:17:31.760 for a while or mysterious reasons in eighteen sixty five. However, 0:17:31.880 --> 0:17:35.119 after the conclusion of the Civil War, Professor Henry then 0:17:35.160 --> 0:17:41.159 suggested that all meteorological observations reorganized under a single agency 0:17:41.560 --> 0:17:44.320 as a means of predicting storms and warning coastal shipping. 0:17:44.359 --> 0:17:49.400 So this was the very beginning of developing a national 0:17:49.840 --> 0:17:54.160 bureau to oversee this and study it and make forecasts. 0:17:54.200 --> 0:17:57.879 So eighteen seventy was when the United States formed the 0:17:57.920 --> 0:18:01.840 Weather Bureau, and that's a year Congress established a National 0:18:01.920 --> 0:18:05.359 Weather Warning Service under the Secretary of War. Now this 0:18:05.440 --> 0:18:07.960 is going to get interesting because this particular office ended 0:18:08.040 --> 0:18:11.400 up playing hop scotch with the various departments of government. 0:18:11.720 --> 0:18:14.399 It started off under the Secretary of War mainly because 0:18:14.440 --> 0:18:18.080 the military had the most advanced censors will not really 0:18:18.119 --> 0:18:21.200 even censors at this point, but just communication lines. So 0:18:21.280 --> 0:18:23.720 the military was put in charge of this. And also 0:18:23.800 --> 0:18:26.720 it was a matter of national security in many cases, 0:18:27.080 --> 0:18:30.640 so the Secretary of War oversaw this Weather Bureau department, 0:18:30.840 --> 0:18:34.160 and the Army Signal Corps assumed responsibility for taking observations 0:18:34.160 --> 0:18:39.040 at military installations and warning people of storms. Uh. About 0:18:39.119 --> 0:18:43.359 twenty years later, in eight nine, the Weather Service Organic 0:18:43.440 --> 0:18:47.040 Act transferred the Weather Reporting Services from the Secretary of 0:18:47.040 --> 0:18:50.280 War to the Department of Agriculture. Would not be the 0:18:50.400 --> 0:18:53.919 last time that it would jump ship. Meanwhile, in eighteen 0:18:54.000 --> 0:18:58.159 seventy four, there's a report of John Mere crazy person, 0:18:58.400 --> 0:19:00.960 climbing the top of a hundred foot hauled Douglas spruce 0:19:01.040 --> 0:19:05.240 during a fierce windstorm and writing extensively about how really 0:19:05.280 --> 0:19:09.879 cool it was. Storm chaser, storm chaser, early storm chaser. 0:19:10.200 --> 0:19:13.879 Also in um in eighteen eighty four that August is 0:19:13.920 --> 0:19:17.359 the first known photograph of a tornado taken UM, specifically 0:19:17.359 --> 0:19:21.440 in South Dakota. Yeah, not from the inside. No. In 0:19:21.760 --> 0:19:25.959 eighteen nineties six, that was when the first hurricane warning 0:19:26.040 --> 0:19:29.320 service was established in the United States, And in nineteen 0:19:29.359 --> 0:19:32.919 o nine, the Weather Bureau began a regular program of 0:19:33.359 --> 0:19:36.439 balloon upper air observation. So this is sort of the 0:19:36.480 --> 0:19:40.960 beginning of weather balloons. There had been some work with 0:19:41.040 --> 0:19:43.560 it earlier, but this was the first time that the 0:19:43.680 --> 0:19:47.560 Bureau itself had started to fund a weather balloon program. 0:19:47.560 --> 0:19:49.439 And weather balloons are pretty much what they sound like. 0:19:49.480 --> 0:19:54.040 They are balloons that carry some form of sensor, whether 0:19:54.160 --> 0:19:57.520 it's just something to measure wind speed or humidity or 0:19:57.560 --> 0:20:02.080 barometric pressure or whatever. And the and send either record 0:20:02.160 --> 0:20:04.520 it and then you retreat the balloon and see what 0:20:04.520 --> 0:20:07.159 the recordings were, or if it has some sort of 0:20:07.160 --> 0:20:11.000 transfre modern ly, it will transmit back to a computer exactly, yeah, 0:20:11.119 --> 0:20:13.840 or at least a radio station, so you'll get some 0:20:13.880 --> 0:20:17.879 sort of report back on current atmospheric conditions and in 0:20:17.920 --> 0:20:20.639 the upper atmosphere where you know, you can't just go 0:20:20.680 --> 0:20:24.520 outside and say it's raining, you know, this is more 0:20:24.600 --> 0:20:29.159 like what are the directions of of airflow at higher 0:20:29.200 --> 0:20:35.639 elevation the temperature exactly. Uh. In n a Russian meteorologist 0:20:35.680 --> 0:20:40.320 attached a radio mediocraft to a sounding balloon. Oh there's 0:20:40.320 --> 0:20:43.920 some thunder out there, And that was the development of 0:20:44.119 --> 0:20:47.360 what we consider the modern weather balloons. So the previous 0:20:47.400 --> 0:20:51.280 weather balloons were kind of early attempts at using balloons 0:20:51.320 --> 0:20:54.080 together more information. But this is when we're actually starting 0:20:54.119 --> 0:20:59.160 to get information in real time radioed back very early 0:20:59.200 --> 0:21:02.639 on still and by six that's when the Weather Bureau 0:21:02.680 --> 0:21:07.800 began operation of weather balloons, collecting information such as atmospheric pressure, temperature, humidity, 0:21:07.840 --> 0:21:11.800 wind direction, and speed. So by six we're starting to 0:21:11.840 --> 0:21:18.040 get a fairly robust weather reporting system. Uh. In ninety 0:21:18.119 --> 0:21:20.800 the weather breh jumps ship again and becomes part of 0:21:20.800 --> 0:21:25.640 the Department of Commerce, so once again playing hop scotch. 0:21:25.760 --> 0:21:29.440 Which is which is where it still is today, I believe. Yeah, 0:21:29.800 --> 0:21:32.840 although it's not the Weather Bureau anymore. We'll we'll talk 0:21:32.880 --> 0:21:35.680 about that in the second right. Also circuit circer World 0:21:35.720 --> 0:21:38.680 War two. Um, we started to see people flying into 0:21:38.800 --> 0:21:44.040 hurricanes directly to study them. Yes, we call these crazy people, uh, 0:21:44.240 --> 0:21:48.320 brave people who really were really were trying to advance science. 0:21:48.880 --> 0:21:51.359 They were not doing this, you know, Willy nilly. This 0:21:51.520 --> 0:21:55.359 was wow. There when that storm's coming right up on us, 0:21:56.200 --> 0:21:59.919 it's hitting rant forest. Uh, it's a tornador. Um, it's not, 0:22:00.080 --> 0:22:03.760 it's just a thunder storm. Hey guys, it's Jonathan here. 0:22:04.200 --> 0:22:06.040 I got a storm rolling in. So I'm going to 0:22:06.119 --> 0:22:16.680 take a quick break, but we'll be right back. Is 0:22:16.720 --> 0:22:21.760 also when Roger Jensen started to become active, and he 0:22:22.280 --> 0:22:25.879 is one of the people that we referred to as 0:22:25.920 --> 0:22:29.080 an early storm chaser, right. I believe he chased his 0:22:29.160 --> 0:22:32.600 first storm in nineteen fifty three with his father. That's 0:22:32.600 --> 0:22:34.320 the date that I have. Oh yeah, I got I 0:22:34.440 --> 0:22:38.000 just had. Nineteen forties was when he started. But it's 0:22:38.440 --> 0:22:40.840 that was that was a very general kind of answer 0:22:41.119 --> 0:22:44.679 from the site I was looking at a time, maybe 0:22:44.680 --> 0:22:48.119 in fact more accurate and uh. Roger Jensen was was 0:22:48.160 --> 0:22:53.000 a Turkey processing plant worker and farmer who got deeply 0:22:53.200 --> 0:22:56.479 involved in the storm in the growing storm chasing movement. 0:22:56.480 --> 0:22:58.359 He was, yeah, really one of the founders there, right, 0:22:58.400 --> 0:23:01.560 another one being David Hold And you have some information 0:23:01.600 --> 0:23:04.480 about him, right, Um. I think he began in nineteen 0:23:04.520 --> 0:23:09.720 sixty five and following his his first experience there, he 0:23:10.800 --> 0:23:15.679 chased storms just all the time. He was from False Church, Virginia. Yes, 0:23:16.000 --> 0:23:18.720 and yeah, he was very much active in that, along 0:23:18.760 --> 0:23:22.800 with another UM scientist of one of the first storm 0:23:22.880 --> 0:23:26.920 chasing scientists, Neil Ward. Uh. Again in a very early 0:23:26.960 --> 0:23:31.040 storm chaser. Meanwhile, while all this storm chasing is starting, 0:23:31.280 --> 0:23:34.480 and it's just the earliest days of storm chasing. Back 0:23:34.560 --> 0:23:38.080 in ninety eight, there was an Air Force captain who 0:23:38.320 --> 0:23:42.159 later became a colonel named Robert Miller and also Major 0:23:42.320 --> 0:23:46.600