WEBVTT - How Storm Chasers Work 0:00:04.240 --> 0:00:08.160 Get in touch with technology with text Stuff from stuff Com. 0:00:12.400 --> 0:00:15.520 Hey there, everyone, and welcome to text Uff. I'm Jonathan 0:00:15.560 --> 0:00:18.200 Strickland and I'm Lauren Vocal Valley. Today we're all going 0:00:18.239 --> 0:00:21.799 to talk about storm chasers and what they do and 0:00:21.840 --> 0:00:25.120 the technology they use to do their jobs. And just 0:00:25.239 --> 0:00:27.160 so you guys know, a couple of things you want 0:00:27.160 --> 0:00:29.520 to get all the way. First of all, we're recording 0:00:29.520 --> 0:00:33.360 this while there's an actual storm going on outside the office. 0:00:33.400 --> 0:00:37.240 This isn't a joke, hopefully not a tornado involving storm. 0:00:37.520 --> 0:00:41.360 We'll hear some thunder in the background. It's um atmosphere. Yeah, 0:00:41.360 --> 0:00:44.840 we didn't actually added in post. It's really happening right now, 0:00:44.920 --> 0:00:46.560 So just so you guys know that. And the second 0:00:46.600 --> 0:00:48.800 thing we want to mention is we're gonna be talking 0:00:48.840 --> 0:00:51.760 a lot about storm chasing in general. Uh. This is 0:00:51.800 --> 0:00:54.320 our warning, which we will be repeating at the end 0:00:54.320 --> 0:00:59.279 of the episode. Storm chasing is seriously dangerous business. This 0:00:59.360 --> 0:01:03.200 is not obvioust thing, um though some people treated that way. 0:01:03.280 --> 0:01:07.040 It is you are putting yourself at serious risk when 0:01:07.040 --> 0:01:11.640 you are encountering major storm fronts, including but not limited 0:01:11.680 --> 0:01:16.400 to tornadoes. So we want to and um, the people 0:01:16.480 --> 0:01:20.120 who go about storm chasing. Our professionals. They are researchers, 0:01:20.200 --> 0:01:24.040 they have been trained um and and they do serious work. 0:01:24.280 --> 0:01:26.680 It's it's not just all about the thrill. I'm sure 0:01:26.680 --> 0:01:28.280 that part of it for these people is a thrill. 0:01:28.400 --> 0:01:31.680 But but but uh, the number of tornadoes in the 0:01:31.760 --> 0:01:34.760 United States has increased since the nineteen sixties, but the 0:01:34.800 --> 0:01:38.000 number of deaths in the US has declined due to 0:01:38.080 --> 0:01:41.280 these brave people's work. Right, we're learning more about these 0:01:41.280 --> 0:01:44.640 systems and how to predict them. Now, granted, prediction is 0:01:44.680 --> 0:01:48.480 about all we can do because these are major storm 0:01:48.560 --> 0:01:53.240 systems that we still don't understand. So much energy and 0:01:53.440 --> 0:01:56.400 the energy and these storm systems rivals that of a 0:01:56.520 --> 0:01:59.720 nuclear bomb. They can they can reach above three miles 0:01:59.760 --> 0:02:02.920 and now, yeah, this is this is serious business. So 0:02:03.000 --> 0:02:05.440 let's talk a little bit about what storm chasers are 0:02:05.440 --> 0:02:07.559 and what they do. So they do tend to fall 0:02:07.640 --> 0:02:12.320 into three major categories. You've got your scientific researchers, which 0:02:12.320 --> 0:02:16.200 I would say are probably the majority of well until recently, anyway, 0:02:16.240 --> 0:02:19.040 we're the majority of storm chasers. These are the men 0:02:19.080 --> 0:02:22.840 and women who dedicate their their lives to studying storm systems, 0:02:23.200 --> 0:02:26.840 gathering data, and trying to learn everything we can about 0:02:26.880 --> 0:02:30.480 them so that are forecast models get more and more precise, 0:02:30.919 --> 0:02:34.040 so that we can increase the levels of safety not 0:02:34.120 --> 0:02:36.640 just of where we build things, but how we build 0:02:36.639 --> 0:02:40.600 them and how to get people in out of harm's way. 0:02:40.639 --> 0:02:44.600 So that's one group. Another group are professionals who are 0:02:44.639 --> 0:02:48.520 trying to capture video or still images of storms and 0:02:48.520 --> 0:02:52.040 then sell them to either a news outlet or a 0:02:52.080 --> 0:02:56.800 magazine or television show, or just to any other type 0:02:56.800 --> 0:02:59.919 of customer. So they're trying to turn storm chasing into profit. 0:03:00.560 --> 0:03:04.040 And then your third category are your thrill seekers who 0:03:04.080 --> 0:03:06.600 are treating it like a hobby. They want they want 0:03:06.639 --> 0:03:09.480 to witness the awesome power of a storm, which can 0:03:09.520 --> 0:03:13.600 be really amazing to behold, but it is so dangerous. Yeah, 0:03:13.760 --> 0:03:16.680 I would say that really technically most storm chasers fall 0:03:16.720 --> 0:03:19.600 into all three categories in some way, shape or form. 0:03:19.639 --> 0:03:21.799 I mean, you know, it's it's it's that's true. It's 0:03:21.800 --> 0:03:23.480 not like it is a business. And most of them 0:03:23.520 --> 0:03:25.880 do take footage while they're in the most of them 0:03:25.880 --> 0:03:29.800 are also doing research and are probably excited about Right, 0:03:29.919 --> 0:03:32.440 You've got You've got some hobbyists who are just trying 0:03:32.440 --> 0:03:34.400 to see a really cool storm. And you've got some 0:03:34.440 --> 0:03:38.520 companies that are operating tourism where it's actually they're creating 0:03:38.520 --> 0:03:41.520 a business where they're taking people out on tours to 0:03:41.600 --> 0:03:45.560 try and see one of these storms. Uh So there, 0:03:45.600 --> 0:03:48.760 it's not necessarily that you you only belong to one category. 0:03:48.800 --> 0:03:52.800 You might span multiple categories. But that's generally how folks 0:03:52.840 --> 0:03:57.040 kind of classify them. Uh Now, really, when it comes 0:03:57.040 --> 0:03:59.160 down to what we need to talk about, what is 0:04:00.040 --> 0:04:03.200 an actual tornado, because that's mainly what storm chasers are 0:04:03.240 --> 0:04:06.840 concerned with. They also will take a look into huge 0:04:06.960 --> 0:04:11.440 thunderstorm systems, super cells, things like that. They'll also some 0:04:11.520 --> 0:04:15.720 storm chasers will have some experience with things like hurricanes, 0:04:15.760 --> 0:04:19.080 which are different from tornadoes. Yeah, it is. It is 0:04:19.160 --> 0:04:23.760 kind of um implied that hurricane chasers are not really 0:04:23.839 --> 0:04:26.520 storm chasers because you're not so much chasing a hurricane, 0:04:26.560 --> 0:04:29.560 you know where it is. Yeah, it's pretty obvious. Yeah, 0:04:29.640 --> 0:04:34.400 hurricanes are very different from tornadoes. Tornadoes are, like we said, 0:04:34.400 --> 0:04:39.719 they are pretty mysterious. We don't understand fully how they form, 0:04:39.920 --> 0:04:42.720 what it is that's making them form, or why they 0:04:42.760 --> 0:04:47.200 form in one circumstances, but in another set that seems identical. 0:04:47.800 --> 0:04:51.159 They don't, So that means there's there's probably some other 0:04:51.200 --> 0:04:55.440 factors there that we just aren't really completely aware of. Uh. 0:04:55.480 --> 0:04:59.040 That creates some randomness in this event which would cause 0:04:59.080 --> 0:05:01.160 them to form in one case and not in another. 0:05:01.240 --> 0:05:03.440 So I guess we need to kind of define what 0:05:03.480 --> 0:05:06.760 a tornado is. Okay, Well, so it's a it's a swirling, 0:05:06.800 --> 0:05:11.040 massive air um it has spawned from a series of 0:05:11.080 --> 0:05:15.440 severe thunderstorms called super cells, which are storm clouds that 0:05:15.480 --> 0:05:19.560 can reach like six miles up into the atmosphere. These 0:05:19.560 --> 0:05:24.240 are tall, tall cloud systems, and it has enough energy 0:05:24.400 --> 0:05:28.600 to create a cyclone, a spinning air right now, if 0:05:28.640 --> 0:05:31.680 we want to go into an even more in depth definition, 0:05:31.680 --> 0:05:36.279 the Glossary of Meteorology says that's a violently rotating column 0:05:36.279 --> 0:05:40.520 of air pendant from a cumuli form cloud or underneath 0:05:40.520 --> 0:05:43.960 a cumuli form cloud, and often but not always visible 0:05:44.040 --> 0:05:46.880 as a funnel cloud. So literally, in order for a 0:05:46.960 --> 0:05:49.560 vortex to be classified as a tornado, it must actually 0:05:49.600 --> 0:05:52.800 be in contact with the ground and otherwise otherwise it 0:05:52.880 --> 0:05:55.279 is just a funnel right, yeah, So it has to 0:05:55.320 --> 0:05:57.200 be in contact with the ground, has to be from 0:05:57.200 --> 0:05:58.839 the ground all the way up to the cloud base. 0:05:58.920 --> 0:06:00.960 If it's not all the way to the cloud base, 0:06:01.040 --> 0:06:04.080 it could be what is called a gust nado or 0:06:04.120 --> 0:06:06.400 you know some people call them like you know, even 0:06:06.440 --> 0:06:08.960 little dust storms you'll see like a little twisting motion. 0:06:09.400 --> 0:06:12.160 Those are not actually tornadoes unless they extend all the 0:06:12.160 --> 0:06:14.080 way up to the cloud base. So it has to 0:06:14.120 --> 0:06:16.000 be from the cloud based to the ground for it 0:06:16.080 --> 0:06:19.520 to actually be a tornado. Now, usually within a tornado, 0:06:19.560 --> 0:06:21.720 you've got wind shear going on. That's that's winds at 0:06:21.720 --> 0:06:24.800 different altitudes that are blowing in different directions. Um that 0:06:24.800 --> 0:06:28.400 that end up, you know, creating this rotation. Yeah, and 0:06:28.400 --> 0:06:32.680 the rotation in the northern hemisphere tends to be counterclockwise 0:06:32.920 --> 0:06:35.599 and in the southern hemisphere it tends to be clockwise. 0:06:35.680 --> 0:06:38.560 But that's not a hard and fast rule. You can 0:06:38.600 --> 0:06:41.920 actually have the same way that that you can technically 0:06:42.200 --> 0:06:46.360 in the northern hemisphere. See water go down the drain. Yeah. Yeah. 0:06:46.480 --> 0:06:48.400 The core Lanus effect is one of those things that 0:06:48.400 --> 0:06:50.839 a lot of people will cite when it comes to 0:06:50.880 --> 0:06:55.440 this sort of stuff that really applies to huge bodies, 0:06:55.520 --> 0:06:59.680 not tiny ones. But in this relatively tiny ones, I 0:06:59.720 --> 0:07:02.559 should it. But in this case you can actually find 0:07:02.600 --> 0:07:06.640 storm systems that have both counter clockwise and clockwise moving 0:07:07.240 --> 0:07:10.720 tornadoes within one system. So it's not like a hard 0:07:10.720 --> 0:07:14.520 and fast rule. It's just more of a tendency. So, um, 0:07:14.560 --> 0:07:18.400 there's also this thing called a messo cyclone. All right, 0:07:18.480 --> 0:07:22.320 This is a a twisting vortex of air that goes 0:07:22.400 --> 0:07:26.920 through a cloud system. But imagine that it's horizontal, all right, 0:07:27.160 --> 0:07:29.680 so it doesn't as it's not. It's not vertical yet 0:07:29.720 --> 0:07:31.560 it's so it's a messo cyclone. It's kind of like 0:07:31.560 --> 0:07:33.360 what a tornado would look like if you put it 0:07:33.600 --> 0:07:36.880 on its side up in the clouds, all right, and 0:07:36.920 --> 0:07:41.000 then you get these these wind sheer uh factors, These 0:07:41.040 --> 0:07:45.400 these sharp moving horizontal winds that can telt the messo 0:07:45.480 --> 0:07:48.520 cyclone so that it is upright. And if it does 0:07:48.600 --> 0:07:51.480 in fact go upright and the base of it touches 0:07:51.520 --> 0:07:54.560 the ground, that's when you get your tornado. And like 0:07:54.600 --> 0:07:57.480 I said, you can have a very similar set of 0:07:57.600 --> 0:08:02.600 circumstances that in one case spawn a tornado and then 0:08:02.640 --> 0:08:05.600 another do not. Right right, Um, what what what helps 0:08:05.640 --> 0:08:08.360 with the tornado is when you get these inflow bands, 0:08:08.400 --> 0:08:12.120 which are which are ragged bands of cumulus clouds that 0:08:12.120 --> 0:08:15.400 that um, extend out away, usually to the south or 0:08:15.400 --> 0:08:18.480 southeast here in the northern hemisphere. Um and uh. It 0:08:18.560 --> 0:08:21.440 suggests that the storm is is gathering low level air 0:08:21.560 --> 0:08:24.640 from several miles away and and sucking in that that 0:08:24.880 --> 0:08:29.120 hot moist air that is going to be fueling the storm. 0:08:29.280 --> 0:08:31.800 Right now, I've heard another term when it comes to tornadoes, 0:08:31.800 --> 0:08:33.720 and I wonder if you actually know anything about it, 0:08:33.760 --> 0:08:38.800 because it intrigues me, it tasks me. And this is 0:08:38.840 --> 0:08:43.000 the term beaver tail. A beaver's tail, Am I am? 0:08:43.000 --> 0:08:45.520 I crazy? Or is that associated with tornadoes? Now? This 0:08:45.559 --> 0:08:48.280 is the thing. It's it's a smooth, flat cloud band 0:08:48.400 --> 0:08:51.040 that that extends again in the northern hemisphere from the 0:08:51.040 --> 0:08:53.880 from the eastern edge of the storm going out to 0:08:53.880 --> 0:08:57.360 the east or southeast or eastern northeast. I'm sorry, um 0:08:57.400 --> 0:09:01.360 and uh it It also just suggest the presence of rotation, 0:09:01.520 --> 0:09:04.520 got you. Yeah. So, so in these storm systems, you 0:09:04.600 --> 0:09:07.880 have areas where there is precipitation and you have areas 0:09:07.920 --> 0:09:11.200 where there's no precipitation. I think the beaver's tail is 0:09:11.200 --> 0:09:14.120 in the no precipitation area. So it's kind of one 0:09:14.120 --> 0:09:16.840 of the borders of these storm systems. So if you 0:09:16.840 --> 0:09:20.760 see a storm system that has several of these indicators. 0:09:20.800 --> 0:09:23.680 That's one of those those warning signs to say this 0:09:23.840 --> 0:09:27.520 is the sort of situation in which tornadoes can form. Right, 0:09:27.679 --> 0:09:31.160 all of these situations can happen in completely benign, regular 0:09:31.160 --> 0:09:35.840 old thunderstorms that nearly terrify your dog. And uh, wall 0:09:35.920 --> 0:09:38.000 cloud is another one. That's a that's a cloud that 0:09:38.400 --> 0:09:41.040 seems like it's descending from the bottom of the storm. 0:09:41.600 --> 0:09:44.920 Um and those are actually one of the more present 0:09:45.679 --> 0:09:48.280 that that's like your ten to twenty minute warning. If 0:09:48.280 --> 0:09:50.720 a tornado is going to form there, you've got about 0:09:50.760 --> 0:09:53.319 ten to twenty minutes from when that's when that should Yeah, 0:09:53.360 --> 0:09:57.280 that's that's scary stuff. And uh so when this tornado 0:09:57.320 --> 0:10:00.520 is forming, you get an updraft, all right, and that 0:10:00.640 --> 0:10:04.160 updress starts to pull in low level air from several 0:10:04.280 --> 0:10:07.680 miles around. I mean, we're talking a huge system here, 0:10:08.040 --> 0:10:10.120 and that low level air is pulled up through the 0:10:10.200 --> 0:10:13.240 updraft from the rain area, and the rain cooled air 0:10:13.480 --> 0:10:17.040 is incredibly humid, Like you were saying, that moisture in 0:10:17.040 --> 0:10:20.920 the rain cooled air quickly condenses, and uh that's where 0:10:20.920 --> 0:10:23.960 you get that wall cloud. And then you know, you 0:10:24.040 --> 0:10:27.240 know that they're the conditions are ripe for a tornado 0:10:27.240 --> 0:10:30.160 to form. Uh. And then you've got the rear flank 0:10:30.360 --> 0:10:34.600 down draft or RFD and that's that's this downward rush 0:10:34.640 --> 0:10:37.479 of air from from the back end of the storm. 0:10:37.520 --> 0:10:41.600 That's a that's descending along with the funnel. Wow. Yeah, 0:10:41.600 --> 0:10:44.520 so this this looks like it's a bright spot, right, 0:10:44.720 --> 0:10:47.560 that's what that's what this usually looks like. It's usually 0:10:47.559 --> 0:10:49.720 to the rear, and in the northern hemisphere it's the 0:10:49.760 --> 0:10:53.240 southwest side, which I think actually leads to a wives tale. 0:10:53.240 --> 0:10:55.520 There's an old wives tale that if you were to 0:10:56.200 --> 0:10:58.160 if a tornado is approaching and you have a basement, 0:10:58.200 --> 0:11:00.920 you should go and huddle in the south west corner, 0:11:01.320 --> 0:11:04.200 the idea being that that would be the safest way 0:11:04.280 --> 0:11:07.200 from the path of the tornado. But as it turns out, 0:11:07.280 --> 0:11:11.040 tornado pathways are not nearly so predictable. They are very 0:11:11.120 --> 0:11:14.480 unpredictable in fact. And um and and also that that 0:11:15.200 --> 0:11:17.880 clear spot just doesn't have rain in it, it's still 0:11:17.920 --> 0:11:23.440 actually a space of extreme wind activity. And so yeah, 0:11:23.520 --> 0:11:27.199 then you've got the funnel itself. Um and which the 0:11:27.880 --> 0:11:31.080 visibility of a tornado will often depend upon how much 0:11:31.240 --> 0:11:35.439 material isn't it sometimes If usually if it's if it's 0:11:35.480 --> 0:11:38.120 a little bit of material, that's when it's it's most visible. 0:11:38.120 --> 0:11:40.360 That's when you can really see the definition of the 0:11:40.720 --> 0:11:43.600 funnel cloud. If it's hits some dust or something right right, 0:11:43.640 --> 0:11:45.880 if it's got some debris in there. When it's got 0:11:45.880 --> 0:11:47.440 a lot, it makes it hard to see because it 0:11:47.480 --> 0:11:49.600 just it looks like a massive darkness coming at you. 0:11:50.200 --> 0:11:53.680 By the way, we'll probably have some personal stories that 0:11:53.720 --> 0:11:56.000 we can relate a little bit because Lauren and I 0:11:56.080 --> 0:12:00.960 have both experienced being through tornadoes. Um, you know, I 0:12:00.960 --> 0:12:03.600 I grew up in Northeast Georgia and I grew up 0:12:03.600 --> 0:12:08.040 in Ohio, and both areas have have been the site 0:12:08.080 --> 0:12:12.120 of tornado activity. Granted not nearly at least in Northeast Georgia. 0:12:12.160 --> 0:12:14.480 It's not nearly to the same extent as places in 0:12:14.520 --> 0:12:17.920 the Midwest that are in what's called tornado Alley, but 0:12:18.480 --> 0:12:21.560 we still get quite a few. Yeah, speaking of tornado Alley, 0:12:21.640 --> 0:12:26.440 the United States has or North America in general, has 0:12:26.720 --> 0:12:29.840 has the most tornadoes of any place on the planet, 0:12:30.400 --> 0:12:35.400 about about twelve hundred per year UM. And this is 0:12:35.400 --> 0:12:37.839 because of of what's called a dry line, which is 0:12:38.080 --> 0:12:41.600 um a center of of cool, dry air that is 0:12:41.679 --> 0:12:44.360 coming off of the deserts to the west and meeting 0:12:44.440 --> 0:12:47.440 up with the warm, wet air from the oceans of 0:12:47.480 --> 0:12:50.840 the east and causing all kinds of havoc, right, right, 0:12:50.880 --> 0:12:52.880 So you know, a lot of people will say that 0:12:52.920 --> 0:12:56.640 tornadoes are kind of the result of cold Canadian air 0:12:56.720 --> 0:13:01.520 mixing with the warm, moist air of the Caribbean. And 0:13:01.559 --> 0:13:04.400 then the party gets together, and the snowbirds come down 0:13:04.640 --> 0:13:07.880 and the crazy steel drums come up, and then we 0:13:07.920 --> 0:13:09.960 have a big old party in the form of tornado. 0:13:10.160 --> 0:13:14.520 And any storm institute will tell you that's gross, really simplification, 0:13:14.640 --> 0:13:17.040 that's not really that thing. Tornadoes do occur in other 0:13:17.080 --> 0:13:19.760 parts of the world. Absolutely, you find them in pretty 0:13:19.840 --> 0:13:22.480 much everywhere. It's just that the frequency is much greater 0:13:22.520 --> 0:13:25.319 in the United States after the US. North America, I 0:13:25.320 --> 0:13:29.440 should say, yes, after the US, Argentina and Bangladesh have 0:13:29.640 --> 0:13:32.480 the next two highest proportions of tornadoes in per year. 0:13:32.559 --> 0:13:35.959 But but yeah, they happen everywhere, right, So a lot 0:13:35.960 --> 0:13:39.240 of the conversation we're going to have is again, and 0:13:39.520 --> 0:13:41.920 this comes as a surprise to nobody who's been listening 0:13:41.920 --> 0:13:43.880 to tech stuff for a long time going to be 0:13:44.000 --> 0:13:47.360 very US centric, but that kind of makes sense because 0:13:47.440 --> 0:13:51.280 North America does play home to tornadoes, we get a 0:13:51.280 --> 0:13:54.040 pass in this particular instance. It trusts us if you 0:13:54.200 --> 0:13:56.280 if you live in a place that is very, very 0:13:56.360 --> 0:14:00.160 infrequently hit by tornadoes, just listen and enjoy as we 0:14:00.320 --> 0:14:03.880 discussed the terrifying experience that we have gone through as 0:14:03.960 --> 0:14:08.440 tornadoes have uh you know, rereaked havoc in our homeland. Um. 0:14:08.480 --> 0:14:10.679 In fact, we can go ahead and say this, we 0:14:10.720 --> 0:14:14.240 live in Atlanta right now. UM. And Atlanta a few 0:14:14.320 --> 0:14:17.720 years ago was hit by some by by a pretty 0:14:17.720 --> 0:14:20.640 massive tornado that did some major damage in downtown went 0:14:20.720 --> 0:14:24.440 right through downtown Atlanta, which is unusual. You don't frequently 0:14:24.480 --> 0:14:27.680 have tornadoes passed through metropolitan areas. And in fact, there 0:14:27.680 --> 0:14:31.240 were some theories for a while that the the island effect, 0:14:31.280 --> 0:14:34.560 the heat island effect of cities might have something to 0:14:34.560 --> 0:14:38.240 do with tornado formation. But it may just be that's 0:14:38.400 --> 0:14:40.720 the odds, you know, just one of those things where 0:14:41.200 --> 0:14:44.880 it's kind of pretty small. Yeah, when you when you 0:14:45.000 --> 0:14:47.320 when you're talking about the grand scheme of things in 0:14:47.400 --> 0:14:49.320 the city is a tiny target. And when you talk 0:14:49.320 --> 0:14:53.000 about the entire United States, UM, but yeah, one went 0:14:53.040 --> 0:14:57.480 through downtown Atlanta and there for for months. There were 0:14:57.920 --> 0:15:02.040 major buildings in Atlanta that had temporary covers over a 0:15:02.040 --> 0:15:05.760 lot of windows, like high rise building, skyscraper buildings had 0:15:05.800 --> 0:15:08.200 these these temporary covers on their windows because they had 0:15:08.240 --> 0:15:10.560 to start replacing all of them, some of which are 0:15:10.600 --> 0:15:16.080 in buildings that have very um specific types of surfaces, 0:15:16.120 --> 0:15:19.800 like we have one hotel in downtown Atlanta that's essentially 0:15:20.160 --> 0:15:24.240 a Celin. It's beautiful, but it does mean that replacing 0:15:24.240 --> 0:15:28.280 the glass is somewhat difficult. And there were entire neighborhoods 0:15:28.920 --> 0:15:32.440 east of downtown that were just laid to waste, including 0:15:32.520 --> 0:15:35.160 some losts that had just been built. They had been 0:15:35.200 --> 0:15:40.120 converted from old warehouses and old manufacturing plants. Yeah, and 0:15:40.160 --> 0:15:43.560 they had just been converted into the lofts and then destroyed. 0:15:44.160 --> 0:15:47.280 Um that's all been rebuilt now, but you know, it 0:15:47.400 --> 0:15:50.120 can hit major cities. We wanted to talk a bit 0:15:50.160 --> 0:15:53.240 about the history of storm chasing and just that I've 0:15:53.280 --> 0:15:56.800 got some about the history of weather forecasting in general, 0:15:56.880 --> 0:15:59.440 just to kind of get an idea of how we've 0:15:59.480 --> 0:16:02.080 come to the point where we're at now. Now, Lauren, 0:16:02.160 --> 0:16:03.920 the very first date I have is eighteen forty nine. 0:16:03.920 --> 0:16:08.240 Do you have anything before that? What? Yes? That was 0:16:08.320 --> 0:16:12.680 the first first recorded account of a tornado. It was 0:16:13.280 --> 0:16:17.040 sure as windy out there, Johnny is in the village 0:16:17.080 --> 0:16:22.359 of m Rosdala, Ireland. Sure there it goes all shaughnessy 0:16:23.280 --> 0:16:26.200 and the the The account said that it looked like 0:16:26.240 --> 0:16:31.960 a steeple of fire. Wow, that's poetic. We usually say 0:16:32.200 --> 0:16:35.080 that there's a tornado. It's coming at us right now. 0:16:35.120 --> 0:16:38.320 You hear that train of coming coming around the band? Um, 0:16:38.720 --> 0:16:42.920 So do you have anything else before? A smarty pants? 0:16:43.040 --> 0:16:48.520 So in Professor Joseph Henry of the Smithsonian established a 0:16:48.600 --> 0:16:54.000 network of weather instruments along telegraph companies. So he partnered 0:16:54.000 --> 0:16:57.400 with telegraph companies and helped install these weather instruments at 0:16:57.440 --> 0:17:00.760 their offices in various places around the United States. Uh 0:17:00.800 --> 0:17:04.159 and the He used maps to coordinate between these these 0:17:04.200 --> 0:17:07.720 different telegraph companies, and so the observations they sent back 0:17:07.920 --> 0:17:10.359 he would end up not making notes on the map, 0:17:11.359 --> 0:17:14.360 and then from that he would start to create weather predictions. 0:17:15.080 --> 0:17:17.639 So that's some of the first weather forecasting in the 0:17:17.720 --> 0:17:20.920 United States, beyond just the mynee is aching, it's going 0:17:20.960 --> 0:17:25.400 to rain soon, or my dog is freaking out. So 0:17:25.680 --> 0:17:27.840 he starts doing this, But there was a little event 0:17:27.840 --> 0:17:31.440 in the United States that kind of disrupted the whole project. 0:17:31.560 --> 0:17:34.760 That was called the Civil War. Yeah, yeah, that kind 0:17:34.800 --> 0:17:38.679 of ended up taking over the telegraph lines for a 0:17:38.680 --> 0:17:42.840 while for mysterious reasons. In eighteen sixty five, however, after 0:17:42.920 --> 0:17:46.320 the conclusion of the Civil War, Professor Henry then suggested 0:17:46.359 --> 0:17:52.400 that all meteorological observations reorganized under a single agency as 0:17:52.440 --> 0:17:55.119 a means of predicting storms and warning coastal shipping. So 0:17:55.200 --> 0:18:00.240 this was the very beginning of developing a National Knowle 0:18:00.520 --> 0:18:04.800 Bureau to oversee this and study it and make forecasts. 0:18:04.880 --> 0:18:08.560 So eighteen seventy was when the United States formed the 0:18:08.600 --> 0:18:12.560 Weather Bureau, and that same year Congress established a National 0:18:12.600 --> 0:18:16.040 Weather Warning Service under the Secretary of War. Now this 0:18:16.119 --> 0:18:18.640 is going to get interesting because this particular office ended 0:18:18.720 --> 0:18:22.080 up playing hop scotch with the various departments of government. 0:18:22.400 --> 0:18:25.119 It started off under the Secretary of War mainly because 0:18:25.119 --> 0:18:28.760 the military had the most advanced censors will not really 0:18:28.800 --> 0:18:31.880 even censors at this point, but just communication lines, So 0:18:31.960 --> 0:18:34.399 the military was put in charge of this. And also 0:18:34.480 --> 0:18:37.440 it was a matter of national security in many cases, 0:18:37.760 --> 0:18:41.320 so the Secretary of War oversaw this Weather Bureau department 0:18:41.520 --> 0:18:44.800 and the Army Signal Corps assumed responsibility for taking observations 0:18:44.840 --> 0:18:49.760 at military installations and warning people of storms. Uh. About 0:18:49.800 --> 0:18:54.439 twenty years later, in nine the Weather Service Organic Act 0:18:54.640 --> 0:18:57.960 transferred the weather reporting services from the Secretary of War 0:18:58.280 --> 0:19:01.359 to the Department of Agriculture. Would not be the last 0:19:01.400 --> 0:19:05.200 time that it would jump ship. Meanwhile, in eighteen seventy four, 0:19:05.240 --> 0:19:09.600 there's a report of John Mere crazy person, climbing the 0:19:09.640 --> 0:19:12.000 top of a hundred foot tall Douglas spruce during a 0:19:12.040 --> 0:19:16.639 fierce windstorm and writing extensively about how really cool it was. 0:19:17.760 --> 0:19:21.640 Storm chaser, storm chaser, early storm chaser. Also in UM 0:19:21.800 --> 0:19:25.359 in eighteen eighty four. That August is the first known 0:19:25.440 --> 0:19:29.200 photograph of a tornado taken UM, specifically in South Dakota. Yeah, 0:19:29.280 --> 0:19:34.000 not from the inside, no, no. Uh. In eighteen nineties six, 0:19:34.840 --> 0:19:37.880 that was when the first hurricane warning service was established 0:19:37.880 --> 0:19:41.080 in the United States, and in nineteen o nine the 0:19:41.160 --> 0:19:46.240 Weather Bureau began a regular program of balloon upper air observations. 0:19:46.320 --> 0:19:49.879 So this is sort of the beginning of weather balloons. 0:19:49.960 --> 0:19:52.960 There had been some work with it earlier, but this 0:19:53.040 --> 0:19:55.840 was the first time that the Bureau itself had started 0:19:55.880 --> 0:19:59.040 to fund a weather balloon program. And weather balloons are 0:19:59.080 --> 0:20:01.560 pretty much what they sell. They are balloons that carry 0:20:01.760 --> 0:20:06.600 some form of sensor, whether it's just something to measure 0:20:06.640 --> 0:20:10.520 wind speed or humidity or barometric pressure or whatever, and 0:20:10.560 --> 0:20:14.440 then send either record it and then you retreat the 0:20:14.480 --> 0:20:17.159 balloon and see what the recordings were, or if it 0:20:17.240 --> 0:20:19.680 has some sort of transfore modern lee, it will transmit 0:20:19.720 --> 0:20:22.320 back to a computer exactly, yeah, or at least a 0:20:22.400 --> 0:20:25.800 radio station, so you'll get some sort of report back 0:20:26.000 --> 0:20:30.359 on current atmospheric conditions. And in the upper atmosphere where 0:20:30.400 --> 0:20:33.679 you know, you can't just go outside and say it's raining, 0:20:34.240 --> 0:20:37.800 you know, this is more like what are the directions 0:20:37.840 --> 0:20:43.320 of of airflow at higher elevation the temperature exactly. Uh. 0:20:43.560 --> 0:20:48.520 In n a Russian meteorologist attached a radio meteograph to 0:20:48.640 --> 0:20:52.520 a sounding balloon. Oh there's some thunder out there, And 0:20:52.880 --> 0:20:56.200 that was the development of what we consider the modern 0:20:56.359 --> 0:20:59.159 weather balloons. So the previous weather balloons were kind of 0:20:59.240 --> 0:21:03.520 early attempts at using balloons together more information. But this 0:21:03.560 --> 0:21:07.200 is when we're actually starting to get information in real time. 0:21:07.600 --> 0:21:12.520 Radioed back very early on still and by six. That's 0:21:12.560 --> 0:21:15.359 when the Weather Bureau began operation of weather balloons, collecting 0:21:15.400 --> 0:21:19.800 information such as atmospheric pressure, temperature, humidity, wind direction, and speed. 0:21:20.359 --> 0:21:25.080 So by six we're starting to get a fairly robust 0:21:25.200 --> 0:21:30.119 weather reporting system. Uh. In ninety the Weather Bureau jumps 0:21:30.119 --> 0:21:32.520 ship again and becomes part of the Department of Commerce. 0:21:33.320 --> 0:21:37.359 So once again playing hop scotch. Which is which is 0:21:37.359 --> 0:21:41.000 where it still is today? I believe. Yeah, although it's 0:21:41.040 --> 0:21:43.879 not the Weather Bureau anymore. We'll we'll talk about that 0:21:43.920 --> 0:21:47.280 in the second also circuit circer World War two. Um, 0:21:47.359 --> 0:21:50.840 we started to see people flying into hurricanes directly to 0:21:50.920 --> 0:21:55.280 study them. Yes, we call these crazy people, uh, brave 0:21:55.359 --> 0:21:59.000 people who really were really were trying to advance science. 0:21:59.080 --> 0:22:02.080 They weren't not doing this, you know, Willy nilly. This 0:22:02.200 --> 0:22:06.800 was wow. When that storm's coming right up on us. Excellent, 0:22:06.880 --> 0:22:10.359 it's hitting rant forest. Uh it's a tornado. Um, No, 0:22:10.400 --> 0:22:14.359 it's not, it's just a thunder storm. The is also 0:22:14.480 --> 0:22:19.760 when Roger Jensen started to become active, and he is 0:22:19.960 --> 0:22:23.359 one of the people that we referred to as an 0:22:23.400 --> 0:22:26.800 early storm chaser, right. I believe he chased his first 0:22:26.840 --> 0:22:30.000 storm in nineteen fifty three with his father. That's the 0:22:30.040 --> 0:22:32.000 date that I have. Oh, yeah, I got, I just had. 0:22:32.080 --> 0:22:36.080 Nineteen forties was when he started. But it's that was 0:22:36.240 --> 0:22:38.720 that was a very general kind of answer from the 0:22:38.760 --> 0:22:42.440 site I was looking at a time maybe in fact 0:22:42.480 --> 0:22:45.959 more accurate and uh. Roger Jensen was was a Turkey 0:22:45.960 --> 0:22:51.280 processing plant worker and farmer who got deeply involved in 0:22:51.320 --> 0:22:54.280 the storm in the growing storm chasing movement. He was, yeah, 0:22:54.320 --> 0:22:56.480 really one of the founders there, right, another one being 0:22:56.760 --> 0:22:59.840 David Hoadley, And you have some information about him, right, Um, 0:22:59.840 --> 0:23:05.600 I think he began in nineteen sixty five and following 0:23:05.640 --> 0:23:09.400 his his first experience there, he chased storms just all 0:23:09.440 --> 0:23:13.960 the time. He was from False Church, Virginia. Yes, and yeah, 0:23:14.000 --> 0:23:16.600 he was very much active in that along with another 0:23:16.760 --> 0:23:21.159 um scientists of one of the first storm chasing scientists, 0:23:21.240 --> 0:23:26.200 Neil Ward. Uh. Again in a very early storm chaser. Meanwhile, 0:23:26.280 --> 0:23:29.280