Related Research Articles
A tornado is a violently rotating column of air that is in contact with both the surface of the Earth and a cumulonimbus cloud or, in rare cases, the base of a cumulus cloud. It is often referred to as a twister, whirlwind or cyclone, although the word cyclone is used in meteorology to name a weather system with a low-pressure area in the center around which, from an observer looking down toward the surface of the Earth, winds blow counterclockwise in the Northern Hemisphere and clockwise in the Southern. Tornadoes come in many shapes and sizes, and they are often visible in the form of a condensation funnel originating from the base of a cumulonimbus cloud, with a cloud of rotating debris and dust beneath it. Most tornadoes have wind speeds less than 180 kilometers per hour, are about 80 meters across, and travel several kilometers before dissipating. The most extreme tornadoes can attain wind speeds of more than 480 kilometers per hour (300 mph), are more than 3 kilometers (2 mi) in diameter, and stay on the ground for more than 100 km (62 mi).
Storm chasing is broadly defined as the deliberate pursuit of any severe weather phenomenon, regardless of motive, but most commonly for curiosity, adventure, scientific investigation, or for news or media coverage. A person who chases storms is known as a storm chaser or simply a chaser.
This article lists various tornado records. The most "extreme" tornado in recorded history was the Tri-State tornado, which spread through parts of Missouri, Illinois, and Indiana on March 18, 1925. It is considered an F5 on the Fujita Scale, even though tornadoes were not ranked on any scale at the time. It holds records for longest path length at 219 miles (352 km), longest duration at about 3½ hours, and it held the fastest forward speed for a significant tornado at 73 mph (117 km/h) anywhere on Earth until 2021. In addition, it is the deadliest single tornado in United States history with 695 fatalities. It was also the third most costly tornado in history at the time, but has been surpassed by several others non-normalized. When costs are normalized for wealth and inflation, it still ranks third today.
Storm Track was the first magazine for and about storm chasing. The magazine was in circulation between 1977 and 2002.
A tornado outbreak is the occurrence of multiple tornadoes spawned by the same synoptic scale weather system. The number of tornadoes required to qualify as an outbreak typically are at least six to ten, with at least two rotational locations or at least two supercells producing multiple tornadoes.
Timothy Patrick Marshall is an American structural and forensic engineer as well as meteorologist, concentrating on damage analysis, particularly that from wind and other weather phenomena. He is also a pioneering storm chaser and was editor of Storm Track magazine.
Neil Burgher Ward was an American meteorologist who is credited as the first scientific storm chaser, developing ideas of thunderstorm and tornado structure and evolution as well as techniques for forecasting and severe weather intercept. He also was a pioneering developer of physical models of tornadoes, first at his home, then at the National Severe Storms Laboratory (NSSL) in Norman, Oklahoma. He significantly furthered the modern scientific understanding of atmospheric vortices, particularly tornadoes.
Storm Chasers is an American documentary reality television series that premiered on October 17, 2007, on the Discovery Channel. Produced by Original Media, the program follows several teams of storm chasers as they attempt to intercept tornadoes in Tornado Alley in the United States. The show was canceled at the end of its 5th season by Discovery Communications on January 21, 2012.
Storm spotting is a form of weather spotting in which observers watch for the approach of severe weather, monitor its development and progression, and actively relay their findings to local authorities.
Charles A. Doswell III is an American meteorologist and prolific severe convective storms researcher. Doswell is a seminal contributor, along with Leslie R. Lemon, to the modern conception of the supercell, which was developed originally by Keith Browning. He also has done research on forecasting and forecast verification, especially for severe convective storms, and is an advocate of ingredients-based forecasting.
Tony Laubach is an American storm chaser and meteorologist. He has participated in several field research projects and is one of the surviving members of TWISTEX. He has been contracted as a severe weather photojournalist for various major television networks, and has starred in several television shows, including Seasons 3 through 5 of Storm Chasers on the Discovery Channel.
Reed Timmer is an American meteorologist and storm chaser. He is known for starring in the Discovery Channel reality television series Storm Chasers, as well as in the documentary film Tornado Glory and in the series Tornado Chasers. He also worked with Mike Theiss in the reality television series Storms Rising on Disney+.
Eric Michael Nguyen was an American professional storm chaser, meteorologist, and photographer from Keller, Texas, United States. In 2008, Nguyen released his first book of photography titled Adventures in Tornado Alley: The Storm Chasers with co-author Mike Hollingshead.
Howard Bruce Bluestein is a research meteorologist known for his mesoscale meteorology, severe weather, and radar research. He is a major participant in the VORTEX projects. A native of the Boston area, Dr. Bluestein received his Ph.D. in 1976 from MIT. He has been a professor of meteorology at the University of Oklahoma (OU) since 1976.
Timothy Michael Samaras was an American engineer and storm chaser best known for his field research on tornadoes and time on the Discovery Channel show Storm Chasers. He died in the 2013 El Reno tornado.
During the early evening of Friday, May 31, 2013, an extremely large and powerful tornado occurred over rural areas of Central Oklahoma. This rain-wrapped, multiple-vortex tornado was the widest tornado ever recorded and was part of a larger weather system that produced dozens of tornadoes over the preceding days. The tornado initially touched down at 6:03 p.m. Central Daylight Time (2303 UTC) about 8.3 miles (13.4 km) west-southwest of El Reno, rapidly growing in size and becoming more violent as it tracked through central portions of Canadian County. Remaining over mostly open terrain, the tornado did not impact many structures; however, measurements from mobile weather radars revealed extreme winds up to 135.0 m/s within the vortex. These are among the highest observed wind speeds on Earth, just slightly lower than the wind speeds of the 1999 Bridge Creek–Moore tornado. As it crossed U.S. 81, it had grown to a record-breaking width of 2.6 miles (4.2 km), beating the previous width record set in 2004. Turning northeastward, the tornado soon weakened. Upon crossing Interstate 40, the tornado dissipated around 6:43 p.m. CDT (2343 UTC), after tracking for 16.2 miles (26.1 km), it avoided affecting the more densely populated areas near and within the Oklahoma City metropolitan area.
Erik Nels Rasmussen is an American meteorologist and leading expert on mesoscale meteorology, severe convective storms, forecasting of storms, and tornadogenesis. He was the field coordinator of the first of the VORTEX projects in 1994-1995 and a lead principal investigator for VORTEX2 from 2009-2010 and VORTEX-SE from 2016-2017, as well as involved in other smaller VORTEX offshoots and many field projects.
Donald W. Burgess is an American meteorologist who has made important contributions to understanding of severe convective storms, particularly tornadoes, radar observations and techniques, as well as to training other meteorologists. He was a radar operator during the first organized storm chasing expeditions by the University of Oklahoma (OU) in the early 1970s and participated in both the VORTEX projects.
Alan Roger Moller was an American meteorologist, storm chaser, nature and landscape photographer known for advancing spotter training and bridging operational meteorology with research.
Roger Edwards is an American meteorologist and expert on severe convective storms (thunderstorms). He is the co-founder and editor-in-chief of the Electronic Journal of Severe Storms Meteorology (EJSSM).
References
- 1 2 Vasquez, Tim (2008). Storm Chasing Handbook (2nd ed.). Weather Graphics Technologies. ISBN 978-0-9706840-8-0.
- 1 2 "48 Years of Storm Chasing with Pioneer Tornado Chaser: David Hoadley". District of Columbia Chapter of the American Meteorological Society. 2004. Archived from the original on 2005-01-23. Retrieved 2012-02-29.
- ↑ James Spann et al. (2009). "Hoadley Headlines". WeatherBrains. Series 184. Birmingham, AL. The Weather Company.
- ↑ Marshall, Tim; David Hoadley (1987-01-31). "Chase Fever: The Early Years". Storm Track . Texas. 10 (2): 5–7. Archived from the original on 2012-03-04.
- ↑ Hoadley, David K. (1981). "A tropical storm David tornado in Fairfax County–September 1979". Bull. Am. Meteorol. Soc. 62 (4): 498–507. doi: 10.1175/1520-0477-62.4.498 .
- ↑ Gene Rhoden, Chuck Doswell, RJ Evans (2012-01-25). "David Hoadley". High Instability. Series 92. Norman, OK. ShockNet Radio. Archived from the original on 2014-07-14.
- ↑ Doswell, Chuck (2006-03-31). "My personal tribute to David Hoadley - First among storm chasers" . Retrieved 2012-02-27.
- ↑ Edwards, Roger (2006-03-15). "David Hoadley: Fine Gentleman and Father of Storm Observing" . Retrieved 2012-02-27.
- ↑ Rhoden, Gene (2006-03-13). "Tribute to David Hoadley and "a mere cottonwood seed"". Archived from the original on 2011-09-02. Retrieved 2012-02-27.
