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 110 miles per hour (180 km/h), are about 250 feet (80 m) across, and travel a few miles before dissipating. The most extreme tornadoes can attain wind speeds of more than 300 miles per hour (480 km/h), are more than two miles (3 km) in diameter, and stay on the ground for dozens of miles.
A mesocyclone is storm-scale region of rotation (vortex), typically around 2 to 6 mi in diameter, most often noticed on radar within thunderstorms. In the northern hemisphere it is particularly found in the right rear flank of a supercell, or often on the eastern, or leading, flank of a storm with heavy downpour. The area overlaid by a mesocyclone’s circulation will be several miles wide – much larger than any tornado that may develop within it.
Mammatus is a cellular pattern of pouches hanging underneath the base of a cloud, typically a cumulonimbus raincloud, although they may be attached to other classes of parent clouds. The name mammatus is derived from the Latin mamma.
Jerry York is the men's ice hockey coach at Boston College. York is the winningest active coach in NCAA hockey, and leads the all-time list as the only Division I head coach with over 1,000 wins (as of 2018). He has won the NCAA Division I Men's Ice Hockey title five times as a coach, at Bowling Green State University in 1984 and at Boston College in 2001, 2008, 2010 and 2012, tying him with Murray Armstrong for second-most all-time behind only Vic Heyliger (6). York received the Spencer Penrose Trophy for being named Division I Coach of the Year in 1977. On June 25, 2019, York was elected into the Hockey Hall of Fame in the Builders Category.
Tornadogenesis is the process by which a tornado forms. There are many types of tornadoes and these vary in methods of formation. Despite ongoing scientific study and high-profile research projects such as VORTEX, tornadogenesis is a volatile process and the intricacies of many of the mechanisms of tornado formation are still poorly understood.
James William Tankard Jr., communication scholar, author of The Statistical Pioneers and coauthor of Communication Theories: Origins, Methods, Uses.
The Verification of the Origins of Rotation in Tornadoes Experiment are field experiments that study tornadoes. VORTEX1 was the first time scientists completely researched the entire evolution of a tornado with an array of instrumentation, enabling a greater understanding of the processes involved with tornadogenesis. A violent tornado near Union City, Oklahoma was documented in its entirety by chasers of the Tornado Intercept Project (TIP) in 1973. Their visual observations led to advancement in understanding of tornado structure and life cycles.
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.
Jack S. Wink was an American football player and coach. He played college football at the University of Wisconsin–Madison and University of Michigan (1943). He served in the United States Marine Corps during both World War II and the Korean War. He later served as a teacher and coach at Wayne State College, University of Wisconsin–Stout, and St. Cloud State University.
Jerry Lee Norman was an American sinologist and linguist known for his studies of Chinese dialects and historical phonology, particularly on the Min Chinese dialects, and also of the Manchu language. Norman had a large impact on Chinese linguistics, and was largely responsible for the identification of the importance of the Min Chinese dialects in linguistic research into Old Chinese.
Roger M. Wakimoto is an atmospheric scientist specializing in research on mesoscale meteorology, particularly severe convective storms and radar meteorology. A former director of the National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR), Wakimoto in November 2012 was appointed as assistant director of the Directorate for Geosciences (GEO) of the National Science Foundation (NSF).
The Vortex Flash Hider or Vortex Flash Eliminator is a flash suppressor made by Smith Enterprise, Inc. for a variety of different rifles, carbines, machine guns and handguns.
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.
Louis John Wicker is an American atmospheric scientist with expertise in numerical analysis, numerical simulation, and forecasts of severe convection and tornadoes. Doing storm chasing field research, Wicker deployed the TOtable Tornado Observatory (TOTO) and was in leadership roles in the VORTEX projects. He is also known for pioneering work simulating convection at the National Center for Supercomputing Applications (NCSA) at the University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign (UIUC).
Russel E. Caflisch is an American mathematician.
David Owen Blanchard is an American meteorologist, photographer, and storm chaser. He was a significant collaborator in seminal research on tornadogenesis, specifically the importance of baroclinic boundaries, the rear-flank downdraft (RFD) and its thermodynamic characteristics.
Jeffrey W. Frame is an American atmospheric scientist known for observational and modeling studies of severe convective storms and for teaching meteorology. He was a scientist for VORTEX2 and other field research programs.
Katharine M. Kanak is an American atmospheric scientist with noted publications on the dynamics and morphologies of atmospheric vortices, including tornadoes, tropical cyclones, misocyclones and landspouts, and dust devils both terrestrial and Martian.
Leah Miriam Lowenstein was an American nephrologist, academic administrator, and cellist. In 1982, she became the first woman dean of a co-educational, medical school in the United States upon her appointment at Jefferson Medical College. Lowenstein was previously associate dean and professor of medicine and biochemistry at the Boston University School of Medicine. She served in the Carter administration as a medical advisor to the Assistant Secretary for Health. Lowenstein was an advocate for women in medicine.
Lloyd Herbert Shinners was a Canadian-American botanist and professor, known as an expert on the flora of Texas and Wisconsin.
