Led the team that developed the tornadic vortex signature (TVS) and also pioneered development of the concept of nowcasting as he used radar at NSSL in directing research teams to intercept severe and tornadic storms.[citation needed]
Published numerous books and databases on tornadoes including Significant Tornadoes, 1880-1989, Significant Tornadoes, 1680-1991, and Significant Tornadoes 1974–2022.[10]
Produced several tornado documentaries including Twister: Fury on the Plains and Twister: Nature's Fury[9]
Authored numerous academic publications, books, and produced numerous DVDs.[27]
Leigh Orf
An "expert on severe thunderstorms, tornadoes, and using supercomputers to simulate the atmosphere". Won the IDC/Hyperion High Performance Computing Innovation Excellence Award in 2014 and 2016.[28]
Launched a rocket probe into an EF4 tornado on May 28 near Lawrence, Kansas to collect data of the tornado-producing supercell and the tornado itself, which he called "incredible".[32]
Wurman is in the USA Science and Engineering Festival's Nifty Fifty, a collection of the most influential scientists and engineers in the United States that are dedicated to reinvigorating the interest of young people in science and engineering.[39]
Lead forecaster for the first project VORTEX in 1994/1995, produced more than 100 refereed publications, and several contributions to books and encyclopedias. He edited the American Meteorological Society (AMS) monograph Severe Convective Storms as well as co-authored two papers there.[42][43]
First American to extensively study tornadoes. He also wrote the first known book on the subject as well as many other manuals and booklets, collected vast climatological data, set up a nationwide weather observer network, started one of the first private weather enterprises, and opened an early aviation weather school.[44][45][46][47]
Developed the concept of multiple vortex tornadoes, which feature multiple small funnels (suction vortices) rotating within a larger parent cloud. His work established that, far from being rare events as was previously believed, most powerful tornadoes were composed of multiple vortices. He also advanced the concept of mini-swirls in intensifying tropical cyclones.<ref">Dorschner, John (22 August 1993). "One year later, Andrew's scars remain". Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. ISSN1068-624X. Retrieved 15 June 2021– via Newspaper.com. Fujita found winds within winds within winds. Mini-swirls and microburts and swatchs danced madly within the powerful eye wall, smashing some neighborhoods, then skating away, leaving other subdivisions with comparatively little damage.</ref>[49]
One of the first to observed and measure a pressure drop from a hitting tornado.[54]
Known for recorded the order-of-sequence of what an approaching tornado sounds like: "a gurgling noise...like water rushing rushing out of a bottle, followed immediately by a rumbling, such as that made by a number of heavy carriages rolling rapidly over a cobblestone pavement, and finally like a railroad train." O'Donnell later stated these three sounds, in sequence is the "tornado roar".[54] This sequence of sounds documented by O'Donnell, particularly the sound of a train, is the described sound of a tornado by people, even in the 21st century.[55]
Conducted case study on the 1945 Montgomery tornado. Pate described the tornado as "the most officially observed one in history", as it passed 2 miles (3.2km) away from four different government weather stations, including the U.S. Weather Bureau office in Montgomery.[56][57]
Founder of a field research team called Tactical Weather Instrumented Sampling in Tornadoes EXperiment (TWISTEX).[58]
Samaras designed and built his own weather probes, and deployed them in the path of tornadoes in order to gain scientific insight into the inner workings of a tornado.[58] With one such in-situ probe, he captured the largest drop in atmospheric pressure ever recorded, 100 hPa (mb) in less than one minute, when an F4tornado struck one of several probes placed near Manchester, South Dakota, on June 24, 2003. The accomplishment is listed in Guinness World Records as the "greatest pressure drop measured in a tornado".[59] The probe was dropped in front of the oncoming tornado a mere 82 seconds before it hit.[60] The measurement is also the lowest pressure (adjusted for elevation) ever recorded at Earth's surface, 850 hectopascals (25.10inHg).[61][62]
Coauthored the 2009 book Tornado Hunter: Getting Inside the Most Violent Storms on Earth.[58]
Polish scientist and professor at the University of Warsaw, who wrote a paper describing a tornado that occurred in Mazew, Łęczyca County in Poland on August 10, 1819. It was described that the tornado had the appearance of a funnel whose color seemed different depending on the lighting, and that it damaged several buildings by tearing off roofs, damaging the structure, and lifting a hay wagon into the air. The paper was published in a collection of works by the Warsaw Society of Friends of Learning in 1821.[63][64]
↑ Grazulis, Thomas P. (Jul 1993). Significant Tornadoes 1680–1991: A Chronology and Analysis of Events. St. Johnsbury, VT: The Tornado Project of Environmental Films. pp.195–96. ISBN1-879362-03-1.
↑ "Wind expert says Andrew generated small superwinds". United Press International. Tampa, Florida. 20 May 1993. Retrieved 15 June 2021. Ted Fujita, professor emeritus at the University of Chicago, spoke Wednesday at the Seventh Annual Governor's Hurricane Conference in Tampa. Fujita said the newly discovered superwinds probably accounted for only a small portion of the 35,000 homes that were destroyed by the hurricane in south Dade County Aug. 24. The storm caused $16.5 billion in insured losses in the county.
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