Chasing Tornadoes

Tornadoes are unpredictable, immensely powerful and can destroy anything that lies in their path. In an interview with FirstScience, Josh Wurman, Metereology Researcher at the University of Oklahoma explains his fascination and his work with tornadoes.

FirstScience: When did your fascination with tornadoes begin?

Josh Wurman: "I have been interested in the weather since I was quite little. I used to cut out the daily weather maps from the local newspapers and make weekly summaries for my elementary school newspaper when I was just 7-9 years old. I like to understand how things work, physics and mathematics, and nature. Meteorology has let me combine my interests in a very interesting new field, which has many important outstanding questions. I became interested in tornadoes when I moved west to Colorado from Massachusetts several years ago. I went chasing with scientist friends. I was amazed by the structure, beauty and power of these storms. I wanted to understand more about how they form and what was going on inside them. So I designed new technology, the Doppler On Wheels radars, in the center of tornado alley and began the serious pursuit of tornadoes."

FS: How do you find tornadoes and how do you chase them?

JW: "We forecast the general area in which tornadoes are likely to form. Then we drive in this region and wait for storms to form. When they do, we target the most interesting thunderstorms, watching for any clues that it may be strengthening or weakening, and try to place our radars near the region where the tornadoes form."

FS: What has been your scariest moment chasing a tornado?

Josh Wurman The Doppler on Wheels measures the strength of a tornado

JW: "This may sound boring, but we really do not have many scary moments. We are engaged in an intense scientific mission to try to understand one of the most powerful forces of nature. But we cannot afford to be thrill seekers, or to take unreasonable risks. With an on-board Doppler radar, we can see the precise strength, size and motion of a tornado. So even when we are very close to one, at a range that might be frightening to those without all our information and training, we are mainly focused on the mission, where to go next, routes for targeting and escape etc. We are surprisingly un-excited during intercepts."

FS: What is the most powerful tornado on record?