VORTEX
team chasing a storm near Northfield, TX
Click on image for full size
Brian F. Jewett
Chasing Tornadoes
Storm chasers are different than storm
spotters. Chasers
travel around
Tornado
Alley looking for severe storms and tornadoes. Sometime there are
dozens of chasers following the same storm.
All kinds of people are chasers. You don't have to be a scientist doing
research. In fact, most people aren't doing research. They chase storms
mainly because they are interested in meteorology and because they want
to see severe weather in person.
Sometimes people go out expecting to see a tornado on their first day.
Some experienced chasers say they spend 10-12 days hunting for every
minute they see a tornado. And that's for experienced chasers!
Shop Windows to the Universe Science Store!
Cool It! is the new card game from the Union of Concerned Scientists that teaches kids about the choices we have when it comes to climate change—and how policy and technology decisions made today will matter. Cool It! is available in our
online store.
You might also be interested in:
How did life evolve on Earth? The answer to this question can help us understand our past and prepare for our future. Although evolution provides credible and reliable answers, polls show that many people turn away from science, seeking other explanations with which they are more comfortable.
...more
Meteorologists use radar to forecast where tonadoes might form. But, the radar can't detect actual tornadoes. People are needed for that. That's a problem because people without any training don't know
...more
Sound travels in waves. When the waves hit your ear, you hear a sound. Have you ever noticed the waves in the ocean? They go up and down, up and down. Sound waves act the same way. The number of times
...more
Storm chasers are different than storm spotters. Chasers travel around Tornado Alley looking for severe storms and tornadoes. Sometime there are dozens of chasers following the same storm. All kinds of
...more
A tornado is the most destructive natural storm. You might think that this also means that tornadoes are the strongest storms; that's not the case. In fact, a thunderstorm which produces a tornado can
...more
The Doppler effect was named after Christian Doppler, who first came up with the idea in 1842. He learned that sound waves would be pushed closer together if the source of the sound was moving toward you.
...more
Tornadoes are hard to forecast. They don't last very long so there's not much time to figure out what's happening. Also, scientists don't really know how they form. They know what the weather's like when
...more
Has someone told you to open your windows during a tornado? Or has someone told you that you don't have to worry about tornadoes because the place where you live is protected? These are two of the most
...more
