National Geographic: Cyclone! Page #2

Year:
1995
395 Views


Some claimed they fused coins

in people's pockets,

and cooked potatoes in the ground.

In truth, they make airborne

missiles of everyday objects.

Some have deposited heirlooms

forty miles from home.

Do they pluck feathers from

chickens?

No. Blame that on sheer fright.

They inspire no less terror

in people.

April 3rd and 4th, 1974.

In the largest outbreak on record,

March 18th, 1925.

The deadliest tornado in history

leaves the longest path.

Until the 1950's, accurate tornado

wind speeds remain a mystery.

Then a frame-by-frame analysis of

this footage clocks flying debris

at 170 miles an hour.

Tornado science takes a leap

forward in 1953

when Dr. Ted Fujita leaves Japan

for the American Midwest.

Main reason why we are here

is to find out what tornado did.

And in case of future tornadoes

what people should do.

That's the kind of thing

we want to find out.

Four decades of research will earn

him the title "Mr. Tornado."

I think it's a grain elevator

up there.

At disaster sites, Fujita proves

there's much to be learned without

braving a twister directly.

He likens tornadoes to criminals

who leave their fingerprints

behind.

Ground markings are clues

to a twister's inner structure

and dynamics.

To test his theories,

he builds a tornado machine

at the University of Chicago.

He discovers that

most strong tornadoes

are actually several small twisters

rotating around the center

of a larger one.

These mini-tornadoes can lay

waste to one house,

yet leave its neighbor unscathed.

Fujita's ideas have been amply

confirmed in Nature,

and remain a cornerstone of

tornado science.

Although they occur

around the world,

three out of four tornadoes streak

the skies over the United States.

They favor the springtime, and the

warm hours between noon and sunset.

We say a tornado "touches down".

It actually sucks in air from

near the ground

and carries it upward in a spiral.

Most range from 150 to 1200 feet

in width,

and travel over land at about

The funnel is often hollow,

a tube of condensed water vapor

that takes on the color of dust

and debris.

In North America, most tornadoes

rotate counterclockwise.

Perhaps one in a thousand spins

in the opposite direction.

Twisters appear in many guises.

They can bring to mind

the snapping of a bullwhip...

or the delicate dance of ghosts.

A single storm can spawn several

distinct funnels

- a grouping referred to as a

"family."

For all their fury,

most tornadoes are short-lived.

Many last only minutes.

To the scientists who would study

them, they are elusive prey.

How to penetrate the twister's

secrets?

Aiming weather balloons and

Rate this script:0.0 / 0 votes

Unknown

The writer of this script is unknown. more…

All Unknown scripts | Unknown Scripts

4 fans

Submitted on August 05, 2018

Discuss this script with the community:

0 Comments

    Translation

    Translate and read this script in other languages:

    Select another language:

    • - Select -
    • 简体中文 (Chinese - Simplified)
    • 繁體中文 (Chinese - Traditional)
    • Español (Spanish)
    • Esperanto (Esperanto)
    • 日本語 (Japanese)
    • Português (Portuguese)
    • Deutsch (German)
    • العربية (Arabic)
    • Français (French)
    • Русский (Russian)
    • ಕನ್ನಡ (Kannada)
    • 한국어 (Korean)
    • עברית (Hebrew)
    • Gaeilge (Irish)
    • Українська (Ukrainian)
    • اردو (Urdu)
    • Magyar (Hungarian)
    • मानक हिन्दी (Hindi)
    • Indonesia (Indonesian)
    • Italiano (Italian)
    • தமிழ் (Tamil)
    • Türkçe (Turkish)
    • తెలుగు (Telugu)
    • ภาษาไทย (Thai)
    • Tiếng Việt (Vietnamese)
    • Čeština (Czech)
    • Polski (Polish)
    • Bahasa Indonesia (Indonesian)
    • Românește (Romanian)
    • Nederlands (Dutch)
    • Ελληνικά (Greek)
    • Latinum (Latin)
    • Svenska (Swedish)
    • Dansk (Danish)
    • Suomi (Finnish)
    • فارسی (Persian)
    • ייִדיש (Yiddish)
    • հայերեն (Armenian)
    • Norsk (Norwegian)
    • English (English)

    Citation

    Use the citation below to add this screenplay to your bibliography:

    Style:MLAChicagoAPA

    "National Geographic: Cyclone!" Scripts.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 29 Mar. 2024. <https://www.scripts.com/script/national_geographic:_cyclone!_14528>.

    We need you!

    Help us build the largest writers community and scripts collection on the web!

    Watch the movie trailer

    National Geographic: Cyclone!

    Browse Scripts.com

    The Studio:

    ScreenWriting Tool

    Write your screenplay and focus on the story with many helpful features.