National Geographic: Cyclone! Page #3

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instrumented rockets into tornadoes

have yielded limited results.

All right. Three. Two. One.

Fire!

There! Perfe...

No.

In the 1980's, researchers at the

National Severe Storms Lab

tested the "totable tornado

observatory", nicknamed TOTO,

after Dorothy's dog

in The Wizard of Oz.

This four-hundred pound package

of sensors

was to record what no human can

even approach

without risking life and limb.

But predicting the path of a tornado

proved to be nearly impossible.

TOTO had one close call,

no direct hits.

For now, the safest way to see

inside tornadoes

is to probe them from afar with

Doppler radar.

Like an x-ray of a storm,

the system displays wind speed

and direction.

In 1981, scientists first detected

the spiraling signature of

a tornado on Doppler radar.

Today, the system is used to

issue warnings to the public.

Still, we're not exactly sure

why twisters form at all.

For Howard Bluestein,

Professor of Meteorology

at the University of Oklahoma,

there's only one way to find out.

Satellite pictures are nice.

Radar pictures are nice.

But you need to look out the window

and see the clouds at a

very very fine scale

to get a feeling for

what's happening.

I don't understand

how one can study a phenomenon

without actually experiencing it.

Seeing it or feeling it

or tasting it.

To me, that sets everything

in motion.

That makes me want to understand

why it's there,

what causes it,

what's gonna happen to it.

They just issued a tornado warning

for right where we are.

Every spring, Bluestein exercises

two considerable talents:

chasing tornadoes, and measuring

them with the latest technology.

Portable Doppler radar is like

a meteorological magnifying glass.

It allows Bluestein to measure

wind speed in very fine detail,

in specific regions of a tornado.

Okay, we better get going quickly.

That thing is starting to form

a nice funnel.

Actually, hold it.

Hold it. Hold it!

Can you turn it on?

It is starting to form a funnel

and it's not that far away.

I'm on the left side of that

tight circulation.

Bluestein's success rate is

better than most storm chasers'

The funnel cloud is just

to our north, northwest.

We're packing up the radar...

He estimates one

in nine expeditions ends

with an encounter.

OK, tornado is crossing the path

of the radar.

Debris in the air.

Strong tornadoes almost always form

under the southwest edge of a storm.

Bluestein plots his course

accordingly,

and tries to place his team roughly

two miles from touchdown.

Center it right on the funnel!

Oh, what a classic!

Should I go to FM?

Only if you have a good CW signal.

We're detectives.

We're looking for lots of bits

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