{"id":57509,"date":"2017-05-09T23:02:14","date_gmt":"2017-05-10T04:02:14","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/?p=57509"},"modified":"2017-05-15T08:58:32","modified_gmt":"2017-05-15T13:58:32","slug":"the-calm-before-the-storm-weather-chasers-gear-up-for-the-next-tornado","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/the-calm-before-the-storm-weather-chasers-gear-up-for-the-next-tornado\/","title":{"rendered":"The calm before the storm: Weather chasers gear up for the next tornado"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Puja Bhattacharjee<\/strong><\/p>\n

Sean Waugh is building two mobile\u00a0mesonets from scratch In the Research Vehicle Equipment Bay of the National Severe Storms Laboratory (NSSL) in Norman, Okla.\u00a0\u00a0These mobile\u00a0weather stations measure\u00a0temperature, pressure, humidity \u00a0and wind in any\u00a0 conditions.\u00a0 But old vehicles with low floors make it difficult to chase tornados and other severe storms\u00a0across dirt roads and uneven terrain.<\/p>\n

So, NSSL\u00a0rented two pickup trucks from the federal government. \u00a0NSSL is the weather research lab under the federal government\u2019s National Oceanic and Atmospheric Organization (NOAA).<\/p>\n

Waugh builds a metal frame around each rental car, one\u00a0red\u00a0and one\u00a0black.\u00a0The frames\u00a0hold the instruments\u00a0to track the intensity of tornadoes and other severe weather. They also shield the cars from hail\u00a0\u00a0by adding\u00a0wire meshing to the tops of the frames.<\/p>\n

Spring is a busy time for meteorologists – chasing tornadoes and taking atmospheric measurements to study and analyze during the rest of the year.\u00a0\u00a0The season has been quiet so far, this year and for a few years now in the Oklahoma area.\u00a0Single tornadoes touch down in a day but not the\u00a0multiples that are so dangerous for communities but offer ideal conditions to study storms.\u00a0\u00a0Storm chasers\u00a0are watching beyond Oklahoma, of course,\u00a0and Canton, Texas,\u00a0was\u00a0hard hit in April. But NSSL did not have an active watch there. So,\u00a0until the storms show up, lab meteorologists\u00a0are busy preparing for when it does.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Another team is developing an Unmanned Aerial Vehicle systems to take temperature and relative humidity measurements in the lowest part of the atmosphere where weather\u00a0systems break. It is a quadcopter, the size of a small drone with four rotating blades on it.<\/p>\n

Elsewhere in the building, multiple teams are working on perfecting the existing weather forecast systems. Weather is fickle and can change at a moment\u2019s notice. It is the source of both frustration and exhilaration for meteorologists. For now, at NSSL in Norman, it is the quiet before the storm.<\/span><\/p>\n

The red car shows a completed mobile mesonet system.\u00a0 Meteorologists build another mobile mesonet. (Puja Bhattacharjee\/Medill)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
Meteorologists test a prototype device for remote sensing of flash floods at Falls Creek, Okla. (Puja Bhattacharjee\/Medill)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
Three groups of forecasters from different parts of the country tested a new software for severe weather monitoring that will provide earlier warning times. They pursued the test at the Hazardous Weather Testbed in Norman, Okla. (Puja Bhattacharjee\/Medill)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
The instrument rack contains sensors for recording temperature, pressure, wind speed, dew point and other factors. When mounted and attached to a vehicle, it becomes a mobile mesonet. (Puja Bhattacharjee\/Medill)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
The Norman Forecast Office of the National Weather Service in Norman, Okla. provides weather forecasts up to seven days in advance for 56 counties in central and western Oklahoma and Northwestern Texas. (Puja Bhattacharjee\/Medill)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
Matt Friedlein, a\u00a0forecaster\u00a0for the National Weather Service in Chicago, joins forecasters from other parts of the country in Norma, Okla., to test a new software that will provide longer lead times for severe weather warning systems. (Puja Bhatacharjee\/Medill)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
Storm clouds appear over Norman, Okla., a day after severe tornadoes hit Canton, Texas, on April 29, 2017. (Puja Bhattacharjee\/Medill)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
Working with severe weather is hazardous. The windshield of meteorologist and hobbyist storm chaser Sean Waugh’s personal vehicle shows the scars of hail. (Puja Bhattacharjee\/Medill)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
Geographer and hydrologist Pierre-Alain Ayral takes measurements on the banks of a stream at Falls Creek, Okla., with a\u00a0 total station, which is an electromagnetic distance measuring instrument. The data collected with the total station will then be matched to remote sensing of flash floods using LIDAR, or laser scanning, to determine if the light pulse sensor\u00a0is working properly. (Puja Bhattacherjee\/Medill)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
Photo at top: Three groups of forecasters from different parts of the country tested a new software for severe weather monitoring that will provide earlier warning times. They pursued the test at the Hazardous Weather Testbed in Norman, Okla. (Puja Bhattacharjee\/MEDILL)<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Puja Bhattacharjee Sean Waugh is building two mobile\u00a0mesonets from scratch In the Research Vehicle Equipment Bay of the National Severe Storms Laboratory (NSSL) in Norman, Okla.\u00a0\u00a0These mobile\u00a0weather stations measure\u00a0temperature, pressure, humidity \u00a0and wind in any\u00a0 conditions.\u00a0 But old vehicles with low floors make it difficult to chase tornados and other severe storms\u00a0across dirt roads […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":310,"featured_media":57506,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[452,29,30,3516],"tags":[863,3887,192,500],"class_list":["post-57509","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-beyond-chicago","category-health-and-science","category-public-affairs","category-winter-2017","tag-nasanoaa","tag-nssl","tag-promo","tag-weather"],"yoast_head":"\nThe calm before the storm: Weather chasers gear up for the next tornado - 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