Recent Event Highlights: Texas Tech VORTEX2 Team Traces the Genesis of Tornadoes, VORTEX2 - Targeting tornadoes before they form - David Dowel, VORTEX2 - The role of weather balloons - George Bryan, VORTEX2 - Tornado ground truth - Roger Wakimoto, May 19th, 2010 - Vortex2: Tornado North of Leedey, OK, Operations on Kingfisher Tornado, Vortex2 Tornado Team has a Hail of a Day, and 85 more...
Created by dipity on May 14, 2009
Last updated: 11/02/10 at 08:43 AM
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NOAA B-roll footage from the May 2010 field operations of VORTEX2. The Verification of the Origins of Rotation in Tornadoes Experiment 2 (VORTEX2) is the largest tornado research project in history to explore how, when and why tornadoes form.
Texas Tech researcher Chris Weiss talks about the university's involvement with the Verification of the Origins of Rotation in Tornadoes Experiment 2 (VORTEX2) project, an $11.9 million project funded by the National Science Foundation and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, to better understand the mystery of tornado genesis.
VORTEX2 is described as being the "largest and most ambitious effort ever made to understand tornadoes." The effort will involve as many as 100 scientists and 40 support vehicles, including storm-chasing trucks and aircraft. The project strives to save lives by gaining a better understanding of how, when, and why tornadoes form, and increasing the amount of warning time communities receive before a tornado strikes. LEAD II is a continuation and extension of the original LEAD project, funded by the National Science Foundation (NSF) to make meteorological data, forecast models, and analysis and visualization tools available for research and education in problems related to climate, environment, and the atmosphere. The LEAD II/VORTEX2 partnership includes Plale and other scientists from IU's Pervasive Technology Institute in addition to atmospheric scientists Keith Brewster of the University of Oklahoma and Craig Mattocks of the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill. To view the latest forecasts on the project website or to use the Mobile Viewer, please visit: dataandsearch.org Pervasive Technology Institute - pti.iu.edu
NCAR's David Dowel is one of two scientists coordinating field operations for the massive VORTEX2 field campaign, which sends mobile units teeming with sensors across a study area spanning more than 900 miles, from west Texas to southwest Minnesota, in pursuit of tornadoes. He and Erik Rasmussen of Rasmussen Systems work with a forecasting team to figure out which storms in the study region are most likely to produce a tornado. The problem? That question--which storms are most likely to form tornadoes--is exactly what the VORTEX2 study is trying to answer. Dowel describes how they home in on the best targets, down to the county level, in pursuit of the "magical 30 minutes" before a tornado spins up. More about the NCAR teams: www2.ucar.edu and about VORTEX2: www.vortex2.org .
NCAR's George Bryan explains how the weather balloon team probes conditions near fast-moving storms and tornadoes during VORTEX2. Rawindsondes, or sondes, are small instrument packages that take "soundings," or measurements of temperature, moisture, and other key data as the balloon ascends. And then there's the challenge of coordinating the balloon teams on the largest tornado study in history. VORTEX2 is the Verification of the Origins and Rotation of Tornadoes Experiment. More about the NCAR teams: www2.ucar.edu and about VORTEX2: www.vortex2.org .
NCAR Director Roger Wakimoto describes how VORTEX2 researchers investigate tornadoes by taking photos and video of what the mobile radars are seeing. His team gets more of this "ground truth" after a tornado hits by surveying the damage from the air and the ground. Wakimoto, who became director of the National Center for Atmospheric Research in 2010, makes sure he still has time to participate in VORTEX2, the Verification of the Origins and Rotation in Tornadoes Experiment. More about the NCAR teams: www2.ucar.edu and about VORTEX2: www.vortex2.org .
Daily Highlights of Vortex 2 operations leading up to and including the May 10, 2010 tornado outbreak in Oklahoma.
May 19th, 2010 - Another high risk chase for V2; We saw a tornado 3 miles north of Leedey, OK and then had a few deployments on the same storm as it moved through Kingfisher and produced a few more tornadoes (reported); we lost the storm as it moved E of Guthrie due to immense storm chaser activity.
Our crew was hit by a brief hail storm while recording Texas Tech University's Vortex2 tornado research team. When the hail struck, the researchers were deploying StickNet observation stations to measure temperature, pressure, humidity and wind. Texas Tech wind researchers are taking part in phase two the largest and most ambitious attempt to study tornadoes in history. The collaborative nationwide project -- Verification of Rotation in Tornadoes EXperiment2 (VORTEX2 or V2) -- explores the origins, structure and evolution of tornadoes. Around 100 scientists and 40 research vehicles are taking part, including 18 from Texas Tech's Wind Science and Engineering Research Center.
May 10th, 2010 - Vortex2 Operations across OK during the May 10th, 2010 Tornado outbreak. A very frustrating day, but our mobile phased array radar had one successful deployment on a large wedge tornado forming near Clearview, OK. This tornado was over a half-mile wide and did EF1 damage. This was the only successful radar intercept of the day.
Mike Bettes, Dr. Greg Forbes track a Dangerous Tornado along side VORTEX 2 on May 10th 2010.
First supercell intercept with VORTEX2 armada. 44 minute flight over 8 miles sampling pressure, temperature, wind velocity and humidity at 1000' AGL. For more information see tornadochaser.colorado.edu
From the CSWR Hanger, into the field to the first week of operations!
The VORTEX2 team has waited four weeks to study a tornado from start to finish and Friday night they got their wish. A tornado formed in Goshen Co., Wyoming and we have it here.
VORTEX2, the world's largest tornado study, is probing the Great Plains in spring 2009 and 2010 with an unprecedented fleet of mobile radars, weather stations, and other high-tech tools in the quest to improve tornado knowledge and forecasting (see www.vortex2.org ). 0:00-4:39 (no audio) The main tornado documented by VORTEX2 on June 5, 2009, around 4:00 pm MDT. Filmed from a vantage point along Wyoming SH 151 in Goshen County, several miles east of La Grange. The tornado is roughly 12 miles West-South-West of the camera. The road on the horizon runs east-to-west through La Grange. 4:40-7:11 (with audio) The last two minutes show one of the Doppler on Wheels units (DOW 7) sampling the storm later in the evening after it has moved east into Nebraska.
Tour of the truck bay at the National Weather Center. Recorded one week before the 2010 field operations began.
That Weather Show is a video / podcast series brought to you by the NOAA Weather Partners in Norman, OK. We're dedicating this first video episode to the brave scientists whose mission is to hunt tornadoes. Hosted by Cat Taylor, 2009 Miss Oklahoma International / Univ. of Oklahoma Meteorology Student. For That Weather Show podcasts, visit: www.norman.noaa.gov
Catch the full episode of Storm Chasers Sunday, Nov. 1st @ 10pm E/P, only on Discovery. dsc.discovery.com To get a better bead on tornado outbreaks, Sean heads back to Norman, OK to hook up with Josh Wurman and the massive VORTEX2 team. Even as tornadic supercells continue to tear across Texas, a frustrated Sean heads to Oklahoma for a reunion with his old chasing partner, Josh Wurman and the massive Vortex 2 research project. Reed sees a different opportunity: challenge Josh's Doppler radar with his new military-grade mobile radar. The race for the holy grail of tornado data explodes as tempers flare, including an unhappy Joel who doesn't care much for Reed's new mission.
June 7th, 2009 - Vortex2 deployed on a developing storm near Forest City, MO, and I found probably the best deployment spot possible in all of MO, right along a river floodplain with the storm coming right at us. The MWR/CIRPAS (aka mobile Phased Array Radar) vehicle I scouted for was able to collect data on this storm as it went supercellular and the hook passed within 5km of our position. We got a great data set on this one! But since our position was just North of the hook, we got rocked by large hail (up to 7" was reported). The biggest we had at our position was 2" but some locals who were only a few hundred yards away brought me some spikey softballs!
This is part 1 of my Vortex2 tornado series. I spent a week with the crew tracking storms and this is a look at my journey. This part sets up what Vortex2 is and show my drive out to the Plains and shows the storm we are on for the day.
Excerpt
...capture was a spectacular one, an EF2 tornado in southeast WY on June 5. You can read about it in the blog by Mike Bettes. But VORTEX2 scientists captured valuable comparison data on non-tornadic supercell thunderstorms on several occasions. This is the overall...
Source Info
The Weather Channel
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http://www.weather.com/blog/weather/8_19675.html?from=blog_rss&cm_ven=BLOG&cm_cat=rss&cm_pla=blog&cm_ite=8_19675&par=BLOG_rss&site=blog
Video footage from the V2 media vehicle. Near La Grange, Wyoming, 05 June, 2009.
CLIP 9: Coverage of the VORTEX 2 team's first tornado intercept on The Weather Channel. Please note, I recorded over an hour of coverage, so there will be quite a few clips, since YouTube limits each video to 10 minutes.
CLIP 4: Coverage of the VORTEX 2 team's first tornado intercept on The Weather Channel. Please note, I recorded over an hour of coverage, so there will be quite a few clips, since YouTube limits each video to 10 minutes.
CLIP 7: Coverage of the VORTEX 2 team's first tornado intercept on The Weather Channel. Please note, I recorded over an hour of coverage, so there will be quite a few clips, since YouTube limits each video to 10 minutes.
CLIP 6: Coverage of the VORTEX 2 team's first tornado intercept on The Weather Channel. Please note, I recorded over an hour of coverage, so there will be quite a few clips, since YouTube limits each video to 10 minutes.
CLIP 5: Coverage of the VORTEX 2 team's first tornado intercept on The Weather Channel. Please note, I recorded over an hour of coverage, so there will be quite a few clips, since YouTube limits each video to 10 minutes.
CLIP 3: Coverage of the VORTEX 2 team's first tornado intercept on The Weather Channel. Please note, I recorded over an hour of coverage, so there will be quite a few clips, since YouTube limits each video to 10 minutes.
CLIP 2: Coverage of the VORTEX 2 team's first tornado intercept on The Weather Channel. Please note, I recorded over an hour of coverage, so there will be quite a few clips, since YouTube limits each video to 10 minutes.
CLIP 1: Coverage of the VORTEX 2 team's first tornado intercept on The Weather Channel. Please note, I recorded over an hour of coverage, so there will be quite a few clips, since YouTube limits each video to 10 minutes. I tried to take the ads out, but I couldn't. sorry!!!
Amazing tornado studied by VORTEX2 armada in Wyoming. (c) Associazione Thunderstorms.
Final clip of Vortex2's first tornado. Enjoy!
Mike gets hit with pounding hail and heavy rain, as Dr Greg Forbes continues to analyze the situation. Enjoy!
Part 5 of TWC's coverage of what could possibly be the most recorded and watched tornado in history. Enjoy!
Part 4 of TWC's coverage of what could possibly be the most recorded and watched tornado in history. Enjoy!
Continuing coverage of Vortex2's first tornado, just minutes north of Wyoming's capitol, Cheyenne. Enjoy!
The VORTEX2 team has waited four weeks to study a tornado from start to finish and Friday night they got their wish. A tornado formed in Goshen Co., Wyoming and we have it here.
Their first tornado touches down!
Features Mike Bettes with Dr. Greg Forbes analyzing the situation. This is Vortex2's first find of the entire project. This begins the extended period of non-stop coverage. Tornado recorded in Goshen county, WY. Enjoy!
Sorry i did not get it when it developed but after it touched ground. Captured from the Vortex 2 live stream
Vortex2 passing by while waiting for storms to fire in NE colorado
Howie Blustein explains his views on the movie twister, which was based upon him and others.
Digital Journalist Katy Tur, Takes you on a whirlwind tour of some of the gadgets the scientists will be using during the Vortex 2 project.. This is the largest tornado research project ever attempted.
May 15th, 2009 - An extremely frustrating day for me personally. I disagreed with our target and was frustrated with our deployment strategy, but I'm just a lowly peon on this project so I did what I was told with no objection. You can see how my forecast would have put us in position to intercept some supercells... but instead we hold steady and ride out a crappy (but very photogenic!) MCS. Video Credit: Nick Engerer
For more Video at: http.www.weather.com
Meteorologist Mike Bettes assesses todays odd's of Catching Tornadoes
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Tour of the truck bay at the National Weather Center. Recorded one week before the 2009 field operations began.
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