* . *
  • About
  • Advertise
  • Privacy & Policy
  • Contact
Saturday, June 28, 2025
Earth-News
  • Home
  • Business
  • Entertainment
    Susquehanna Raises Penn Entertainment Inc. (PENN) Price Target. – Yahoo Finance

    Susquehanna Raises Price Target for Penn Entertainment Inc. (PENN)

    George Lopez is coming to Spokane – KXLY.com

    George Lopez is coming to Spokane – KXLY.com

    Netflix unveils Dallas immersive venue for fans of hit shows like ‘Squid Game,’ ‘Stranger Things’ – Houston Chronicle

    Step Inside Netflix’s New Dallas Immersive Experience Featuring Hits Like ‘Squid Game’ and ‘Stranger Things

    ‘Puttin’ on the Ritz’: Civic Players bring ‘Young Frankenstein’ to life – Yahoo

    Civic Players Deliver a Hilarious and Unforgettable Performance of ‘Young Frankenstein

    ‘Wheel of Fortune’: Amputee Wins $60,000 After Breaking Incredible ‘Curse’ – Hastings Tribune

    Wheel of Fortune’ Amputee Breaks Incredible ‘Curse’ to Win $60,000!

    North Star Sports & Entertainment Network: Coming soon – KTTC News

    North Star Sports & Entertainment Network: Coming soon – KTTC News

  • General
  • Health
  • News

    Cracking the Code: Why China’s Economic Challenges Aren’t Shaking Markets, Unlike America’s” – Bloomberg

    Trump’s Narrow Window to Spread the Truth About Harris

    Trump’s Narrow Window to Spread the Truth About Harris

    Israel-Gaza war live updates: Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh assassinated in Iran, group says

    Israel-Gaza war live updates: Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh assassinated in Iran, group says

    PAP Boss to Niger Delta Youths, Stay Away from the Protest

    PAP Boss to Niger Delta Youths, Stay Away from the Protest

    Court Restricts Protests In Lagos To Freedom, Peace Park

    Court Restricts Protests In Lagos To Freedom, Peace Park

    Fans React to Jazz Jennings’ Inspiring Weight Loss Journey

    Fans React to Jazz Jennings’ Inspiring Weight Loss Journey

    Trending Tags

    • Trump Inauguration
    • United Stated
    • White House
    • Market Stories
    • Election Results
  • Science
  • Sports
  • Technology
    Ostin Technology (OST): Volatility’s Warning or Contrarian Opportunity? – AInvest

    Ostin Technology (OST): Navigating Market Volatility – Red Flag or Hidden Opportunity?

    St. Francis Medical Center brings advanced robotic surgery technology to Northeast Louisiana – KNOE

    St. Francis Medical Center brings advanced robotic surgery technology to Northeast Louisiana – KNOE

    Wayve Expands Engineering Leadership to Power Next-Gen Autonomous Driving Technology – Silicon Canals

    Wayve Boosts Engineering Leadership to Accelerate Next-Gen Autonomous Driving Innovation

    Frontdoor Announces Tech Expert Dr. Bala Ganesh as Chief Technology Officer – Business Wire

    Frontdoor Appoints Tech Visionary Dr. Bala Ganesh as New Chief Technology Officer

    Defense technology giant Northrop Grumman to host interviews in Iuka to fill technician roles – supertalk.fm

    Defense technology giant Northrop Grumman to host interviews in Iuka to fill technician roles – supertalk.fm

    China’s Military Introduces Mosquito-Sized Drones: A Game-Changing Surveillance Technology – Indian Defence Review

    China Unveils Mosquito-Sized Drones: Revolutionizing Surveillance Technology

    Trending Tags

    • Nintendo Switch
    • CES 2017
    • Playstation 4 Pro
    • Mark Zuckerberg
No Result
View All Result
  • Home
  • Business
  • Entertainment
    Susquehanna Raises Penn Entertainment Inc. (PENN) Price Target. – Yahoo Finance

    Susquehanna Raises Price Target for Penn Entertainment Inc. (PENN)

    George Lopez is coming to Spokane – KXLY.com

    George Lopez is coming to Spokane – KXLY.com

    Netflix unveils Dallas immersive venue for fans of hit shows like ‘Squid Game,’ ‘Stranger Things’ – Houston Chronicle

    Step Inside Netflix’s New Dallas Immersive Experience Featuring Hits Like ‘Squid Game’ and ‘Stranger Things

    ‘Puttin’ on the Ritz’: Civic Players bring ‘Young Frankenstein’ to life – Yahoo

    Civic Players Deliver a Hilarious and Unforgettable Performance of ‘Young Frankenstein

    ‘Wheel of Fortune’: Amputee Wins $60,000 After Breaking Incredible ‘Curse’ – Hastings Tribune

    Wheel of Fortune’ Amputee Breaks Incredible ‘Curse’ to Win $60,000!

    North Star Sports & Entertainment Network: Coming soon – KTTC News

    North Star Sports & Entertainment Network: Coming soon – KTTC News

  • General
  • Health
  • News

    Cracking the Code: Why China’s Economic Challenges Aren’t Shaking Markets, Unlike America’s” – Bloomberg

    Trump’s Narrow Window to Spread the Truth About Harris

    Trump’s Narrow Window to Spread the Truth About Harris

    Israel-Gaza war live updates: Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh assassinated in Iran, group says

    Israel-Gaza war live updates: Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh assassinated in Iran, group says

    PAP Boss to Niger Delta Youths, Stay Away from the Protest

    PAP Boss to Niger Delta Youths, Stay Away from the Protest

    Court Restricts Protests In Lagos To Freedom, Peace Park

    Court Restricts Protests In Lagos To Freedom, Peace Park

    Fans React to Jazz Jennings’ Inspiring Weight Loss Journey

    Fans React to Jazz Jennings’ Inspiring Weight Loss Journey

    Trending Tags

    • Trump Inauguration
    • United Stated
    • White House
    • Market Stories
    • Election Results
  • Science
  • Sports
  • Technology
    Ostin Technology (OST): Volatility’s Warning or Contrarian Opportunity? – AInvest

    Ostin Technology (OST): Navigating Market Volatility – Red Flag or Hidden Opportunity?

    St. Francis Medical Center brings advanced robotic surgery technology to Northeast Louisiana – KNOE

    St. Francis Medical Center brings advanced robotic surgery technology to Northeast Louisiana – KNOE

    Wayve Expands Engineering Leadership to Power Next-Gen Autonomous Driving Technology – Silicon Canals

    Wayve Boosts Engineering Leadership to Accelerate Next-Gen Autonomous Driving Innovation

    Frontdoor Announces Tech Expert Dr. Bala Ganesh as Chief Technology Officer – Business Wire

    Frontdoor Appoints Tech Visionary Dr. Bala Ganesh as New Chief Technology Officer

    Defense technology giant Northrop Grumman to host interviews in Iuka to fill technician roles – supertalk.fm

    Defense technology giant Northrop Grumman to host interviews in Iuka to fill technician roles – supertalk.fm

    China’s Military Introduces Mosquito-Sized Drones: A Game-Changing Surveillance Technology – Indian Defence Review

    China Unveils Mosquito-Sized Drones: Revolutionizing Surveillance Technology

    Trending Tags

    • Nintendo Switch
    • CES 2017
    • Playstation 4 Pro
    • Mark Zuckerberg
No Result
View All Result
Earth-News
No Result
View All Result
Home Science

Between Twister and Twisters, Tornado Science Has Improved a Lot in Three Decades

July 20, 2024
in Science
Share on FacebookShare on Twitter

Between Twister and Twisters, Tornado Science Has Improved a Lot in Three Decades

Three decades of tornado science research is now at play in the new summer flick Twisters

By Max Springer

Two people run from a tornado directly behind them

Helen Hunt and Bill Paxton as their characters Jo and Bill Harding in the 1996 movie Twister.

Universal Pictures/Maximum Film/Alamy Stock Photo

“Dorothy” was deliberately fed to an Oklahoma F5 tornado about 30 years ago in the classic disaster movie Twister. The film followed storm-chasing scientists trying to use that special apparatus (a meteorological device containing hundreds of sensors and named after the tornado-jockey ingenue in The Wizard of Oz) to understand the inner workings of one of nature’s most fearsome phenomena. Now its just released stand-alone sequel, Twisters, follows another band of storm chasers who want to actually disrupt and dissipate these monster phenomena with today’s technology and knowledge.

Contrasting the two films shows how much tornado science has changed since the original flick, which featured radar and computer technologies that are now outdated. “We’ve come a long way since [Twister],” says Elizabeth Smith, a research meteorologist at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Administration’s National Severe Storms Laboratory (NSSL). And much of this progress has come through what she calls “the sum total of incremental change,” not singular projects like those depicted in the original movie. Some advances since then have in the decades transformed fiction into reality, enabling the latest film to explore even greater possibilities in managing and responding to dangerous weather events.

In the 1996 original, Helen Hunt’s character, Jo Harding, wanted to increase the warning times for tornadoes from three to 15 minutes by getting data from inside a funnel cloud to better understand how they work. And over the decades since, this science-fiction dream has turned into reality. “Now, when we issue a warning, the average lead time is 15 minutes,” says Harold Brooks, a senior research scientist at the NSSL. Though this may seem like a minor increase in the grand scheme of things, it offers considerably more time for people to reach shelter.

On supporting science journalism

If you’re enjoying this article, consider supporting our award-winning journalism by subscribing. By purchasing a subscription you are helping to ensure the future of impactful stories about the discoveries and ideas shaping our world today.

This improvement stems from a variety of new technologies, including more detailed radar readings and more powerful computers. But Smith says the most crucial development is computer models that can render storms in far greater detail—and can process observations much more quickly and accurately to better predict what those storms will do.

Early work in modeling focused on building a digital rendering of a storm from observational data—akin to Dorothy’s mission. But today’s tornado simulations are actually displaying never-before-observed aspects of the structure of tornadoes across different simulations. Storm chasers have later validated these phenomena in the field. “Instead of trying to go out and sample something to represent in the model, the opposite is now happening,” Smith says. “That’s a huge paradigm shift.”

A film scened depicting a man in the back of a red pickup truck during a hail storm

Bill Paxton’s character Bill Harding attempts to prepare the “Dorothy” instrument package for deployment into a tornado in the 1996 movie Twister.

Moviestore Collection Ltd/Alamy Stock Photo

Modern forecast models sometimes even predict tornado touchdowns more than an hour in advance. This extended warning time isn’t always helpful, though. “People tend to prioritize other activities over immediate safety with one to two hours of advance notice, which isn’t the reaction we want,” says Sean Waugh, a research scientist at the NSSL. A 2011 study found through public surveys that about 30 minutes is the preferred warning time, balancing urgency with enough lead time to get to safety.

This improved computer modeling means the National Weather Service’s Storm Prediction Center, which issues tornado watches and warnings, can pinpoint locations—instead of issuing the old county-wide alerts that often reached people who were far away from any tornado threat. By reducing false alarms with more precise warnings, these innovations help maintain public alertness. And now forecasters are experimenting with advanced computer techniques, such as machine learning, in the hopes that they can analyze large amounts of data even more quickly and precisely to further improve warning times and accuracy.

Observational tornado research has also shifted to focus on storms’ three-dimensional structures at a larger scale. Key technologies such as lidar (light detection and ranging) have become essential. These tools enable researchers to map the ever changing and complex structures of the larger storms that produce tornadoes to try to understand why similar environmental conditions might trigger a tornado in one storm but not in another nearby. This complexity highlights the limitations of collecting individual data points within storms (an approach that was dramatically portrayed in Twister but is now less useful). “There’s so much going on in such a small space, and we need to see all of it at once to be able to understand what’s going on,” Waugh says.

The scientists in the new movie go beyond the goal of improving warnings to explore the idea of possibly disrupting a tornado. In reality, however, the science behind such a feat remains out of reach. The concept of deliberately neutralizing a tornado is theoretically possible, Brooks says, but the energy contained within one is immense; disrupting a real twister would require an input of energy on a scale that is not physically or practically feasible. “In terms of energy, a tornado releases about the equivalent of an atomic bomb every second, and a thunderstorm can release the energy of tens of hydrogen bombs per second,” he says.

Even if humans could somehow take out an incoming twister, the atmospheric conditions that gave rise to the storm would persist—potentially leading to the immediate formation of another one. Relatively speaking, “a tornado is nothing more than a burnt fart in the storm,” Brooks says. Waugh says neutralizing one is a tempting notion to explore, but ultimately, “humans are not meant to play God with these types of natural phenomena. Our focus should instead be on building resiliency and enhancing protection for populations in the face of such events.”

Though the science in the new film is, in some aspects, far-fetched, the very real and staggering technological and scientific achievements of modern meteorological science would have seemed like science fiction to Jo Harding and her team. And those advances aren’t just of importance to meteorological science or Hollywood spectacle but have also saved countless lives. “This work is impactful to everyday life,” Smith says,” and that keeps you grounded.”

>>> Read full article>>>
Copyright for syndicated content belongs to the linked Source : Scientific American – https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/between-twister-and-twisters-tornado-science-has-improved-a-lot-in-three/

Tags: BetweenscienceTwister
Previous Post

How SpaceX Will Adapt the Dragon Vehicle to Destroy the ISS

Next Post

Video Friday: Robot Crash-Perches, Hugs Tree

Tellus Science Museum astronomer discusses meteorite landing in metro Atlanta – WSB-TV

Meteorite Crash-Lands in Metro Atlanta: Expert Insights from a Tellus Science Museum Astronomer

June 28, 2025
With pride and honor: How this queer couple achieved academic success – ABS-CBN

Triumph and Pride: The Inspiring Journey of a Queer Couple in Academia

June 28, 2025
Bidding process for 2029 and 2031 World Athletics Championships launches – worldathletics.org

Excitement Builds as Bidding Opens for 2029 and 2031 World Athletics Championships

June 28, 2025
If something is going to break in the U.S. economy, it will probably happen this summer, BofA Global says – MarketWatch

This Summer May Be the Critical Turning Point for the U.S. Economy, Experts Warn

June 28, 2025

Audit Uncovers Shocking Shortfall in State Health Plan Funding

June 28, 2025
Boulder attack suspect charged with federal hate crimes – CNN

Boulder attack suspect charged with federal hate crimes – CNN

June 28, 2025
Ostin Technology (OST): Volatility’s Warning or Contrarian Opportunity? – AInvest

Ostin Technology (OST): Navigating Market Volatility – Red Flag or Hidden Opportunity?

June 27, 2025
Vote for the Blue Water Area’s top high school sports moment from the 2025 spring season – Times Herald

Cast Your Vote for the Blue Water Area’s Most Unforgettable High School Sports Moment of Spring 2025!

June 27, 2025
Opinion: American Science Is in a Nosedive – and We’re All on Board – The Austin Chronicle

Opinion: American Science Is in a Nosedive – and We’re All on Board

June 27, 2025

Food contact articles as source of micro- and nanoplastics: a systematic evidence map | npj Science of Food – Nature

June 27, 2025

Categories

Archives

June 2025
MTWTFSS
 1
2345678
9101112131415
16171819202122
23242526272829
30 
« May    
Earth-News.info

The Earth News is an independent English-language daily published Website from all around the World News

Browse by Category

  • Business (20,132)
  • Ecology (699)
  • Economy (721)
  • Entertainment (21,613)
  • General (15,601)
  • Health (9,760)
  • Lifestyle (726)
  • News (22,149)
  • People (722)
  • Politics (728)
  • Science (15,938)
  • Sports (21,217)
  • Technology (15,705)
  • World (701)

Recent News

Tellus Science Museum astronomer discusses meteorite landing in metro Atlanta – WSB-TV

Meteorite Crash-Lands in Metro Atlanta: Expert Insights from a Tellus Science Museum Astronomer

June 28, 2025
With pride and honor: How this queer couple achieved academic success – ABS-CBN

Triumph and Pride: The Inspiring Journey of a Queer Couple in Academia

June 28, 2025
  • About
  • Advertise
  • Privacy & Policy
  • Contact

© 2023 earth-news.info

No Result
View All Result

© 2023 earth-news.info

No Result
View All Result

© 2023 earth-news.info

Go to mobile version