Not what you want to see on your street....
 

http://icons-pe.wunderground.com/dat...Vortex2/19.jpg
http://icons-pe.wunderground.com/dat...Vortex2/22.jpg


Anyone else interested in/following the Vortex2 project? They should have a good day today.


From Weather Underground:http://www.wunderground.com/blog/JeffMasters/comment.html?entrynum=1218

Tornado season is in full swing, and researchers are now poised in America's Great Plains with the largest armada of storm chasing vehicles and equipment ever assembled, in order to learn more about these enigmatic and violent storms. The massive Vortex2 field study began Sunday, and for the next seven weeks over 100 scientists in up to 40 science and support vehicles will be roaming through Tornado Alley, seeking to catch tornadoes on the rampage. The three basic questions the $10 million study will attempt to answer are:

- How, when, and why do tornadoes form? Why some are violent and long lasting while others are weak and short lived?

- What is the structure of tornadoes? How strong are the winds near the ground? How exactly do they do damage?

- How can we learn to forecast tornadoes better? Current warnings have an only 13 minute average lead time and a 70% false alarm rate. Can we make warnings more accurate? Can we warn 30, 45, 60 minutes ahead?'

I took a class on tornadoes one summer in college, it was the most fun I've had in a class in a long time. It was a "rocks for jocks" level course, but my professor gave me resources to learn more. I did a paper on multi-vortex tornadoes, and the research done with tornado fences to interfere with their formation.

I lived in Salina KS as a kid and remember some pretty nasty weather moving through town periodically. Fortunately, nothing ever hit the town but we did have one go over the house one evening and it was like a freight train coming through the living room. Don't ever want to hear that sound again.

Suprising, but I've lived in KS my entire life and never seen a tornado on the ground. Seen a lot of funnel clouds, but never an actual tornado. I've looked too, for me the tornado sirens are a signal to go outside and look around.;) It drives my wife nuts, but I've always been captivated by severe weather.

+1

Used to stand on the balcony of my 6th floor apartment during typhoons when I lived in Japan. Seriously! :)

Randy

Been waiting for the summer storms to start. Love watching storms, and someday I want to take a month during the summer and storm-chase. I will see a tornado before I die.

Maybe right before, but hope not.

Just don't get sucked up in one and come down in Munchkin Land....We are the Lollypop Boyz we are the Lollypop Boyz....Ahhhh Rammy I don't think we are in Kansas anymore...looks more like DC to me....

That was my dream job as a kid. Then I realized that it was mostly volunteer, i.e. no pay. I started looking elsewhere after that......:D

It sure would be fun though. Everytime I hear the sirens I get a sense of nervous anticipation. Pretty sick really, considering that it's my life and property that is potentially at risk.

We just got power back up yesterday from a macroburst (not a microburst) that happened friday afternoon. We had 106 mph sustained winds, and 6 confirmed tornadoes in a 2 hour period.

I love storms, but I don't ever want to go through that again.

We have a good storm headed this way right now.:rolleyes:

Here's a slide show from our power company: http://www.illinoisoutage.com/go/doc/1787/272510/

well blow me away...

Yea about as funny as Jim Cantori standing in your yard warning everybody about Hurricanes.

I was within a mile of a mile wide F5 tornado. Alas, was only 10 months old and too busy filling my diaper to remember it.

I've seen those vans in town twice this week. It's storm season in ok. See tornado chasers about daily seen at least one on the ground

I was opeing this thread expecting to see something like this:

http://image-cache.boostcruising.com...funnyfile1.jpg

We had 70 MPH winds last night. A thunderstorm collapsed and 40 thousand feet of air and moisture dumped straight down. This morning we had shredded leaves and a few small twigs all over the place. No real damage at all. I slept right through it. No big deal

Right now all of the TV stations in the OKC area are in weather alert mode. No network programming, just coverage of the tornado over by Billings OK. The TV helicopter showed one of the Vortex2 trucks on Oklahoma roads. The thunderstorm is going to hit the OKC metro area in 90 minutes or so. The TV stations track each storm with state of the art RADAR and the viewers know just where the storms are.

Just another day in May in Oklahoma.

I just took this picture at my house. The roof of the house in the photo is my house.

Very cool clouds!http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1242263237.jpg

I am a weather nut (and certified NOAA storm spotter - woo!haha) and I'm always snapping photos of exciting weather.

Rainstorn from the interstate - metro Atlanta:
http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3156/...7e3d9d053c.jpg

Funnel cloud when I lived in Kennesaw, GA - around 1999
http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3091/...d84653d0_o.jpg

Lightning bolt captured from video I20 in Alabama:
http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3030/...48ce7b08_o.jpg

The weekend before Katrina hit the Gulf Coast, hubby and I were in Biloxi celebrating his birthday. Talk about "not what you want to see" - the punchline to the trip became, "You know your weekend at the beach is over when Jim Cantore checks into your hotel." He did his live "Katrina is coming" remotes just outside our hotel room with the Treasure Bay Casino in the background. Sniff! Look what a gorgeous day it was just before the storm rolled in. Also in the things I don't want to see category, pics of me like this - pre-weight loss! Anyway....
http://farm1.static.flickr.com/40/92...ee06f2e7b6.jpg

Gee fun. Keeping an eye on it from my iPhone. We are leaving Yukon and hopefully will dodge the rest of it