How to Film a Tornado

goneaway writes: "An interesting examination of the competitive world of filming tornadoes or "torn porn" as they call it over at the Atlantic. A fair amount of attention is given to the mechanics of filming and the inventions created to "safely" film while all hell is breaking loose."

Comments

Heh.

[Scoria]

IANAM (I am not a meteorologist), but...

Civilians film a lot of the tornado footage with their home video cameras. I would suppose that it is more dramatic, considering the majority of these people don't have any training, are terrified, and escape unscathed by chance. Their emotions are in strong contrast to tornado enthusiasts, who, from most peoples' observations, usually appear intrigued, not frightened.

Of course, to capture a tornado, a number of variables must be correct and you must meet several objectives first.

Obviously, there must be light (or you must have nightvision). A great number of tornadoes occur during the night hours and probably aren't captured on film due to this reason.

You must actually locate the area of a storm that is most likely to produce a tornado. The advent of Doppler [sic, it's named after a person] radar has made this task much less difficult. Meteorologists will usually search for the classic "hook and coil" signature that is indicative of a tornado.

Finally, you must arrive at the target location before the tornado activity disippates. They usually last less than 20 minutes.