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O'Reilly Interview Digs Into the Tech of Storm Chasing
blackbearnh writes "If you've watched the Discovery Channel series 'Storm Chasers,' you'll be familiar with Dr. Joshua Wurman and his Doppler on Wheels radar, which he uses to study tornadoes up close and personal every spring. O'Reilly Media spent some time last week speaking to Dr. Wurman about what it takes, technologically, to operate a weather radar in 100-mile-per-hour winds in the middle of a lightning storm. They also talked about the value of this kind of research to both tornado and hurricane research, and how having a film crew around during missions affects the science."
Being out in Kansas, its kind of expected that we have some totally awesome storm chasing vehicles.
I don't watch it regularly but have taped a few segments. Other than the one guy in the other chase crew who apparently has lost the ability to control the volume of his voice (BACK UP! BAACK UPP!! BAAACK UPP!!! BAAAAAAAAACK UPP!!!!!!!!!!!!), the one thing that really grinds on me is that no one uses a tripod when filming a tornado. They all hop out of their vehicle, grab their camera and start taping. Then, when you look at the video, you do see the tornado in the distance but it's like the camera guy from Battle Star Galactica had two too many cups of coffee (and I like the effect in BSG).
It's not that difficult to have a quick release tripod mount on the bottom of your camera. It can stay on while you're in the vehicle and holding the camera and be attached to the tripod in seconds once you're outside and taping.
It would make things much more easy on the eyes not to mention you can pick out more details with a stable shot than one moving about.
Yes, it is a bit more cumbersome to haul out the tripod, pop the legs open, mount the camera and start filming, but it would make things more enjoyable to watch.
We will bankrupt ourselves in the vain search for absolute security. -- Dwight D. Eisenhower
You laugh, but that's just about right. After having storm chased with the meteorology students at college and some of the USAF meteorologists, I can tell you some of the stuff that's done on TV is often laughable and downright dangerous at times. They're melodramatic and they push the limits more than is safe, because it makes for a good show.
That's not to say we never did anything stupid... just never on purpose in order to have a good story. Here and here are some of the photos we've gotten (I'm Becky). The seventh set down on that second page were an accident. We almost got caught in that one - took a wrong turn and got stuck in a residential area near Indianapolis. Let's just say, when you start seeing the blue flash from power pylons blowing up closer and closer to you... well, you know you're in the wrong place at the wrong time.
It may look cool on TV but it worries me the number of people who think you can go do this without having a ground support team. Even trained people can make mistakes.
Why chase storms at all? All you have to do to capture tornado footage and record atmospheric data is simply set some cameras and equipment up in various trailer parks in the "Tornado Alley' region and wait for the tornadoes to show up and feed on a few double-wides.
Most tornadoes only last for a few seconds, and under many circumstances, are travelling at a fairly quick rate of speed. Storm chasers have to be aware of hail, lightning, direction of the storm, and the ever vicious RFD winds. The kinds of tornadoes that set themselves up for beautiful, tripod-able storms have their own rarity. The key is mobility - if a chaser takes the time to set up the tripod, that's one more step in the value stream of the chase.