How do chasers know when a tornado is changing its direction of movement?
This question has become surprisingly common, obviously triggered by the abilities shown by the Bill Harding character in “Twister.” There are some occasions in the movie where Bill’s profound “understanding” of storms allows him to anticipate changes in a tornado’s movement. Most of Bill’s apparent ability is pure fiction. Tornado movement is dominated by movement of the storm that produces the tornado, and for the most part, tornadoes do not exhibit the erratic movement so popular in movies (including those in “Twister” and the swaying back and forth of the tornado in “The Wizard of Oz”). When tornadoes make sudden changes in direction, it’s typically whenever they are affected by an outflow …. as in the beautiful Cordell, Oklahoma tornado movie shot on 22 May 1981 by Howie Bluestein. In such cases, the tornadoes are usually on a rapid road to dissipation. In some cases, it might be possible to anticipate the impact of an outflow boundary on a tornado, but it’s certainly going to b
Related Questions
- When the Picomotor is biased at 120 V is there any extraneous movement, when you are changing channels or directions, as the 120-V offset in the driver waveform is discharged?
- Inclinometer probes produce readings that are negative or positive. How does this relate to direction of movement?
- How do chasers know when a tornado is changing its direction of movement?
