Tallying Temperature Drops Inside Tornadoes

Collecting weather data can be hazardous, but with wind speeds exceeding 200 miles per hour, flying debris, and steep gradients in both air pressure and temperature, the inside of a tornado might just be the ultimate extreme. A team of research engineers led by Georgios Vatistas at Concordia University in Montreal is exploring this harsh environment from a safe distance by using computer models to estimate temperature changes inside tornadoes.

Luckily, these computer models don’t exist within a vacuum: They’re informed by eyewitness observations. In 1955, when a violent storm approached Scottsbluff, Neb., three local radio broadcasters found themselves in the path of an oncoming twister. Taking refuge in the basement of a nearby stone building, they were able to survive a direct hit. Their chilling experience is driving research decades later. Learn how in EARTH Magazine.

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See also: RARE TON SOM EY NOES Meet Ree LN ee TD | MEE MMR EM IS SNA PARAMORE R RENN AO TSE OL NNN SR RRMA NGS OTN OR To MORNE ce SAO