Tim Samaras� Since I was a kid, I�ve always been interested
in storms.
As an engineer, I try to understand how things work so I actually built and designed a device
to measure the weather basically on the inside of a tornado.
The United States gets, on average, about 1200 tornados per year.
The reason is because of its unique geographic location.
You�ve got the Gulf of Mexico off to the south and the storm systems, as they pass
through, draw this gulf moisture as water vapor, it comes right up through the Midwest
and springtime generally reflects what we call a very active jetstream, and it brings
us very powerful winds that just comes right across the Midwest.
That, in combination, allows these big storm systems to develop and of course wind sheer
is a very powerful ingredient for tornados.
The ingredients for a tornado, obviously, are quite complex, but some of the basics
are, you have to have moisture.
You have to have lift.
Then the other most important ingredient is what they call wind sheer.
Sheer creates these big horizontal rolls in the atmosphere, and then when a thunderstorm
forms underneath it, it actually tips these horizontal rolls into the vertical position
to where a thunderstorm forms over them, you have the whole thunderstorm rotating.
Those final processes are what we�re trying to study.
What�s bringing the rotation finally all the way to the ground?
That�s really one of the biggest mysteries of tornado formation.
It�s very difficult to forecast where tornados are going to be.
When we�re actually in the field waiting for thunderstorms to develop, we use what
they call visible satellite imagery.
This is basically a picture from space showing the best areas of what we call instability.
That�s how and where we are able to target these storms that are developing.
Ground-based radar can�t even see these storms develop but a satellite can.
Satellites also detect what we call boundaries.
These boundaries left over from old thunderstorms become the focus of new thunderstorms during
the day and actually enhance the tornado potential.
Visible satellite technology allows us to identify this, which otherwise would be going
totally unnoticed and undetected.
One of the biggest things I would love to see in future satellite technology is the
ability to actually see lightning within the cloud tops.
All the vertical motion and so-forth greatly enhances the ability to create lightning.
This lightning mapping actually shows frequency.
If the storm is becoming severe, the lightning frequency increases and thus, being able to
do an early detection of whether or not that storm is severe or not.
Dr Kathryn Sullivan- Our new satellite GOES-R will be able to take
one of those pictures in five minutes.
For forecasters on the professional desks, that will be tremendously valuable, helping
them track where are they moving, how fast are they moving, which ones do I need to scan
more closely with radar, and watch for the conditions that tell me I should put out a
tornado watch or warning.
Really important for cuing, for triggering, for alerting both our forecasters and the
communities that they serve.
Unfortunately it�s not the case that one outbreak is a clue for exactly what�s happening
next in the season or in any particular area.
We do know we�re heading towards the heart of tornado season, even if we can�t know
those specifics, so what that really tells all of us living in this country is �pay
attention, here comes the heavy season.
Get your plan out, dust it off, make sure you�re ready to take timely action if you�ve
got severe storms in your area.
Tim Samaras- Having a plan of action when you hear a tornado
warning, practice with your family, take cover, know what to do, I think is the most important
thing.
If we knew more about tornado genesis and structure then we�re able to stretch that
warning out to 20-25 minutes.
Right now the average time is about 15 minutes or so.
That gives people more time to prepare and seek shelter.
Without the GOES satellite we would be back in the dark ages of the mid to early 60s.
These GOES satellites are responsible, in my opinion, for saving many many thousands
of lives.