Project TWISTEX

Our weather is looking quiet, and I mentioned it in yesterday's blog post, so I figure I better talk about it - Project TWISTEX. Plus I like to talk about it because it gives me the chance to brag a little about something cool. ;)

Basically, a few years ago, an engineer in Denver by the name of Tim Samaras started to do some work on how to get data from tornadoes - not remotely like we do with doppler radar, but actual physical measurements. He developed these short metal cones with sensors to measure pressure, humidity, etc. He has gone on to develop a camera probe and a stick probe. He's gotten together with National Geographic and has been featured in both the magazine and in TV specials. I'm happy to say that he has also started collaborating with Iowa State (my alma mater). The company WindLogics is part of TWISTEX now, too - they've put together the instrumentation that goes on top of the cars (aka mobile mesonet vehicles).

So what's the point of all this? Well, we understand very little about tornadoes and exactly why they happen. The goal of this project is for the probes to take a direct hit by the tornado to get some actual data on them. Also, the mobile mesonet is used to find out information about the near-storm environment. If we get some ideas on what's going on near the circulation, then we can hopefully get better at predicting tornadoes. You can learn more about the project by clicking here. The homepage of TWISTEX.org is hopefully going to get frequent updates starting soon, too.

Okay, enough words. Time for pictures! These are from last year.


This first batch was taken by my friend Andrew...
Closeup of the instrumentation on top of the vehicles. Yes, that's PVC pipe.








Greensburg, KS on the horizon. You can kind of see how the trees are shredded. There was a steady convoy of dump trucks coming out of the town as we went past (a couple weeks after the EF5 destroyed the town). Even though it was a few miles away, you could still see the complete devastation. I never want to see that sort of thing again... ever.





Photo-op while the GPS was being fixed in one of the vehicles... that's Tim on the far left. I'm second from the right. Look closely... I had facial hair. It grew much better than Mike Morig's did during the IceHogs' postseason run! :)







Pics of Tim's awesome vehicle. He has a large-hail collector in the back, and the metal sheet on the front estimates hail size with the amount of pressure that hits it (using psi).






Okay, now it's time for pics from Bruce and Cathy from WindLogics. This is an awesome wall cloud near Hill City, Kansas. It went on to produce a tornado.





All four vehicles, lined up like ducks in a row.







If you'd like to see more pictures, Andrew took a whole lot - see all of them by clicking here.

Some members of the project are blogging this year. Check them out here:
Tim Samaras
Tony Laubach
Verne Carlson (pics of the cool new remote control plane!)
Roger Edwards
Jayson Prentice

Okay, one last picture...


Ahhhhh!