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."

Re:The Best Job

[machinegunben]

Be prepared for long hours in the car, clear sky busts 1200 miles away and a lot of gas station burritos. Storm Chasing, while fun, isn't as glamorous as Discovery has made it out to be.

Re:film crew effect on science:

[elysiana]

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 [noaa.gov] and here [noaa.gov] 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.

Re:The Best Job

[Strained Brain]

The problem with those vehicle types is their high profile. You need to remember that the point of the TIV was to drive into the tornado, so should be heavy but yet as low a profile as possible. Even if your armored vehicle base will be heavy, the possibility of tipping over is greatly increased.

Re:One big annoyance with the show

[TubeSteak]

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.

People in dynamic situations, taking dynamic shots, do not use tripods.

If you've ever seen a professional sports game, the camera guys are almost always using a mono/unipod. Partly to support the weight of their enormous camera lenses, but mostly because it provides a relatively stable and very flexible platform.

Re:The Best Job

[afidel]

Considering TIV-I made it through a EF2 tornado without any problems I would say he understood the forces fine, he never though the TIV could survive an EF5 which is the whole reason for teaming with the DOW.