I loved “Twisters.” They got the science mostly right. But a few observations: Driving a pickup into a tornado will end badly. Resist the urge to seek shelter under a bridge (the risk of being hit by flying debris is higher). Gut feel is a factor — intuition and “reading the sky” are real. Researchers do use drones to collect data and video. With apologies to Daisy Edgar-Jones’ character, injecting a tornado with chemicals to make it dissipate is probably a waste of time.
A tornado is not an object but a process, the focus of wind shear and updrafts in a severe rotating supercell thunderstorm. Even if you could extinguish a funnel, a new one would almost immediately take its place. How do you stop a spinning 5- to 10-mile-diameter thunderstorm? Good luck. And new “phased array” Dopplers can scan supercells near the ground faster, meaning better warnings. I missed Helen Hunt, but oh well.
Shocker: One to 2 inches of rain may fall today, with a few severe storms to the south. A stray twister can’t be ruled out. Happy chasing!
