On May 31st twenty-two students, professor Dr. William Corcoran and Missouri State instructor and local meteorologist Ted Keller (KOLR-TV) headed off to the Great Plains to chase storms. The class, GRY 470 (Field Experience), titled “Storm Chasing” was designed to give students firsthand experience with the development and structure of thunderstorms as well as the environment in which they form. The students would also gain valuable experience in the field of storm chasing, which is one of the ways organizations such as the National Weather Service gathers data on severe weather, especially tornados.
A unique feature of the class was its collaboration with local meteorologist Ted Keller. Not only could the class rely on Keller for forecasts, but the video, images, and data the class collected were featured on KOLR-TV news broadcasts. After a few days in the classroom learning about the storms they were to chase the class headed off to Nebraska with the hopes of running into some storms and they were not disappointed. Early in the week the class found itself in Kansas where it not only came across some nice storms, but also the Vortex 2 team, more famously known as the “Storm Chasers” from the television show on the Discovery Channel. The students were able to see up close the armored car called the Tornado Intercept Vehicle (TIV) which is used by the Vortex 2 team.
The third day out found the class driving through Kansas and eventually ending up in Texas. They stopped in Greensburg, Kansas to survey damage done there in 2007. Later in the day, the class was in Canadian, Texas where a thunderstorm popped up right in front of them. After that, they came upon an even larger thunderstorm that was headed straight at them, forcing the class to navigate out of its path.
The fourth day saw little activity, but on June 4th the class chased storms over three hundred miles from Texas to nearly Wyoming. They eventually ended up in Sterling, CO, where they once again encountered the Vortex 2 team. Resting that evening, the students had no way of knowing that the upcoming day would be one they would never forget.
Early in the day they encountered Mike Bettes, an on air personality, meteorologist, and storm chaser for the Weather Channel. It would only get better from there. The class was invited to attend the Vortex 2 briefing. Meanwhile, Dr. Corcoran and others managed to track down the TIV at a gas station. Despite getting to meet some of the more famous people in the field, the real highlight of the day was to come. At a little after 5 PM on June 5th the class was witness to the Goshen Tornado, which is being called the best documented tornado in history – with footage depicting the storm from formulation to conclusion – as well as being thoroughly tracked and documented by radar.
To read the class blog, see their images and videos, and to get links to Vortex 2s videos, including video from inside the Goshen Tornado, visit the class website at http://msustormchase.ning.com/