The Vortex 2 Project is bringing new technology to tornado chasing

Providing time to individuals that are in the middle of severe weather situations that can lead to tornadoes is vital. The goal of storm chasers is to collect important data that will be able to help them increase the warning times so people have more time to get their families to safety and avoid being stuck in the middle of a tornado. One of the projects currently being used to gather information about tornadoes and storm systems is known as the Vortex 2 project. This new project is massive as several vehicles equipment with Doppler radar, cameras, and other devices are being deployed to surround the storm system and gather data outside the tornado but complexly circling it.

This project is unique and impressive and will be able to provide increased warning times. Combining this data with that collected by storm chasers like Reed Timmer, scientists are able to collect data around and inside tornadoes. This helps to learn more about how tornadoes work, why they form, what builds their intensity, and how long they last. Gathering data for the entire life cycle of the tornado will dramatically improve warning times but it can also help with the construction of buildings to make them stronger and resistant to high speed winds.

The goal of the Vortex 2 project is to increase warning times to 50 minutes from the 13 minutes people currently have. Compared to other research projects, this project includes more researchers and scientists unlike any other project. Once all the information is collected the researchers and scientists will all gather together to create computer models and other things that will track the storm time and calculate things that varies in the weather patterns such as larger raindrops along with winds and even humidity.

One of the other goals coming with the storm warnings includes not only increasing storm warning times but also keeping it to a specific area. This means only 10 mile radius areas will be evacuated versus evacuating an entire metropolitan area and having mass chaos. The information that is currently gathered by the National Weather Service provides storm information but it is from far distances so this is why larger areas are evacuated and warned about the storms.

The Vortex 2 project is designed to get closer to the tornadoes and gather information that is not only close but also next to the earth and also collecting information in the clouds.Since the information is collected on mobile units, a large team will drive the vehicles around to gather the data. The individuals are part of the team that will deploy the entire team or just certain vehicles to gather the data they need. These vehicles not only have instruments that gather data, they also have HD cameras that allows them to collect activity inside the tornado along with the way the tornado "throws" the debris and what this means as far as destruction pattern goes and how things need to be changed by builders to try and make homes safer.

One other thing that Vortex 2 project will be able to do is help utility companies as they need to rely on the warning system to see where they should cut power during storms so they can reduce fires and other things that happen during tornadoes. It can even help with the way electricity is delivered to homes as they may want to start burying power lines instead of having them freestanding where the tornadoes will destroy them.

The Vortex 2 project is impressive and it can help to increase warning times but other storm chasers are also working hard to collect data from inside the storm to also help improve warning times and save lives.