EPISODE DESCRIPTIONS

OKLAHOMA CITY
On May 3rd, 1999 a storm complex over Oklahoma and Kansas started producing tornadoes. At this time of year, this violent weather phenomenon is not unusual in this part of the world; the central plains of the USA are often referred to as "Tornado Alley". But on this day one of the tornadoes that formed was the largest kind, an F5. This monster touched down just west of Oklahoma City, shortly before five o'clock in the afternoon and started to move slowly in a north easterly direction, straight into the highly populated suburbs of the city itself.

Destroying everything in its way, it carved a track of devastation a mile wide, pulverising houses into matchwood and rubble and stripping the leaves and bark from trees, before uprooting them and hurling them through the air as deadly missile. Cars and trucks were lifted effortlessly and blown hundreds of yards away. At one point scientists studying the storm registered the highest windspeed ever recorded - over three hundred miles an hour.

We see how scientists from the nearby University of Oklahoma, eager to improve their knowledge of what causes tornadoes, drive their mobile radar as close to the storm as they can, knowing it's heading for their homes and families. The program also follows a group on a "storm chasing tour", people who have decided to spend their annual vacation pursuing thunder storms in the hope of sighting tornadoes. At least one member of the group becomes very disillusioned with what they're doing, when he sees the devastation in Oklahoma City.

STORM CHASERS
Despite the fact that tornadoes can be exceedingly dangerous and capable of causing considerable damage, some people find them fascinating – so fascinating that they will spend their annual vacations chasing storms in the hope of seeing a tornado touch down.

This program follows three independent chasers and two storm chasing tour groups. These are “Cloud Nine Tours” and “Silver Lining Tours”, both of which take groups of enthusiasts on two week trips at the height of the tornado season.  This runs from May into June in “Tornado Alley” – the central plains area of the US.

Many other independent chasers prefer to travel by themselves or in small groups of two or three, enjoying the challenge of predicting where the storms will be. Other chasers in the program are not solely interested in the terrifying power of tornadoes; they delight in experiencing the sheer majesty of these enormous storms, including the astonishing displays of lightning that so often accompany them.

There are two ways to approach a storm which might generate tornadoes. In the US such storms tend to move from the southwest to the northeast and it is generally safer to move in from behind, which usually means a southerly direction.  The biggest tornadoes tend to form under storms known as supercells: these rotate, spinning hail and rain off to one side.  If a storm chaser approaches from the northeast through the hail and rain, it is known as “punching the core”.  This is highly dangerous because as the chaser emerges from the often blinding hail and rain he could find a large tornado heading straight for him. In their eagerness to see a tornado, a number of chasers take the risk of “punching the core”.

TORNADO ALLEY
The program consists of a series of accounts of the effect of severe weather on peoples’ lives in parts of the USA.  Most are from the central plains area, otherwise known as “Tornado Alley”, and are concerned, primarily, with the effect of tornadoes although some consideration is also given to that other weather phenomenon that usually accompanies severe storms – lightning.

Dave Dahl works as a weather forecaster at a television station and tells what happened when one day he and a film crew were chasing a storm and they accidentally got in front of a tornado as it formed.  The crew taped what happened as the twister headed straight for them.  Lonnie McVaigh is another weather professional whose job puts him at risk. He is a storm spotter and once while out reporting on the progress of a tornado he suddenly realized that it was heading in his direction.

When tornadoes strike, one group of people is more at risk than any other – those who live in mobile homes.  The events in Shreveport, Louisiana in April 1999 once again confirmed this.  For mobile home dwellers and for everybody else, one of the best forms of defense against tornadoes is to have plenty of warning so that they can take cover in a proper storm shelter.  A device which might achieve that has been invented by engineer Dr. Frank Tatom.  It’s called a “snail” and the idea came from his work on minimizing vibrations in the Space Shuttle.  It’s designed to detect when a tornado is “on the ground” and could be particularly useful when there is no storm spotter there to report the fact.  The people of Ogden, Illinois might have benefited from such a device in April 1996, because their tornado struck during the night.

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