Why go on the Highway to Hail?

Please join us for a special seminar this Friday Nov 24 at 3:30 pm in rm 155 Geology presented by Gunjan Sinha, PhD:

“Why go on the Highway to Hail?”

Understanding a thunderstorm and unlocking some of its mysteries would not have been possible if nobody was crazy enough to chase the one thing that everyone else is advised to stay away from. In fact, the movie Twister, which was inspired by an NOAA (National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration) research project, depicts it the best. Other than the requirement of craving for unpredictability, storm chasing also demands interests in science, adventure, an unlimited amount of driving, and photography. To us storm chasers, a thunderstorm is almost like a living organism which can either be extremely fascinating or frustrating. Every thunderstorm acts differently and hence, being at the right place at the right time is the biggest challenge of chasing. Unfortunately, simply following the SLIM (Shear, Lift, Instability, Moisture) model does not always end up overcoming that challenge.

During my 13 years of chasing, I have witnessed many different phenomena such as the “green sky”, effect of outflow boundary or higher terrains, storm collision and the list continues. Believe it or not, storms also fight to survive and when an extremely severe storm takes its last breath, the results could be devastating. There is still significant research to be done in order to unlock all the mysteries that are associated with thunderstorms. I have been extremely lucky to be able to feel and experience all the aspects that make them so mysterious.