NOVA: Hunt for the Supertwister

Shown: A tornado.

Credit: Courtesy of Royalty-Free/Corbis

Learn about the people who devote their lives to studying tornadoes.

A powerful tornado is a terrifying phenomenon that continues to defy decades of scientific efforts to predict it. During one of the worst tornado seasons on record, a NOVA camera team chased across the Midwest, capturing hair-raising footage of highly destructive twisters in action. But this is much more than just another “extreme weather” show, focusing on the efforts of two scientists at the University of Oklahoma to develop radically different approaches to forecasting twisters. With jaw-dropping 3-D graphics generated by the National Center for Supercomputing Applications, Hunt for the Supertwister airs Wednesday, May 22, 2013 at 9 p.m. on WXXI-TV. This presentation will be followed directly by NOVA Oklahoma’s Killer Tornadoes at 10 p.m.