VORTEX2 Study Begins with Wednesday's Storms

By Rusty Surette, NEWS 9

OKLAHOMA CITY -- Dozens of storm trackers came face-to-face with severe storms on Wednesday in what's being called the largest and most ambitious field experiment ever devoted to studying tornadoes.

The chase was the first time crews with the VORTEX2 project came close to storms capable of producing a tornado.

More on News9.com: $11.9M Tornado Project Set to Launch in 8 States

VORTEX2 is an unprecedented chase by nearly 100 scientists, meteorologists and students using up to 40 storm tracking vehicles and mobile Doppler radars. Their goal is to collect as much information and data about tornadoes as possible.

"We're looking to figure out why tornadoes form, why some tornadoes are different from others, why some super cells produce tornadoes and some don't," said Tanya Brown of Texas Tech University.

The National Science Foundation (NSF) foundation and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) together are contributing over $10 million towards this effort.

NEWS 9's Rusty Surette and photojournalist Brandon Mowry were the only Oklahoma television news crew to ride along with the teams as they tracked Wednesday's severe weather across Blaine, Custer and Caddo Counties.

At the end of the five-week project, scientists hope to have a better understanding of how, when and why tornadoes form.

Learn more about the VORTEX2 project.

Wednesday's chase came to its end just south of Hinton shortly after the sun set, as team leaders advised against tracking storms in the dark.

The storm trackers followed the line of severe weather throughout the afternoon and evening, eventually moving south towards Anadarko, where a possible tornado touched down late Wednesday night.

More on News9.com: Teams Survey Anadarko Storm Damage

On Thursday, the teams gathered to try to predict where the next outbreak of storms will occur.

VORTEX2 is fully nomadic with no home base. The scientists and students will roam from state to state following severe weather outbreaks through the Plains.