Frontline researchers barrel into severe weather with an army of high-tech trucks. Here’s how they design their rigs to withstand extreme conditions.
In 2019, Elizabeth Smith was sitting with her team in the middle of Nebraska watching a tornado roll in. As the giant twister—wider than a football field, with winds reaching 120 mph—approached from across the field, her truck suddenly died.
A research meteorologist at the National Severe Storms Laboratory (NSSL) and a faculty member at the University of Oklahoma, Smith deployed in the field alongside an armada of more than 50 scientists for this highly coordinated study of natural chaos. Half a dozen trucks loaded with sensor equipment sliced through the storm releasing weather balloons while two drones and a turboprop plane buzzed overhead, all with the intent to create a 3D map of the storm.
