Tornado on the Ground: DOW insights from 2024 tornadoes, including the Greenfield, IA EF4

23 July at 7:00 pm ET

On the afternoon of May 21, 2024, two Doppler on Wheels (DOW) mobile radars deployed near the town of Greenfield, IA, just prior to a destructive EF4 tornado entering town. DOW scientists calculated peak windspeeds as high as 309-318 mph, some of the fastest tornado windspeeds ever determined. This dataset was one of many collected during the 2024 season as part of the NSF-funded Boundary Layer and Evolution of Tornadoes (BEST) project. The BEST project deployed DOW radars, surface weather stations (Pods), and weather balloons very close to tornadoes to collect integrated wind, temperature, relative humidity, and damage data to better understand the intensity and evolution of tornadic winds close to the ground. One of the goals of the analysis includes using DOW data to calculate the time-history of winds at individual houses in Greenfield. These data will ultimately be used to inform tornado intensity prediction, future building standards, and tornado safety decisions, helping towns like Greenfield learn how to prepare for potential destructive tornadoes in the future.

AMS Registration Link