Highway to the Danger Zone

Welcome to my humble little contribution to the blogging world!

My purpose here is to relay my experiences in the field to friends and family that are interested in knowing the nitty gritty details they can't find elsewhere. What field is that? The Great Plains! For the next few weeks of this summer and for a good portion of the next, I will be joining the largest tornado field experiment in history: VORTEX2 (Verification of the Origins of Rotation in Tornadoes EXperiment 2). The data collected in V2 will be used to help us understand and better predict these forces of nature. For the general population, that means (hopefully) an improved warning system and fewer false alarms, so when that siren goes off, you know it means business!

I will be graduating from the University of Virginia with a B.S. in Environmental Science with a concentration in Atmospheric Science this Sunday. Following that, I will be going on to Purdue University for my M.S. in Atmospheric Science. Because I am between schools as this project begins, I am still not exactly sure what my role in V2 is going to be this summer! You will find out when I do!

VORTEX2 is all over the media right now! The Weather Channel is hyping the project with Mike Bettes out in the field with different crews, which I think is awesome because it makes the research more accessible to the general population. I will join the group in the field this upcoming Tuesday and will be posting plenty of pictures and even video of our activities. That's right: graduation on Sunday afternoon and an early-morning departure Tuesday morning! I am hurrying to tie up all my loose ends at home! Until then, keep yourself busy with all the information available online, especially:

http://www.vortex2.org/home/
http://www.nssl.noaa.gov/vortex2/

Stay tuned....