When a tornado strikes, many people wish to be well out of the way. For dedicated teams of scientists across the country, however, the best way to observe and learn about tornadoes is to be as close to them as safely possible when they form and when they strike. To this end, these storm chasers venture out into the severe weather in order to gather data from various instruments and to record the storm with photographs and videotape.

On the Front Lines: Storm Chasers

Many storm chasers are professionals associated with colleges and universities or branches of the U.S. government, such as the National Severe Storms Laboratory (NSSL). Often these two segments of weather investigators work hand in hand to track storm formation. But because tornadoes are a rare event, there are many times when storm chasers venture out into se vere weather...