at 12:12 PM by Pierce Larkin

WKU Storm Chase Students Having Success Early

The WKU Meteorology program is one that I am very proud of. As a student, I take significant pride in having excellent professors, students and being ahead of the game in all things meteorology. We have successful alumni, and are continuing to have success with current students and their research, forecasting, etc. One of the most successful things that our department has produced is the annual WKU Storm Chase class.

Officially called the WKU Field Methods in Severe Weather Analysis & Forecasting, this began with the 2010 graduating class, and has blossomed. The class is an Internationally recognized and award winning class headed by Dr. Josh Durkee, one of the lead professors in the meteorology program at WKU. It is essentially an intensive field training course, allowing meteorology students to get a hands on experience with forecasting for severe weather. 

This year’s class of students left this past Sunday, and has already had plenty of success early on. The class is structured to have intensive forecast discussions each morning, and to drive to wherever the storms are that day. In the past, the team has gone from the Texas panhandle to near the Canadian border in one day to chase supercells, possible tornadoes. They inevitably see hail and awesome thunderstorms as well. The practice of forecasting and driving to verify it themselves is very rewarding. They have been on infamous tornadoes, such as the Joplin, Missouri tornado and the Bennington, Kansas tornado.

05.28.13: Bennington, KS Tornado by Josh Durkee on 500px.com
05.28.13: Bennington, KS Tornado by Josh Durkee on 500px.com

So far this year, they have only been gone for a few days, but they are already seeing plenty of success. Check out some of the early images from the trip!

I am incredibly proud that I am a student of a university that is as ahead on projects like this, and I can’t wait to hear more about what my peers and Professor saw out in the plains. To keep up with the WKU Storm chase, follow their twitter account; @wkustormchase.