Storm Warning: The Story of a Killer Tornado

by Nancy Mathis

Because of the dryline storm explosions, the Great Plains also has a propensity to produce a rare and fierce type of thunderstorm: a supercell. It is super in every way. The tower soars to 50,000 or 60,000 feet and bumps against the stratosphere, flattening at the top to give it the distinctive appearance of a blacksmith’s anvil. A supercell draws in warm air with such power that the updraft begins to swirl horizontally. The entire back side of the supercell rotates like a 1950s version of a flying saucer. The horizontally rotating mass, called a mesocyclone, is the first clue to radar observers that a thunderstorm could produce a tornado. The mesocyclone produces a “hook echo” on radar, the appearance of a fishhook or a backward letter J as it swirls the winds. The hook echo almost always forms on the storm’s rear right side. Chasers call this storm region the bear’s cage, where the wind and rain can obscure a tornado. To get caught inside the bear’s cage is to risk being eaten alive.