How forecasting has changed since the 1996 movie 'Twister'

Added: 2026-05-09

[00:00:00]To help us separate Hollywood from reality, we are happy to be joined by Dr. Shawn Wahl, research scientist with NOAA's National Severe Storms Laboratory, who advised the tech in the Twisters 2022 2024 film, and is joining us from where else? A storm chasing vehicle. We love it. Glad to have you, Doc. I have to ask, in the original Twister, Helen Hunt's character dreamed of increasing tornado warning times to 15 minutes, and now we're more or less there thanks to advances in technology with Doppler and phased array radars.

[00:00:33]In your opinion, what have been some of the biggest breakthroughs in tornado science that have led to better storm prediction?

[00:00:42]Yeah, you're absolutely right, and thanks for having me on today. I think one of the greatest advancements that we've had in our ability to detect and warn for tornadoes is radar-based technology, and that's something the new recent film has really leaned into. The Doppler weather radars, the WSR-88Ds that the weather service has been using for decades have really pushed those limits forward and allowed us to identify those precursors to events that are likely to lead to tornadoes. Phased array technology is the next iteration of that. Faster update times mean it's seconds, not minutes, to get that life-saving information, which really drives a lot of advancement in our ability to warn for these events in the future and make sure that we're protecting life and property back home.

[00:01:26]So, with these advances in in the tech you mentioned, what can artificial intelligence actually help meteorologists do when it comes to predicting and understanding tornadoes here when we've seen firsthand, you particularly, just how quickly everything can change?

[00:01:43]Absolutely. So, there's a lot of products, especially that NOAA's National Severe Storms Laboratory is working on. Things like Wasp, Cast, Torp, Seed. It's a lot of acronyms, but basically these are AI-driven and machine learning-driven programs that are designed to dig into the data to look for patterns and recognize trends sometimes faster than we can as an individual, especially when you have numerous storms and numerous events that are going on that require dividing a lot of attention. These types of products can absolutely help forecasters key in on storms that are about to produce tornadoes or other significant severe weather hazards and give them that lead time that they need to make sure that we're getting that warning information out in a timely fashion.

[00:02:26]It's encouraging to see the advances we have seen. I know that you have kind of unique insight blending reality with Hollywood having been an advisor on some of the films. When it does come to tornado tech and storm chasing itself, what are some of the most unrealistic things the movies get wrong? I know we all want to, you know, buy into the magic a little bit, but fill us in.

[00:02:49]Hey, I mean, I I love the movie just as much and I enjoy both films immensely and I watched them over and over and over again. I think where things start to get dramatic, obviously, you know, if you're driving through houses and and deploying things in front of tornadoes, that instant sort of satisfaction of getting that feedback of that data, it usually doesn't happen that quickly.

[00:03:08]When we go out and we do research projects like this, we're collecting information and then we spend months, if not years, studying that data, learning those patterns, and translating that information and that knowledge into products and warning services that we can carry forward. So, I think one of the maybe the bigger, you know, dramatizations of things is that sort of instant gratification of of doing something and then immediately knowing what happened. It doesn't happen that quickly in the real world.

[00:03:34]And perhaps maybe don't use leather straps to attach yourself to water pipes in a shed in front of an EF5. Can we throw that out there as well?

[00:03:45]Yeah, I I definitely don't recommend doing anything that you see in either of those films. Obviously, if you're in the path of one of these types of storms, you know, have a plan ahead of time.

[00:03:54]Take shelter underground if you can or just get into the interior room of your house. Cover yourself as best you can.

[00:04:00]There are a lot of things that you can do to protect yourself, but leather straps on a pipe that goes down what, 30 ft? I don't think that's a recommended path.

[00:04:09]Yeah, leave it to the pros entirely. So glad to have you. Before you go real quickly, that dry line starting to fire off yet or no?

[00:04:19]Yeah, so we're actually out in central Oklahoma right now. We've got a couple of teams out here. We're looking at tornadoes and I'm actually sitting in Noah's state-of-the-art hail camera vehicle that's designed to take pictures of hail in complete free fall before it hits the ground and breaks so that we can get a better sense of how severe hail is falling as well as tornadoes. All part of the the plan and all part of the research that we do here at Noah's National Severe Storms Laboratory.

[00:04:43]Hey, you get some incredible hail footage. We'll have to have you back on.

[00:04:46]Doc, always a pleasure to have you joining us and we'll see you next time.

[00:04:49]Safe chasing. We thank you for watching and remember, stay updated on breaking news and top stories on the NBC News app or watch live on our YouTube channel.