Tornadoes claim hundreds of lives and cause billions of dollars in damages in the United States. With support from the National Science Foundation, computer scientist Amy McGovern at the University of Oklahoma is working to find answers to key questions about tornado formation. While video from storm chasers and data from Doppler radar can help meteorologists understand some aspects of tornadoes, McGovern uses supercomputers to find patterns in very large datasets. She also works with weather experts to help her sort out the information in the simulations. McGovern’s ultimate goal is to come up with reliable tornado forecasting system.
