Norman, Oklahoma, is home to the National Weather Center, a partnership between the University of Oklahoma (which has one of the better college programs in meteorology in the country) and the National Weather Service. There's a lot of weather-oriented stuff there, including the national Storm Prediction Center, where Severe Thunderstorm and Tornado Warnings for the entire USA are generated. Every year they take advantage of this by having the National Weather Festival, which includes a stormchaser's car show, tours of the facility, and booths filled with people hawking various weather-related goods, services, and ideas. This morning I went to the one for this year. Here are some photos....
Storm chasing and weather research vehicle
And here's a closer view of that instrument package on top:
Whenever a Severe Thunderstorm Watch or Tornado Watch is issued for the US, it comes from this very room. Things are pretty quiet now, though.
Warnings (as opposed to Watches) are issued more locally from many smaller centers across the country. This is the one that covers Western Oklahoma and eight counties in North Central Texas:
It just isn't a weather festival if you don't launch a weather balloon!
They launch several of these a day from each regional weather center, info on returning them is attached, but I was told they only get ten to fifteen percent of them back.
Unsuccessful and fictional weather probes, the one on the left is strictly a prop, I believe from the movie "Twister". The one in the center was designed to be dropped from a high flying plane so that it would pass THROUGH a thunderhead and gather data, but the project was cancelled when someone who didn't have his head in the clouds (heh) pointed out that when the probe hit the ground, it would kill anyone unfortunate enough to be under it.
At one organization's booth they demonstrated air monitoring equipment.
Got radar?
The "Weather Superheroes" did a dance for everyone
To make sure we all feel safe, the Department of Public Safety showed off their mobile command post. You could go in the trailer and see a small conference room with video monitors, they mostly used the opportunity to brag on how good at following bad guys their tracking dogs are.
And what's a festival without a corporate sponsor plugging their brand?
Speaking of cows, the small cafeteria on site is known as the "Flying Cow Cafe." Think of the movie Twister if this doesn't make sense.
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