When severe weather whips up over Greater Lafayette, most people rush to the nearest TV or radio for a storm's latest developments and expected path, then quickly take cover in a basement or other safe spot. A handful of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences students at Purdue University also get up and run, but they don't hide. Armed with video and still cameras, weather radios and cellphones, they jump into their vehicles and become storm chasers. To learn to predict them better is very challenging. It's a very humbling thing because of their sheer power.
Statistics indicate the tornado enthusiasts picked a good place to study.
Indiana is one of 15 states most frequently struck by tornadoes, according to the Federal Emergency Management Agency. During the month of April from 1950 through 1999, Indiana ranked first nationally in the fraction of its land area disturbed by tornadoes, according to VorTek LLC, a Huntsville, Ala.-based company looking to market a new tornado detection system. Dr. Harold Brooks, a research meteorologist at NOAA's National Severe Storms Laboratory in Norman, said that although he does not count Indiana among the Tornado Alley states, its residents are more at risk of tornadoes than most places. In terms of the total number of tornadoes, you get about one day per year where you'll have one touch down within 25 miles of you. From where I am, we get about 30 percent more than that.