Hook Echo
Natural disasters read off the instruments that saw them: NEXRAD radar, satellite and the damage survey.
Joplin 2011: The Tornado Warning 17 Minutes Early
On 22 May 2011 the National Weather Service warned all of Joplin, Missouri, 17 minutes before a tornado touched down -- more than the national average. It still became the deadlies...
Hurricane Michael 2018: The Data Made It a Category 5
Hurricane Michael came ashore at Mexico Beach, Florida, on 10 October 2018, announced as a Category 4. Six months later the National Hurricane Center made it a Category 5 -- by thr...
Kilauea 2018: The Volcano That Fell In On Itself
In 2018 the summit of Kilauea, Hawaii, collapsed 62 times in three months while lava poured out of Leilani Estates, 40 km away. USGS footage shows both ends. We downloaded the raw ...
Moore 2013: The Day Radar Saw the Debris
On 20 May 2013 a mile-wide EF5 tornado crossed Newcastle and Moore, Oklahoma. National Guard footage shows what it left. The Oklahoma City radar, upgraded to dual polarization 225 ...
Bridge Creek-Moore 1999: How Radar Clocked 301 MPH
On 3 May 1999 a truck-mounted Doppler radar measured winds of about 301 mph, give or take 20, inside the tornado that crossed Bridge Creek and Moore, Oklahoma. In 2021 the same sca...