Chasing the World’s Largest Tornado

Overheard at National Geographic

National Geographic

Science, Society & Culture

4.5 • 10.1K Ratings

🗓️ 10 November 2020

⏱️ 28 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

How do you measure something that destroys everything it touches? That’s an essential question for tornado researchers. After he narrowly escaped the largest twister on record—a two-and-a-half-mile-wide behemoth with 300-mile-an-hour winds—National Geographic Explorer Anton Seimon found a new, safer way to peer inside them and helped solve a long-standing mystery about how they form. For more information on this episode, visit nationalgeographic.com/overheard Want more? See some of Anton’s mesmerizing tornado videos and his analysis of the El Reno tornado. Check out what we know about the science of tornadoes and tips to stay safe if you’re in a tornado’s path. Plus, learn more about The Man Who Caught the Storm, Brantley Hargrove’s biography of Tim Samaras. And for paid subscribers: Read “The Last Chase,” the National Geographic cover story chronicling Tim Samaras’ pursuit of the El Reno tornado. If you like what you hear and want to support more content like this, please consider a National Geographic subscription. Go to natgeo.com/exploremore to subscribe today. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Transcript

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0:30.0	Go one and a half miles.
0:34.0	In 2013, Anton Simon was crisscrossing Oklahoma roads in a minivan.
0:40.0	Anton has assigned his two studies tornadoes and his team saw a huge one out the window.
0:47.0	Okay, yeah. Keep going. It's very close.
0:50.0	It's on the tornado very close.
0:53.0	And we began driving south and I thought we were in a very safe position.
0:57.0	And then things began to deteriorate in a way that I was not familiar with.
1:01.0	All of a sudden, the tornado changed directions.
1:05.0	It also ballooned to a much bigger size.
1:08.0	Before he knew it, Anton was way too close.
1:11.0	The winds began to get very intense.
1:14.0	Roring at us as the head went from the south, probably blowing at least a hundred miles an hour.
1:18.0	And as these things happen, we're basically engulfed by this giant circulation of the tornado.
1:24.0	Wow. You know, a four cylinder minivan doesn't do very well in a hundred mile an hour headwind.
	...

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