A UAS-based investigation of severe storms is set to launch in a few weeks.

​Known as Targeted Observation by Radars and UAS of Supercells (TORUS), the project will be a collaboration between the University of Nebraska–Lincoln and three partner institutions, including Texas Tech University, the University of Colorado Boulder, and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s National Severe Storms Laboratory.

The project will start on May 15, and fieldwork for the project will continue until June 16, covering a 367,000-square-mile area of the Great Plains from North Dakota to Texas, Iowa to Wyoming and Colorado.

“If there’s a supercell thunderstorm anywhere in the region, we hope to be there,” says Adam Houston, associate professor of atmospheric science at Nebraska and lead investigator.

According to Houston, this is the largest-ever study of its kind based on the geographical area covered and the number of UAS to be deployed (four). Houston says that past studies have only involved one UAS, so flying four will allow scientists to gather more data from different parts of a storm, so that they can answer a more extensive set of questions.

The goal of this research is to collect data to improve the conceptual model of supercell thunderstorms, which are the parent storms of the most destructive tornadoes. Scientists hope to uncover how small-scale structures within the storm contribute to tornado formation. These structures are believed to be nearly invisible to all but the most precise research-grade instruments.

The universities say that “by revealing the hidden composition of severe storms and associating it to the regularly observed environment, the TORUS project could improve supercell and tornado forecasts.”

Additionally, scientists want to reduce the number of false-alarm tornado warnings, while improving the detection of these storms.

According to Houston, the Central Plains, commonly known as “Tornado Alley,” serves as a “great laboratory” to better understand severe storms. The universities note that the central and southern Plains, including Oklahoma and Texas, are still the top areas in the U.S. for tornadoes, but a study in late 2018 suggested tornadoes are occurring more frequently in areas of the Southeast and Midwest.

“Every place in the United States is vulnerable to supercell thunderstorms,” Houston says. “What we learn in this laboratory called the Central Plains is applicable everywhere. Tornadoes are geographically agnostic.”