Maybe We Need A Tornado Bailout

Just like the economy, tornadoes were in decline in 2009:

This has been an unusually mild year in Tornado Alley, which is good news, of course, for the people who live here, but a little frustrating to scientists who planned to chase twisters as part of a $10 million research project.

“You’re out there to do the experiment and you’re geared up every day and ready. And when there isn’t anything happening, that is frustrating,” said Don Burgess, a scientist at the University of Oklahoma. But he was quick to add that he is pleased the relative quiet has meant fewer injuries and less damage.

Nationwide, there were 826 tornadoes this year through June 30, compared with an average of 934 for the same period during the previous three years, according to the National Severe Storms Laboratory in Norman, Okla.

Most twisters strike in Tornado Alley, which generally extends from Texas and Oklahoma to Kansas, Nebraska, Iowa and Minnesota.

During a remarkable 17-day lull from mid-May through early June, there were no tornado watches issued anywhere in the United States. And that is typically the height of the season in Tornado Alley.

“It was very, very unusual,” said Joe Schaefer, director of the Storm Prediction Center in Norman, which, like the Severe Storms lab, operates under the National Weather Service.

I followed the Vortex 2 project online during the weeks they were on the road, and with the exception of a tornado they caught one afternoon in Nebraska, they pretty much got bupkiss. The TornadoVideos.net guys did a little better, but they weren't tied down to the massive convoy of equipment that Vortex 2 had.

One of these years when the opportunity avails itself I'm going on a storm chase trip for a week or so with TornadoVideos.net or one of the organizations that do that. I think that would be very cool. Live blogging from supercells all over the midwest.

That would be much more fun than politics.