Skip to main content

Thank you for visiting nature.com. You are using a browser version with limited support for CSS. To obtain the best experience, we recommend you use a more up to date browser (or turn off compatibility mode in Internet Explorer). In the meantime, to ensure continued support, we are displaying the site without styles and JavaScript.

What Twisters gets right — and wrong — about tornado science

Nature talks to tornado specialists and scientific advisers for the new disaster film about how it stacks up.
By
  1. Alexandra Witze
A scene from the film "Twisters" showing a truck in front of a tornado with power lines coming down nearby.

In this still from the 2024 film Twisters, a tornado wreaks havoc in Oklahoma. Credit: Landmark Media/Alamy

When Hollywood producers showed up a few years ago at Sean Waugh’s office, he couldn’t wait to show them his thunderstorm-tracking equipment. Waugh, a meteorologist at the US National Severe Storms Laboratory in Norman, Oklahoma, is a big fan of the 1996 film Twister, which stars Helen Hunt and Bill Paxton as leaders of a tornado-chasing research team. And now, Hollywood was asking Waugh his opinion on how the science in the next film in the Twister franchise should look.

Access options

Rent or buy this article

Prices vary by article type

from$1.95

to$39.95

Learn more

Prices may be subject to local taxes which are calculated during checkout

Nature 631, 722 (2024)

doi: https://doi.org/10.1038/d41586-024-02276-x

Updates & Corrections

  • Correction 12 July 2024: An earlier version of this story said that the US National Weather Service uses an advanced technology called phased array radar. Is it the National Severe Storms Laboratory.

References

  1. Graber, M., Trapp, R. J. & Wang, Z. npj Clim. Atmos. Sci. 7, 144 (2024).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  2. Gensini, V. A. & Brooks, H. E. npj Clim. Atmos. Sci. 1, 38 (2018).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  3. Strader, S. M., Gensini, V. A., Ashley, W. S. & Wagner, A. N. npj Nat. Hazards 1, 20 (2024).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  4. Kosiba, K. & Wurman, J. Commun. Earth & Environ. 4, 50 (2023).

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Subjects

Latest on:

Nature Careers

Jobs

  • Postdoctoral Fellow in Immunology

    The Department of Medicine at Boston University, Bosmann Laboratory, is recruiting highly motivated Postdoctoral Fellows to work on projects in Imm...

    Boston, Massachusetts (US)

    BU Pulmonary

  • Independent Investigator Fellowship Program

    NIBS invites applications from outstanding early-career scientists for the Independent Investigator Fellowship Program.

    Beijing (CN)

    National Institute of Biological Sciences, Beijing

  • Faculty Positions

    Faculty Positions in Physics and Astronomy National Tsing Hua University, Taiwan (located in Hsinchu – the heart of Taiwan’s science and tech hub)

    Hsinchu,Taiwan (TW)

    The Department of Physics and Institute of Astronomy at National Tsing Hua University, Taiwan

  • Associate or Senior Editor (Nature Geoscience – Biogeochemistry)

    Job Title: Associate or Senior Editor (Nature Geoscience - Biogeochemistry) Organisation: Nature Portfolio Location: Shanghai, Beijing, Milan and P...

    Shanghai, Beijing, Milan and Pune

    Springer Nature Ltd

  • Associate or Senior Editor (Nature Geoscience - Solid Earth)

    Job Title: Associate or Senior Editor (Nature Geoscience - Solid Earth) Organisation: Nature Portfolio Location: Shanghai, Beijing, Milan and Pune ...

    Shanghai, Beijing, Milan and Pune

    Springer Nature Ltd

Nature Briefing

Sign up for the Nature Briefing newsletter — what matters in science, free to your inbox daily.

Get the most important science stories of the day, free in your inbox. Sign up for Nature Briefing

Search

Advanced search

Quick links