Tornado Intercept: The Union City Twister and the Birth of Doppler Radar

On May 24, 1973 an F-4 tornado tore through Union City, Okla. With a Tornado Intercept Team in the field and a then-experimental Doppler radar just miles away, NSSL researchers made history, capturing for the first time the full lifecycle of a tornado with Doppler radar and discovering the tornadic vortex signature (TVS).
In the 50 years since Union City, NSSL has been a driver of innovation in radar technology, helping forecasters increase warning times and save lives.

[@Quasiblu212]

I remember this as a six year old boy. We lived in OKC but we were in Union City that afternoon looking at RVs or used cars. I remember the sky turned just pea soup green. That really struck me as a child. It started hailing violently. We knew we were in a bad situation so we jumped in our station wagon and tried to race back to OKC. At one point we were paralleling the funnel as it was condensing out of the sky. My mom was insisting that it was a tornado and my dad kept telling her "that's not a tornado!" but as we all saw, it was. It destroyed the car dealership where we had just been. Thanks for making this important short doc! Now I have this to show people when I tell them I was there.

[@tiffanyandtheshihtsu]

Thank you for this video! Please keep them coming!!!! They are enjoyed, appreciated, and exciting😊 Looking forward to the next video❤

[@NOAAWP]

Thank you! Glad you enjoyed the video.

[@ac7666]

This is a really interesting video, good work!

[@Ecksterphono]

This will be interesting 😊

[@melissasalasblair5273]

Thanks so much!!

[@NOAAWP]

You're welcome!