Latest news with #RollingFork
Malaysian Reserve
05-05-2025
- Science
- Malaysian Reserve
Shaped by Weather: University of Oklahoma Research Fuels Uncrewed Aerial System Development, Innovation
NORMAN, Okla., May 5, 2025 /PRNewswire/ — On the day of the 2023 Rolling Fork tornado, researchers with the Cooperative Institute for Severe and High Impact Weather (CIWRO) and NOAA's National Severe Storms Laboratory, headquartered on the University of Oklahoma campus, piloted a small network of drones through increasingly hostile conditions. The nimble airborne devices collected data about the changing atmosphere and demonstrated that such a tool could be used to improve the prediction of violent tornadoes. These drones are part of a lineage of uncrewed aerial systems (UAS) developed at CIWRO that are changing the face of weather observations. Tony Segales, Ph.D., has led the system's development since he began his doctoral work at OU in the fall 2017. The CopterSonde-3D, the culmination of his dissertation, is a patented design for a weather-sensing UAS that is now exclusively licensed with InterMet, the world's leading supplier of atmospheric sensors. The patent, awarded last year, is specifically for the front scoop design of the CopterSonde-3D, a weather sensor package equipped with temperature and humidity sensors arranged in a strategic way to avoid data contamination by sources of heat around the drone. 'We designed the CopterSonde to essentially be a weathervane: It points into the wind. That's the baseline feature from which all the other onboard weather-targeted features were designed,' said Segales. As the drone points into the wind, air flows through the intake and across the sensors. It's a tricky configuration to target the right performance window, and even trickier to continue building upon. 'Initially, we had an airframe design that was more symmetrical and easier to balance, but now we are betting on a more intricate drone design,' said Segales. 'When you change something, it changes the balance in flight characteristics. Overall, we are achieving a drone design shaped by weather and tailored to atmospheric studies.' Next-Generation Technology Segales and his graduate students manage the CopterSonde's engineering, and Segales is the only UAS research engineer on the team. The CopterSonde is one example of the research-to-industry pipeline created at the intersection of academia and government research at the cooperative institute. Segales's designs are immediately put to work in the field, where meteorologists like Tyler Bell, Ph.D., a co-inventor on the patent, test new designs while also collecting weather data for their own meteorological research. During the design process, the CopterSonde-3D underwent over 1,700 flights in various environments, such as extreme storm conditions in the southeastern United States, high altitudes in Colorado and the salty air of coastal Houston, Texas. Those flights, conducted by CIWRO's researchers and OU students, gave the meteorologists data to study the lower atmosphere and Segales the feedback from meteorologists he needed to return to his lab and redesign components of the UAS. The CopterSonde-3D is a next-generation observational platform. The team hopes it can supplement existing measurements of the atmosphere and fill gaps that have been known for over a decade. 'Typically, we get weather balloon launches by the National Weather Service twice a day,' said Bell. 'But the rate at which the lowest part of the atmosphere changes is much higher than those twice-a-day launches, and we don't get much information in between. That lowest one or two miles of the atmosphere is where we live, and it's the part that influences a lot of high-impact weather.' The primary purpose of the CopterSondes is to fill existing time and geographical data gaps, but it also opens the door to significant research questions previously unexplored. Because UAS pilots can position the drone exactly where they want data from the lower atmosphere, the drones can venture into scenarios otherwise dangerous or impossible for humans to approach such as wildfires and severe storms. Bell says the future development of the program will enable CopterSondes to fly autonomously and be placed at Mesonet stations across the country, creating a 3D Mesonet system. 'The UAS would work in combination with other sensors. A forecaster could select an area where they wanted more observations, and the drones would collect that data the forecaster needs in the moment,' said Bell. He believes the CIWRO team will have a prototype developed for testing within a few years. Game-Changing Collaborations In collaboration with NSSL, the team is currently working to design a drone that can operate in the type of extreme environments forecasters might want to sample. 'On the engineering side of things, this represents a big challenge. The drone would have to max out during every flight, which puts more stress on the electronics,' said Segales. 'We want to measure the limits of the performance of these drones on extreme events to see how much we can really push the systems for sustained amounts of time.' These collaborations between engineers and meteorologists, cooperative institute researchers and government scientists, create an environment where a product like the CopterSonde can blossom from an idea into a device that can provide life-saving benefits for the American public. 'There is this great feedback loop that we have here, where we can do this research from the ground up, from basic design to the actual application of science and innovation,' said Bell. An example comes from what Bell calls one of the more impactful datasets they've captured: a central Oklahoma winter weather precipitation event in 2019. The CopterSonde-3D showed that the precipitation was changing by the minute, alternating among sleet, ice, rain, and freezing rain. 'That's an example of how we can improve forecasts using this data, because in those conditions half a degree matters, and the Copter can get that half a degree really, really well,' said Bell. In the future, Segales envisions a fleet of CopterSondes, each specifically designed for specific extreme events – drones built to handle icing on blades, and others made to soar through high winds and examine hurricanes from within. For now, there's a patent pending for another member of the CopterSonde family, and the potential for next-generation weather and safety through these important academic and federal partnerships. About the University of Oklahoma Founded in 1890, the University of Oklahoma is a public research university located in Norman, Oklahoma. As the state's flagship university, OU serves the educational, cultural, economic and health care needs of the state, region and nation. For more information about the university, visit
Yahoo
27-03-2025
- Climate
- Yahoo
How to find a tornado shelter near you
AUSTIN (KXAN) — A new tornado shelter map is helping aid community safety by helping people locate their nearest shelter. Meteorologist Tommy House sat down with Craig Ceecee, Ph.D., who is the founder of Find Your Tornado Shelter LLC, to learn more. Read an edited version of the conversation below or use the video player above to listen. Meteorologist Tommy House: We want to talk about the website you've created. It has a map of different tornado shelters across the country. What inspired you to do this? Craig Ceecee: It actually started a few years ago when I was in a tornado shelter here in Starkville, Mississippi, during the 'Easter 2020 tornado outbreak', which was also during the peak of the pandemic. I realized, what can we do to protect ourselves from tornadoes during the pandemic? From there, the idea expanded into a broader project on tornado shelters in general. I worked on my dissertation for my Ph.D. on this, and one of the questions in my survey was whether people would use tornado shelter maps and mobile apps. The answer was, most people would. So, about three years ago, I began working on it, initially for educational purposes, but it eventually became more of a commercial venture. It started gaining media attention, especially around two years ago, with the Rolling Fork tornado in Mississippi, along with several other tornado outbreaks that spring. It began to get national attention and became the main voice for tornado shelters. One of my goals is to move it to a more secure platform once enough revenue and resources become available. Right now, it's hosted on a 'Google Map', which has some issues, but it's still very useful. This past weekend, it received extensive use and media mentions, and the discussion about tornado shelters in Mississippi, Alabama, and Arkansas was unprecedented. Many shelters even had to deal with overflow. House: How has your background as a meteorologist helped you not only come up with this idea but also in finding the resources needed for it? Ceecee: It helped me because I already had a solid understanding of tornadoes and severe weather. But also, just knowing the destructive power of tornadoes and how much more we need to do to protect people from them played a big role in motivating me. Additionally, having that knowledge of how tornadoes form, where they're likely to occur, and the best ways to protect people was important. This information helped in creating a resource like this and getting the word out. Meteorologists often have a strong connection to their community, and this can be really useful when spreading the word about the need for tornado shelters. House: What's one key piece of advice you'd give to someone looking for a tornado shelter during severe weather? Ceecee: My first word of advice is to research in advance. You don't want to be scrambling around when a tornado is coming. Although sometimes it's impossible, especially if you're driving through an unfamiliar area and a tornado warning comes in. But if at all possible, know in advance whether it's a day or just a few hours ahead. And if you're going to a shelter, make sure you have enough time. That's the most important thing. You don't want to be driving with a tornado bearing down on you. Make sure you know where you're going and the shelter's open because they may not always be available during every event, depending on the situation. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
