Biology

Last weekend, WKU’s Disaster Science Operations Center (DSOC) rented out a movie theater to a near-capacity crowd of students, alumni, partners, friends, and family for a watch party of the new movie Twisters.

“It was a lot of fun to share the experience of a movie that largely leans on experiences I have created for our students at WKU via field courses and the Disaster Science Operations Center,” Dr. Josh Durkee, University Meteorologist and Director of DSOC, said.

Twisters, a standalone companion to the 1996 original, Twister, is a disaster action movie in which storm chasers are caught in a fight for survival in extreme and disastrous weather systems.

“I think the movie does a good job with showing the impacts and destruction that tornadoes cause,” Michael Quire, a Homeland Security Sciences and Emergency Management Disaster Science graduate student from Elizabethtown, said. “These storms will destroy anything in their paths.”

Dr. Durkee went on to say that “Twisters does a good job highlighting the modern agenda of many amateur storm chasers versus professionals and researchers, but not without a clever ’twist’.”

“Being a meteorologist, it’s hard not to get excited about a storm chasing movie,” Quire said. “An inaccuracy I noticed was the characters being able to stand very close to the tornado without being blown over or sucked towards the storm. The inflowing winds into a tornado are strong enough to make standing difficult even a mile away.”

Other inaccuracies spotted by attendees included characters in the movie being caught off guard by a tornado despite their level of knowledge considering the weather conditions and characters being unaffected by flying debris.

“The original Twister movie certainly had its fair share of science missteps,” Dr. Durkee said. “Twisters seems to have a better grasp on the terminology and applications. While not perfect, overall I feel that there are takeaways from Twisters the general public can learn from.”

These takeaways include the basic conditions of severe weather like wind shear and instability, which are frequently referenced in the movie and are variables in the meteorological analysis and forecasting classes taught at WKU.

Dr. Durkee said he hopes that the movie will serve as a source of “infotainment,” and bring awareness to the science behind weather research and forecasting.

“Studying, forecasting, collecting data, and documenting severe weather events is challenging and dangerous. At WKU, my intent is to teach students seeking professional careers in forecasting, emergency management, and/or research how to develop advanced skill sets in severe weather analysis, forecasting, and emergencies related to planning, mitigation, and response,” Dr. Durkee said. “I teach our students and strongly emphasize that these experiences are extremely dangerous and to always follow all safety measures, keep ethics in check, and respect Mother Nature at all times.”

Attendees gave generally positive reviews of the new movie, commenting on the quality of the graphics and the solid plot and storyline.

“I liked the movie a lot,” Thomas Payette, a Meteorology student from Louisville said. “It made me want to take the Storm Chase field course again.”