PROJECT 3
Ground Wind Flow & Damage Patterns
Project SWIRRL will analyze the damage paths and swirl patterns left behind by moderate-strong and violent tornadoes and work with portable radar teams to better understand near surface/ground wind flows in high resolution.
Ground scouring & spiral patterns visible in these pictures are the hallmarks of signifcant tornadoes generating surface winds near and/or exceeding 200 mph (EF5). Smaller suction vortices swirling within the parent vortex cause the most intense and severe damage, with winds potentially double that of the main tornado.
Project SWIRRL will document, analyze and correlate the ground scouring and cycloidal spiral patterns in forensic detail in an ongoing effort to better understand how these patterns reflect true wind velocities and ground-level wind dynamics in tornadoes.
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Late Professor Ted Fujita of the University of Chicago was the famous severe storms scientist who coined the term 'suction vortices' and identified their telltale damage patterns and ground marks.
He was the first to discuss employing methods of subjective analysis in marking damage patterns in swaths of particularly intense and total devastation.