Tyler Poppe

MET 1010
02/12/2015
Into The Storm
Into The Storm begins with a group of teenagers driving in their car. A storm then
begins to rise and a tornado is formed. As this tornado rises it pulls up the car and then
the camera cuts out. This shows the damaging effects that a tornado can have. This film
focuses on two sets of people that are connected through various traumatic events
throughout the movie. It first focuses on a family of two sons, Trey and Donnie, with
their single parent father Gary who is also the Vice Principal at the local high school. As a
huge storm front hits their small town of Silverton on graduation day Gary is forced to
take care of the high school students as well as look for his son Trey who is has ran off to
help his high school crush shoot a film for the school. As they are about to shoot this
school film the tornado hits the building that they are in, trapping them inside. Trey
makes a brief call to his father telling him where he and asking for help and then the
phone cuts out. Gary and Donnie then begin their pursuit for Trey. In this pursuit they
meet a film crew looking to do a documentary on tornados. This group includes Pete,
Allison, Daryl, and Jacob. Throughout the film there are moments of danger, adventure,
humor, and awkwardness. However, through all these moment there are intense storms
and plots that need to be re examined. While one is watching this film many parts can be
questioned. As I watched this film I wondered whether the golf ball size hail could be
realistically expected before a tornado hits. The four tornados that hit at once also made
me think. And finally the winds speeds and results. Also how does a tornado occur?

Tornados

Tornados are formed from very large storms called supercells. It comes from a
combination of cold air falling and warm air rising. The warm air twists and a funnel
cloud is formed.

Hail Before The Storm

Surprisingly the golf ball sized hail that hits as Allison is on the verge of being fired as
the meteorologist leading the storm hunt checks out. Ehow.com explains that as tornado
is a bout to hit a wall cloud forms, it goes on to say Large hail often precipitates in front
of a wall cloud, with small hail even further in front. A tornadic supercell has a strong
updraft with rapidly rising hot air. At an extremely high altitude the updraft slows and
spreads out, creating an anvil composed of ice crystals. Some of this precipitation may
freeze to grapefruit-sized hail. Shifts or fluctuations in the updraft can cause the hail to
fall.
Amount of Tornados
At one point in the film it shows four tornados touching down at once and the
combination of two mega tornados. The amount of tornados that is shows is also not all
too rare. It is odd though how they all form separately. While multiple tornados is not all
that rare, they normally circulate around a bigger tornado. For a tornado to appear
without any relation to a bigger tornado is not likely.

Wind Speeds
During one part of the show wind speeds of 300+ mph are mentioned and it shows the
lifting up of many planes. Is this really possible? The Fujita Tornado Damage Scale
ranks tornados from an F1, which is moderate, to an F6, which is inconceivable.
According to this scale an F5 has winds that reach 300+ mph. These winds can lift wellconstructed buildings from their foundation. This leads one to conclude that lifting planes
is also very conceivable.
Conclusion
After an analysis of the various meteorological occurrences in Into the Storm it seems
that almost all their points were almost completely accurate. This film may have had
some acting deficiencies but the director can be commended for a well may film that is
depicts accurate information on tornados.
Works Cited
Ryczkowski,Angela."WeatherConditionsBeforeTornadoes."EHow.DemandMedia,6
Dec.2010.Web.12Feb.2015.<http://www.ehow.com/list_7608032_weather
conditionsbeforetornadoes.html>.
"HowRareAreTwinTornadoes?"ConnectMidMissouri.18June2014.Web.12Feb.
2015.<http://www.connectmidmissouri.com/weather/story.aspx?
id=1059569#.VN0c8EK4lU>.
http://www.shorstmeyer.com/tornadoes/fpp.html
"How Are Tornadoes Formed." Universe Today. 25 Aug. 2010. Web. 13 Feb. 2015.
<http://www.universetoday.com/71983/how-are-tornadoes-formed/>.