A few years ago, National Geographic published an article about the science behind chasing tornadoes.

Fascinating reading about a special group of people.

The story starts like this.

“The tornado of a lifetime snakes down a South Dakota road toward Tim Samaras, an engineer and avid tornado chaser from Denver. Minutes earlier, the storm had destroyed the tiny village of Manchester, fortunately with no loss of life. Samaras and a National Geographic team spent months on the front lines of severe storms research. Their mission was to place weather-measuring probes in the path of a tornado—then get out of the way.

The chasers speed away, debris roaring in above them: Nails, wire, two-by-fours whip by in winds that soon reach 200 miles (322 kilometers) an hour.

7:40 p.m.

Cut off by the tornado as it rushes toward the road, the chasers pause to plot their route. A wrong turn could be fatal. 7:46 p.m. Fishtailing over a muddy road, the team races to get ahead of the twister and plant probes in its path. 7:50 p.m. Thinning into a rope shape, the tornado crosses the road, snapping power poles and fences.”

You can read the rest of the story in National Geographic.