00:00 - From the band family studios in the department of

00:03 - meteorology and atmospheric science at penn state

00:07 - this

00:07 - is whether world.

00:41 - Certain calendar dates will always be connected to specific significant weather

00:45 - events in the minds of Pennsylvania's

00:47 - there was that weekend June nineteen seventy two with Agnes

00:50 - the superstorm of march nineteen ninety three

00:53 - and the blizzard of January nineteen ninety six

00:56 - and then there's the last day of may

00:58 - which historically has brought a disproportionate share i

01:01 - have dangerous weather to the state.

01:04 - The stormy reputation of may thirty first

01:06 - started in eighteen eighty nine in johnstown

01:08 - at that time a growing steel town of thirty thousand residents

01:12 - but vulnerable to flooding because it was

01:14 - built on a floodplain at the fork of two rivers

01:17 - increasing the threat

01:18 - was a poorly maintained earthen dam about fifteen miles up the cot lma valley

01:22 - that held back a lake with millions of tons of water on

01:25 - the afternoon of may thirty first eighteen eighty nine

01:28 - after five to ten inches of rain had fallen overnight

01:31 - the dam failed

01:32 - sending a fast moving wall of water down the narrow valley into the city

01:36 - leveling everything in it's path

01:38 - about twenty two hundred people died as much of downtown town johnstown

01:42 - was destroyed

01:44 - in the deadliest inland flood

01:46 - in us history.

01:47 - Nearly a century later in nineteen eighty five

01:51 - came the worst tornado outbreak on record in Pennsylvania again

01:55 - on the last day of may

01:56 - an approaching cold front spawned a vicious squall line of supercell thunderstorms

02:01 - the proof

02:02 - twenty one tornadoes in the commonwealth

02:04 - resulting in sixty five fatalities

02:06 - more than seven hundred injuries

02:08 - and almost four hundred million dollars in damage

02:11 - seven of the tornadoes were rated f four

02:13 - with winds of more than two hundred miles per hour

02:16 - and one that formed in Ohio and crossed into Pennsylvania

02:19 - was rated f five

02:21 - that tourney ida was on the ground for an hour

02:23 - and tore through wheatland in Mercer county

02:26 - with winds estimated at three hundred miles per hour

02:29 - making it the strongest tornado on record in the state

02:32 - one of the f four tornadoes in central Pennsylvania

02:35 - was on the ground for nearly seventy miles

02:37 - at one point leveling trees at the rate

02:40 - of thirty thousand per minute

02:42 - without question

02:43 - may thirty first nineteen eighty five

02:45 - was the worst tornado day in recorded Pennsylvania history.

02:50 - Thirteen years later

02:51 - in nineteen ninety eight again

02:54 - on may thirty first

02:55 - another outbreak of more than twenty tornadoes hit the state

02:58 - three of the twisters reached f three status with winds in excess

03:02 - of one hundred and fifty miles per hour

03:04 - the most damaging developed just east of mt Davis the highest point in the state

03:09 - in somerset county

03:10 - and went through the community of Salisbury

03:13 - on a path half a mile wide

03:15 - another f three devastated the north side

03:17 - of the borough of lyons near reading in berks county

03:20 - causing seventy injuries

03:22 - and damaging or destroying about forty homes timely warnings limited

03:27 - the nineteen ninety eight tornado outbreak

03:29 - to just one fatality

03:32 - and.

03:52 - This month marks twenty five years since the release of

03:54 - a movie that spawned the generation of tornado chasers

03:58 - and though you don't want to get your tornado science from the movie

04:01 - twister was certainly entertaining

04:03 - and filled with impressive cg i special effects.

04:07 - Released on may tenth nineteen ninety six

04:09 - twister is Hollywood's version have scientists

04:12 - trying to deploy a data gathering instrument in the path of a tornado

04:16 - during an outbreak in Oklahoma

04:18 - all the while competing with a corporate funded

04:20 - storm chasing team with a similar device it

04:23 - vaguely resembles in much more dramatic fashion

04:26 - real life tornado projects and the device in the movie named Dorothy

04:31 - is sick similar to a real life instrument called todo

04:34 - used in the nineteen eighties by scientists

04:36 - at the national severe storms laboratory

04:39 - twisters special effects garnered Oscar nominations for best sound

04:43 - and best visual effects

04:45 - and the movie was the second highest grossing of nineteen ninety six

04:48 - behind independence day

04:50 - and just ahead of mission is impossible.

04:53 - There is a penn state meteorology connection in the movie

04:55 - some of the three d graphics were done by a company called earthwatch

04:59 - founded by meteorology alum Doug crew hoffer

05:02 - seen here with Steven Spielberg Doug even had a cameo in the movie

05:06 - with one line.

05:08 - It works.

05:11 - Very good order take a look here.

05:14 - That was him saying hey Bryce

05:17 - you better get over here and take a look at this

05:19 - Doug says that he still occasionally gets a royalty

05:22 - from Warner brothers

05:23 - yes that's a check

05:24 - for one cent.

05:26 - A recent list of the ten best weather scenes in movie history

05:29 - had twister at number two

05:31 - specifically the wild sequence when a monster two tornado lifts up a semi

05:35 - full of gas and slams it into a pickup truck

05:38 - and of course improbably

05:40 - bill Paxton and Helen hunt survive

05:43 - in case you wondered

05:44 - number one on that list is the final scene from

05:46 - it's a wonderful life

05:48 - when George Bailey runs through the streets of bedford falls

05:51 - yelling

05:51 - merry Christmas

05:53 - but back to two mr

05:54 - one of the places hit by a tornado in the movie is walk hida Oklahoma

05:58 - a real town just south of the Kansas border

06:01 - population just three hundred

06:03 - today the big attraction in waukesha is

06:06 - the twister museum

06:08 - on main street.

06:10 - When i look at our graduation statistics here in the

06:12 - department of meteorology and atmospheric science

06:15 - in the mid nineteen nineties we averaged around thirty five graduates per year

06:20 - by the early two thousands when the impact of twister would have been felt

06:24 - the average was up to around sixty

06:27 - i don't think that was a coincidence.

06:30 - I.

06:45 - Over the past couple of years I've had the pleasure of working on whether all the

06:49 - behind the scenes and an air

06:51 - i really enjoy working with such an incredible team

06:54 - and learning really cool skills in editing but

06:57 - also being able to practice my communication skills

07:00 - China will serve me well in the future

07:03 - after graduation i learned to proceed a phd at

07:06 - Colorado state university in atmospheric sciences

07:09 - and i just want to thank you all for your support the weather world.

07:13 - My name is Dane I've been working with whether

07:15 - a behind the scenes for about a year now

07:17 - last summer i was the summer production in turn

07:20 - producing the show that you see on air

07:22 - i also helped spearhead the project to redo the weather world website

07:27 - and launch our new weekly newsletter skyscape

07:30 - i hope after graduation to go into operation

07:32 - forecasting with the national weather service.

07:36 - I whether world viewers

07:38 - may not know me from on air but I've been behind the

07:40 - scenes working with the show for about a year now

07:43 - producing graphics.

07:45 - Directing the show

07:46 - and overall it's been a tremendous experience

07:48 - and i just want to thank everyone at the show

07:51 - for making this.

07:53 - This last year truly one to remember

07:55 - and i'm going to miss this

07:56 - tremendously.

07:58 - Following graduation i plan on pursuing an operational meteorology role

08:03 - and i'm still in the job hunt.

08:05 - As we speak right now

08:07 - but i

08:08 - am working towards a future goal of being an aviation meteorology

08:11 - thank you very much

08:13 - everyone my name is Liz and you probably don't recognize me because of

08:16 - behind the scenes making profits are important

08:19 - features but I've been here since last summer

08:22 - and let me tell you guys that we have the best

08:23 - crew out here ever everyone has seriously been so amazing over the last year and i'm

08:28 - going to be so sad to be leaving everyone especially shout out to

08:33 - Ben

08:34 - hill

08:34 - Rob

08:35 - and especially Marissa

08:36 - for giving me the confidence to be myself

08:39 - on and off screen and because of that I've

08:41 - accepted a position now in Iowa to be an on

08:44 - TV

08:45 - meteorologist

08:46 - but i couldn't have done that without you guys and i'm

08:48 - so grateful for you guys i'm going to miss you guys.

08:50 - So much

08:51 - everyone it's me Luke snyder from weather world i was going to say thank you so much

08:56 - the weather world team for being such a

08:57 - phenomenal support network through these past few years it's been absolutely amazing

09:01 - getting opportunities forbid my science communication skills

09:04 - that would deal with such wonderful and incredible people.

09:07 - After graduation

09:08 - right now i'm taking some time off going to be

09:10 - trying to travel and explore the world a little bit

09:12 - but i will be doing as they call it summer so can't get rid of me too quickly

09:16 - stay calm

09:17 - a very very clear that he was spending

09:19 - some of my last few months here so thanks again everyone.

09:28 - Graphics the last two years

09:30 - or so great because experience.

09:32 - Is.

09:35 - Experience and.

09:42 - Has an air quality

09:43 - specialist.

09:44 - I'm very excited

09:45 - for this opportunity

09:47 - it was nice.

09:49 - For the past year and where the world about an amazing

09:52 - time with the crew Robin versa and everyone else

09:54 - I've done a lot of features

09:56 - such as the extended forecast

09:58 - trends.

10:00 - That many mentioned a couple of times in the show

10:02 - for my show chasing that i did with Robin Marissa.

10:06 - One morning back in January.

10:08 - My plans after college i'm still looking for a job

10:11 - but i plan on working in the weather risk

10:13 - sector

10:14 - of meteorology

10:15 - and

10:16 - yeah I've had a great time with

10:18 - the world and i'm going to miss it.

10:19 - Hey weather world so you might not recognize me but i was working behind the scenes

10:24 - directing or doing graphics for the past two years

10:27 - I'll be really sad to see

10:29 - myself leave

10:31 - i had a great time with weather world

10:33 - next to me will be grad school

10:35 - i'm going to u n c chapel hill where i'm gonna be studying green science specifically

10:39 - storm surge play really just

10:41 - had a great time

10:42 - on the show and it really just showed me the importance of

10:45 - science communication to the entire general public.

10:48 - Hello i'm Ryan saville and if you don't recognize

10:51 - me i work behind the scenes doing graphics

10:54 - and sometimes directing i started last summer and i really enjoyed my experience

11:00 - with weather road and in a couple of days i

11:03 - gradually am i plan on entering the weather it's

11:06 - worth the risk management field.

11:08 - However the world

11:09 - you may not recognize my face but I've been working on the

11:11 - show for the last two and a half years behind the scenes

11:14 - helping direct the show as a graphics

11:16 - for

11:17 - the world

11:18 - next year I'll be continuing on getting my masters

11:20 - degree at Virginia tech in tropical cyclone structure

11:23 - i'm so grateful to the opportunity that

11:26 - has provided me all the amazing people i met

11:28 - and i will definitely miss everyone next year when i'm gone.

11:31 - Wow

11:32 - the past three years at penn state while the war has absolutely flown by for

11:36 - a recall go into what the rules of freshmen watching the

11:38 - show every single day that i could hoping i would get on

11:41 - well the past three years I'll be able to assist behind

11:43 - the camera in front of it as a host graphics producer

11:46 - and director

11:47 - i'm happy to announce I'll be bringing those skills to Ohio university is a master's

11:51 - student studying meteorology in an article

11:54 - thank you to all of you out there who watch the show it

11:56 - make this experience possible for undergraduate like me.

12:03 - Congratulations class of twenty twenty six wow it has been great having you as part

12:07 - of the weather world family over these past few years

12:10 - some of you we've had the chance to get to know

12:12 - since your very first semester here at penn state

12:14 - and whether we've known you for almost four years or for just the past year we have

12:18 - aided so many men Emery's with each and every one of you here in

12:22 - all Walker building

12:23 - whether we were in the weather center talking about forecast graphics

12:26 - or in the control room prepping for the show or even in the studio

12:29 - we had a lot of laughs and a lot of fun

12:31 - yeah so come back and see us anytime we want to hear about your successes

12:35 - as for those we want you to have it all.

12:38 - Made of str today's

12:40 - Wednesday or tomorrow.

12:46 - Japan.

12:50 - Oil.

12:51 - In.

13:12 - Shoot.

13:14 - Allow you to have it all.