Two vans pull over on a grassy hilltop. Inside sit a dozen meteorology students and their professor. From here, you can see in all directions because we are in the Great Plains of North Dakota. You can also hear the rumbling from a thunderstorm overhead. This is what they have come to see.
The local college had organised a storm-chasing field trip. The students had been enthused for this moment, ever since the professor forecast that this would likely be “the storm of the year” and one that could produce an “earth-grinding tornado”.
