In the beginning of the show, the science team, led by Joshua Wurman, and the TIV team, led by IMAX filmmaker Sean Casey, is displayed and new technologies is explained. Sean explains how he has tried to gain an IMAX shot from inside a tornado for the past 8 years. As the chase season starts, the TIV attempts to intercept a supercell near Hereford, Texas, before hearing that an EF-2 rated tornado has hit Tulia, Texas. The TIV then tries to interecpt a tornado at night (without filming) and succeeds near Strafford, Kansas.
The Storm Chasing team are chasing again after a slow period in the 8-week tornado season. The team are chasing in the Texas Panhandle where a monster supercell threatens the TIV team as they try to intercept the cell. The team miss and chase into Kansas where a supercell explodes producing multiple tornadoes near Protection, Kansas. Once again, the team fail to intercept the storm.
As the team try and chase a cell near La Crosse, Kansas, they hear that an EF-5 tornado has struck the town of Greensburg, Kansas. This was the first tornado in 8 years to be given this rating. At the same time, the members of Tornadovideos.net manage to intercept a cell near Woodward, Oklahoma. Sean and Josh hear about this while in Hays, Kansas after a long and costly chase day.
In the final weeks of the season, Sean is desperate to get the shot he is trying to achieve. A tornado forms earlier than expected and nearly touches down near Woodward, Oklahoma. In the middle of the programme, the TIV breaks down and the team lose two valuble days chasing. On the last day of the season, all the teams are on the verge of defeat when a cell erupts near Nickerson, Kansas. The TIV manages a valuble intercept and gave Joshua Wurman vital data.
With a record-breaking tornado season already underway, Josh and Sean race to get the new DOW6 and the bigger, badder Tornado Intercept Vehicle, TIV2, on the road. Reed, meanwhile, has been chasing for weeks, already surviving a harrowing near miss and a hailstorm that takes out the TVN's windshield. The DOW and TIV finally get out the gate, but it's the SCOUT team that faces the first big challenge -- a dangerous night chase.
Both the TIV2 and new DOW torment their crews with mechanical problems. Aaron and Danny in the SCOUT head out on their own only to get clobbered by a massive storm. Reed and the TVN crew chase down a monster as it bears down on the town of Lamesa, Texas but not before they narrowly avoid being struck by lightning.
Missed sightings and vehicle problems heat up the contest of wills between Sean and Josh. Reed and his fast-moving crew make a brief rendezvous with Sean and the TIV sparking a little envy and a brief mutiny. Reed chases a risky night-time tornado into the dangerous hills of Arkansas, while Sean and Josh return to Greensburg, Kansas one year after an EF-5 nearly wiped that town off the map.
Halfway into the season, TIV1 returns to action, and the whole team heads first toward Oklahoma and then into Arkansas. Monster hail storms batter the fleet, but the vehicles forge ahead as tornadoes start touching down all across this part of the Great Plains. Everyone gets to feast on the tornado bounty, but after dark, a twister chases the chasers in the streets of Stuttgart, Arkansas.
As the first violent tornadoes of the season rip across the Midwest, the teams pick up the chase in Oklahoma. Veteran Tim Samaras finds a swarm of tornadoes that offer plenty of opportunities for deploying his science probes. Meanwhile, Sean Casey's new TIV Doghouse crew struggles to get him that inside-a-twister IMAX shot and the chase ends in a screaming match. But when Reed Timmer debuts his Dominator, he scores an unprecedented intercept.
Sean's frustrations with Reed boil over as they cross paths during a chase on the back roads of New Mexico. The next day everyone heads to the Texas Panhandle, but violent storms soon turn the dirt roads into quagmires that could trap the chasers at the worst of times. By the end of the day, Reed and Tim are trapped in the mud between two tornadoes but they seize the chance to get up close and film the violent twisters and deploy science probes.
Even as tornadic supercells continue to tear across Texas, a frustrated Sean heads to Oklahoma for a reunion with his old chasing partner, Josh Wurman and the massive Vortex 2 research project. Reed sees a different opportunity: challenge Josh's Doppler radar with his new military-grade mobile radar. The race for the holy grail of tornado data explodes as tempers flare, including an unhappy Joel who doesn't care much for Reed's new mission.
As tornado potential skyrockets across the Missouri plains, Sean's prized TIV2 breaks down mid-chase and is left on the sidelines. Meanwhile, Reed's new data-gathering radar allows him to step up from aggressive chaser to extreme scientist, but his long-time chasing partner Joel quits to join another chase team. Undaunted, Reed keeps up the pace until finally he and Tim Samaras face off with a violent rain-wrapped tornado. Tim deploys probes and runs for his life, but Reed pushes close to the monster -- through downed power-lines -- to score the intercept of a lifetime.
Reed, Sean and Tim take on the strongest tornado conditions of the season, a super storm headed right for the Kansas-Missouri border. The dream setup packs country roads, while Mother Nature unleashes a twister in Tim's backyard. Tim gambles and intercepts one of the most dangerous tornadoes he's ever encountered.
Teams TIV and TWISTEX team face off against a huge rain-wrapped monster tornado. Meanwhile, Reed launches a remote control plane to drop data-probes right into a tornado, a feat never achieved in the tornado research community. But remote control isn't enough for Reed as he punches right into an erratic EF2 tornado, only to find himself surrounded by powerful vortices and no time to get out of their way.
On the last chase of the season, Reed and Tim have one last chance to achieve their ultimate goals, but the Nebraska storms won't give up their secrets without a fight. Tim and Reed intercept multiple tornadoes, trying to capture inside-a-twister radar data. But when a twister intensifies into a monster wedge right on top of Reed's armored research vehicle, Mother Nature shows who really dominates in Tornado Alley.
This Storm Chasers special event features the all-time most intense chases in the series' history. Extreme weather chasers Reed Timmer and Joel Taylor, IMAX filmmaker Sean Casey and renowned meteorologist Dr. Josh Wurman recount their most dangerous and exciting moments ever, including getting up close to tornados, harrowing night intercepts, baseball-sized hail, lightning, flying debris, accidents and downright devastation.
Reed is so excited to use his new probe cannon that he has trouble perfecting his aim when he's confronted with a series of tornadoes. While Tim is away, the TWISTEX team weathers some strange atmospheric occurrences in South Dakota and gets pinned between two violent twisters. Sean and Josh Wurman agree that the TIV may continue operating, but only if it maintains a 75-mile distance from VORTEX2, which leads to frustration when both teams target the same storms.
Relive the best moments of the 2010 season with teams Dominator, TIV and TWISTEX. Through intense tornado action and terrible tragedy, it was a season that changed the way all three teams chase.
April 27th, 2011 will go down as the deadliest tornado day in well over half a century. Hundreds of twisters are touching down all over parts of Mississippi and Alabama known to chasers as "Dixie Alley". There are multiple confirmed EF-5 tornadoes, the most powerful classification. Teams Dominator, TWISTEX and TIV are all in Dixie Alley and on the hunt, with front row seats to some of the day's most breathtaking storms. Acting as storm spotters, they're reporting the tornadoes and attempting to get warnings out. But when a violent twister tracks toward the heart of Tuscaloosa, Alabama, all three teams are faced with death and destruction on an unimaginable scale.
It's the most violent tornado season in over fifty years, with death and destruction savaging the Midwestern planes before chase season has even begun. Now there's a powerful storm tracking toward downtown St. Louis, MO, and after a hot start to the season, Reed Timmer has suddenly lost his mojo. A series of bad decisions leaves team Dominator out of position and at each other's throats. After completing an IMAX film that was ten years in the making, Sean Casey is using his armored TIV to film a sequel in 3D... But first he needs to find the right storm. Tim Samaras and team TWISTEX follow the path of destruction into the St. Louis area, and in an attempt to place their probe in the path of a tornado they end up chasing too close. The hunters become the hunted and the team ends up running from the beast.
After failing to find a twister on two consecutive chases, Reed Timmer and the Dominator team are desperate to chase one down. They're even desperate enough to pursue a powerful storm into an urban area after dark, one of the most dangerous possible chasing scenarios. Team TWSITEX's truck threatens to keep them on the sidelines on a promising tornado day. While team Dominator pursues an intercept, the TIV team is hoping to finally shoot their first ever 3D tornado footage... but tension in the vehicle has everyone on edge, and the crew is finding out that the only thing worse than having a chase ruined by the slick, Texas mud is to be helpless in the path of a tornado.
In the wake of the deadliest tornado outbreak in more than fifty years, all three chase teams take time to help with the recovery effort. Motivated by the death and destruction they've witnessed, all three teams are rededicated to improving warning times and doing vital research on these deadly storms. Team Dominator fields a new, improved vehicle and tracks a storm right toward one member's childhood home. Team TWISTEX outfits their truck with a brand new probe and a mobile Doppler radar, but mechanical issues threaten to sideline them again. Team TIV adds a mobile tornado siren and chases toward the heart of a twister to warn people while shooting 3D twister footage.
Team Dominator takes the day off, but when Team TIV scores a victory in Reed's own backyard, Reed vows to chase with a vengeance. Meanwhile, tensions within Team TWISTEX continues to rise as Tim grows more wary about his new equipment while chasing storms in Kansas.
A tornado outbreak threatens to wreak havoc in team Dominator's backyard. The TIV team follows their navigator's bold prediction, with the success of their mission hanging in the balance. Tension over too much caution threatens to derail team TWISTEX's chase on a huge day.
Team Dominator risks everything to warn people in the path of a violent storm, but internal strife threatens to end their season early. Still gun shy after witnessing devastation this season, Sean Casey is trying TIV team's patience.
It's the last chase of the season, and Mother Nature is going out with a bang. Team Dominator is chasing a monster tornado for a radar intercept. Team TWISTEX has one last chance to successfully deploy their probe while TIV still needs 3D footage from inside a twister. But how do you pick one that won't kill you?
This is a behind the scenes look at how the Storm Chasers crew filmed Teams TIV, Dominator and TWISTEX in their quests to intercept tornadoes during the 2011 storm season.
In order to honor the lives of Tim Samaras, Carl Young and Paul Samaras who were killed during the May 31 tornado outbreak in Oklahoma, near El Reno, Discovery presents an enhanced episode of MILE WIDE TORNADO: OKLAHOMA DISASTER that will include highlights and special scenes of all three men from Discovery's series, STORMCHASERS.