Why scientists are blown away by 'Twister' and 'Twisters'

The meteorological community has a bit of a love-hate relationship with Twister, the 1996 blockbuster about tornado-chasing scientists. The movie plays a little fast and loose with some aspects of Science—and is certainly more action-packed than the average tornado chase. But it is undeniably fun, dramatic and mesmerizing. And it remains beloved by many meteorologists and weather enthusiasts (including the author of this article).

With excitement high over the recent release of the film's stand-alone sequel, Twisters, Scientific American reached out to tornado experts Rick Smith and Jana Houser to chat about why so many in the weather community love the original movie, what they think about the new sequel and what the ups and downs of studying tornadoes are. Smith is warning coordination meteorologist at the National Weather Service's (NWS's) office in Norman, Okla., who was consulted for Twisters and appear in the film as an extra. And Houser is a meteorologist at the Ohio State University who provided forecast and other support the new movie's cinematographers when storm chasing to film real storm backgrounds and clouds. [The following conversation includes some spoilers for the new film.]

[An edited transcript of the interview follows.]

I grew up with tornado drills in school, and I have vivid memories of my parents waking us up during the night to go down to our basement. When I was a teenager visiting my grandmother during the summer, we went to see Twister. I remember that right from the title sequence, I was just like, "I want to know everything about this. This is so cool." (And I felt this when I just rewatched the movie recently.) I very much identified with Helen Hunt's character Jo Harding. It lit my interest in weather and earth Science in general.

SMITH: Like a lot of people in this Business, as far back as I can remember, I've been fascinated by weather and especially tornadoes. At the same time, I was also irrationally terrified of thunderstorms, especially at night. I also grew up in the Southeast, in the Memphis, Tenn., area. And that terror lasted probably into my early teens. But at the same time, I was just obsessed with tornadoes. I would go to the library and check out all the books over and over again and write to the NWS to get them to send me pamphlets and brochures and stuff. I was a real pest, I'm sure. But at some point it just got to be more of a positive thing, or it wasn't as scary anymore. I actually got to be a volunteer at the NWS office there in Memphis. Then I got to be a student paid employee. Then I got to be a full-time employee.

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I'll never forget—I was working at the NWS in Memphis when Twister came out. And I remember I thought it was the biggest deal in the world. And I felt so special that they did a screening on [the] Wednesday night before it was released on Friday [May 10, 1996]. I thought, "Well, I've hit the big time." I went with a bunch of people from the office, and it was about what you would expect: a lot of giggling and groaning and mumbling. They were just there to pick it apart—which I was not. I've been a fan ever since, and I freely admit I will stop and watch part of it every time I'm flipping through the channels ... even today. And regardless of what the new movie is or how we think about it, Twister is always going to hold a special place for me.