Dr. Jana Houser with University of Oklahoma’s Rapid-scan, X-band, polarimetric mobile radar (RaXPol).
The Morning Call featured Dr. Jana Houser, Assistant Professor of Geography at Ohio University, in story headlined “Emmaus grad is changing what we know about tornado formation.”
Dr. Jana Houser, who grew up in the Lehigh Valley, is literally turning what we know about tornadoes upside down.
Houser, a faculty member at Ohio University, specializes in the analysis of tornadoes and the supercell thunderstorms that produce them. Her study of the massive tornado that struck El Reno, Oklahoma, in 2013 made headlines recently when it concluded that the twister appeared to have started at the ground and worked its way up, rather than formed from the top down. Four other tornadoes studied were found to have the exact same signature.
Houser’s findings were based on analysis of data from a network of rapid-scanning mobile radars known as RaXPol. The truck-based platform is meant to quickly maneuver to a target area, deploy, operate, and depart during a tornado with minimal preparation. Unlike the fictional Dorothy, it’s not meant to be sucked inside the twister….
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