Doppler on Wheels

07/31/2026

MiniCOW scanning the Aspen Acres fire near Pueblo, CO on June 30. 🛻📡🔥

Mobile radar can also be useful for wildfire management! A DOW can help emergency managers identify spot fires and local wind shifts, as well as better understand fire plume dynamics.

07/27/2026

07/15/2026

A lovely visit today with the American Meteorological Society’s Project Atmosphere program in Kansas City today to talk radar!

07/11/2026

We’ve wrapped our 2026 field season studying tornado- and hail-producing storms for the NSF BEST and Icechip2025 projects! 🌪️🧊

We traversed 10 states (Colorado, Wyoming, Montana, North Dakota, South Dakota, Nebraska, Kansas, Iowa, Missouri & Illinois) in search of storms over the course of the season. That’s roughly 55 Walmarts, 2 million cups of coffee, 572 replays of the Twister and Twisters soundtracks, and an unknowable quantity of Casey’s pizza.*

*these stats are entirely fictional

Now we turn attention to processing data and sharing knowledge with colleagues at upcoming conferences and workshops. We’ll see you under a meso next year!

05/27/2026

Thanks AMS for the second feature on our work. 🌪️ Link in AMS’s caption!

The storm-chasing Doppler on Wheels research team got close observations of the devastating Greenfield, IA, tornado and powerful Duke, OK tornado in 2024. Those observations reveal new insights on how tornadoes evolve--and how they do damage.

Read more: https://bit.ly/4uF6GG6

05/24/2026

An update from Jen & Anastasia!

05/07/2026

Check out this great feature story from AMS on some of our recent & upcoming tornado research! 🤓 Link in their caption!

As severe weather season kicks off, the Doppler on Wheels team and Girls Who Chase are getting up close with the most intense tornadoes and hailstorms they can find. Their goal? To help uncover why and how some storms become monsters.

Read more: https://bit.ly/4dd7xGq

04/25/2026

MiniCOW packs MegaPOWER!

On April 23, we observed the birth and ingestion of a satellite tornado and Fujiwara effect around the parent Braman, OK tornado. The tornado transitioned two times between a clear eye and a debris ball.

This is prelim data from our most powerful mobile radar, the 1 MegaWatt C-band storm-penetrating miniCOW.

04/18/2026

Yesterday, we deployed on the Lena, IL tornado, collecting radar data as the tornado impacted town. Our thoughts are very much with the Lena community as they begin the recovery process. ❤️‍🩹

📸: Jen Walton

04/15/2026

Lucky strike ⚡️🤩 over DOW8 yesterday near Manchester, IA!

📸: Jen Walton