Doppler Radar Series
My visit to Oklahoma in May of 2015 was filled with many fateful events, including being hailed on while searching for my little brother during a tornado, a very intense experience in an undersized community cellar, and being trapped at a mall for over 2 hours while a funnel touched down 22 miles away. The local weather map was constantly plugged in on my phone. And when I wasn’t watching my phone, I could turn to any local station on TV and see the familiar floating plasma-like shape of colors that tells me the storm location, it’s severity, and the direction it is heading. These ever changing storm bodies are unique to their own, yet one learns to watch for the distinct characteristics that make it a tornadic storm. The classic hook echo that forms before your eyes on the TV screen causes one’s stomach to drop and the hairs on one’s neck to stand up. This visual indicator, along with the usually occurring sudden pressure change, are instinctual responses to being in a dangerous experience.
By freezing these Doppler Radar images, scaling them up, and tracing them out with a plasma cutter, I am moving these visual cues to a different context. Each layer of the storm is cut separately from steel and layered once again, offset from the other. For example, the green portion of a storm, typically the rain, is the lowest layer, the more powerful portions of the storm are raised above this layer, such as the yellow, then red layers. If a tornado is recorded in the storm, it is commonly dark red or black, depending on severity. This portion of the radar map is protruding the furthest from the piece. These three separate tornadic storm systems occurred across a vast area of Oklahoma with multiple community sizes. This depicts the reality that tornadoes show no discrimination towards those in its path. They can strike anywhere.
By freezing these Doppler Radar images, scaling them up, and tracing them out with a plasma cutter, I am moving these visual cues to a different context. Each layer of the storm is cut separately from steel and layered once again, offset from the other. For example, the green portion of a storm, typically the rain, is the lowest layer, the more powerful portions of the storm are raised above this layer, such as the yellow, then red layers. If a tornado is recorded in the storm, it is commonly dark red or black, depending on severity. This portion of the radar map is protruding the furthest from the piece. These three separate tornadic storm systems occurred across a vast area of Oklahoma with multiple community sizes. This depicts the reality that tornadoes show no discrimination towards those in its path. They can strike anywhere.