Collegiate Times

Lightning strikes during a storm in Roanoke on May 22, 2011.

A series of severe thunderstorms have been occurring across the Midwest and the East Coast over the past few months, causing devastation in many cities and towns across the U.S. Many locals are getting involved to understand the cause of this violent weather.  Recent thunderstorms have brought severe lightning, heavy rain, strong winds, and even large hail. These storms have been responsible for some of the destructive and fatal tornadoes that decimated many cities and left many homeless and injured.

Southwest Virginia has fallen victim to severe thunderstorms that spawned tornadoes across the region, causing heavy damage in Glade Spring, VA and nearby Pulaski County, VA.

Local students and professors are using the opportunity of severe weather to study conditions causing the weather. 

During the summer, a group of students have the opportunity to travel the country and conduct research by going out and searching for severe weather to get a hands-on study of meteorology. 

The Hokie Storm Chasers, led by Virginia Tech meteorology instructor David Carroll, have been trekking across the Midwest tracking huge storms, studying weather conditions in order to understand the creation of severe weather patterns.

The group also learns skills in forecasting. In addition to their storm search, the group finds time to update their website and Twitter feed with information about their location and the weather they’ve seen.

The National Weather Service office in Blacksburg has also been studying the local weather.

According to Robert Stonefield, an official from the National Weather Service office in Blacksburg, the region has experienced above average severe weather. “In the last 12 months, we have seen more severe weather than we have had for quite some time,” Stonefield said. However, meteorologists aren’t alarmed.  Weather experts say that the amount of severe weather fluctuates on a year-by-year basis. 

As summer begins, weather experts predict that severity and likelihood of thunderstorms will diminish.

Most of the tornado-stricken areas of Southwest Virginia are still recovering from the destruction caused by tornadoes earlier in April. 

Some residents believe that new emergency plans should be implemented to help facilitate relief should a severe storm cause problems in the future.

A version of this article appeared in the Jun 2 issue of the Collegiate Times.