TWtE Podcast: How They Made the Movie Twisters with Dr. Sean Waugh

On the first ever livestream of the Talking With the Experts podcast, host Mike Nichols and special co-host Brett Lane welcome Dr. Sean Waugh, a research scientist at the NOAA National Severe Storms Laboratory and experienced storm chaser who served as a weather consultant for the hit 2024 film Twisters. Sean explores the deep collaboration involved in making a disaster movie that respects science and why he chose weather stations from Davis Instruments to increase the film's sense of authenticity.

You can watch their conversation below to get the full story:

Here’s a timestamped breakdown of the topics Mike, Brett, and Dr. Sean covered throughout their conversation:

• 5:36 - Sean tells the story of how he became involved in the Twisters project through connections he made working at the NOAA's National Severe Storms Laboratory.
• 8:09 - Sean describes a day in the life of a weather consultant on set, including coordinating with a crew of 400+ behind-the-scenes workers, providing guidance to actors like Glen Powell and Brandon Perea, and watching as lighting and effects professionals did their magic during shooting to ensure the final CGI looked right.
• 14:36 - Sean talks about his cameo in the movie and the reactions he got from friends, family, and colleagues when they saw him on screen.
• 16:32 - Sean discusses one of his most important responsibilities on set: ensuring the storm chasing scenes all looked and felt authentic. He describes how he collaborated with the art department to make sure the vehicles looked right and how his own home-built rigs influenced the design of the movie. 
• 18:14 - Sean explains why he specifically recommended "iconic" Davis weather stations for use in the movie and how he helped the designers align different stations with the characters' backstories to enhance storytelling.
• 20:00 - Sean shares why a specific scene from the original Twister (1996) drives real weather scientists crazy and how he made sure the new movie wouldn't repeat that mistake by using data from actual events, both on screen and to enhance the cast and crew's perspective. 
• 25:26 - Mike asks Sean the question in the front of everybody's mind: How and why does one get into storm chasing? Sean describes his lifelong love of meteorology, why tracking storms is like a chess game to him, and how he's improved his approach over time by cross-referencing different data sources and refining his observational skills.
• 28:56 - Sean provides a blow-by-blow description of what it's like to chase a storm, sharing his own footage of the tornado that devastated the Greenfield, Iowa area in May of 2024. He uses footage from the Duke, Oklahoma area tornado that same May to explain the Fujiwara Effect (which he got name-dropped in the movie) and the Mound City, South Dakota event from August to illustrate the formation of multiple tornadoes from a single storm, as depicted in the film.
• 35:57 - Sean explains why the Crowell, Texas tornado of May 4, 2022, holds special personal significance for him and how it influenced the design of the movie from the early stages of development.
• 38:11 - Sean describes what he does at the NOAA National Severe Storms Laboratory when he's not out in the field chasing storms, which involves designing, building, and testing data collection equipment. He talks about the challenge of pushing sensors and vehicles to their limits in terms of operating conditions to create mobile mesonets for data gathering. He shares a recent example of a project he's been working on called "Hail Camera."
• 41:36 - Mike asks Sean how everyday people with weather stations can get involved with the NOAA and National Weather Service, and Sean explains the important and growing role that citizen-scientists can play through the Citizen Weather Observing Program.
• 43:05 - Sean and Mike preview the upcoming American Meteorological Society Annual Meeting in New Orleans (and online) on January 12-16, 2025. The conference will include two Twisters-related sessions: one for students and one that will be a scientific deep-dive into what's real and what's not in the film. 
• 46:15 - Sean dives into questions from the live audience, including:
  • How feasible is the technology in the movie, like "Dorothy" or Glen Powell's drill-down truck?
  • How did filming in Oklahoma in May affect the shoot? Are there any fully "real" scenes of bad weather in the movie?
  • How do storm chasers account for (and stay safe in light of) delays in radar data during a chase?
  • How do storm chasers use different "scan strategies" to get the best possible radar data?
  • What is tornado inflow, and why is it dangerous?
  • With technology getting better, will we get to the point where we can accurately predict tornadoes?
  • How can we increase lead time and early warnings for tornadoes in the near future while avoiding false alarms that erode people's confidence in the system?
  • Which was his "favorite" tornado and why?

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