Wild Weather

About the Show

Nature takes simple ingredients like wind, water, and temperature and transforms them into something spectacular and powerful. "Wild Weather" reveals exactly how this process occurs. The only way to truly understand the weather is to get inside it. This program features scientists from around the globe who are creating their own weather in an attempt to examine the secret processes at work.

Scientist Dr. Nigel Tapper, from Monash University in Australia, tries to create his own massive dust storm, examining the microscopic moments when dust particles begin to bounce high into the stratosphere, while engineers Jim Stratton and Craig Zehrung, from Purdue University in the United States, use a high-powered "vacuum cannon" to fire homemade hailstones at speeds over 500 mph. However, as fun as their work sounds, their task has a scientific purpose: to discover whether hail is actually stronger than ordinary ice.

Scientist Walter Steinkogler of the WSL Institute for Snow and Avalanche Research in Davos, Switzerland, is trying to find out how something as light and delicate as snow can travel at speeds upwards of 250 mph during an avalanche. His solution is to start an avalanche of his own, attempting to see the secret snowballs he believes are hiding beneath the powder cloud.

Dr. Kazunori Kuwana, from Yamagata University, Japan, has spent the last 10 years trying to capture the rare moment that can turn a bushfire into a formidable fire whirlwind. In "Wild Weather", he fulfills his lifelong ambition, starting a 10-meter high fire whirl of his own.

American meteorologist Reed Timmer, armored with a bizarre, tornado-proof car called the "Dominator 3," is attempting to do something that no one has ever done before: fire a flying probe right into the heart of a tornado. As Reed explains, "near the base of the tornado is one of the biggest mysteries of tornado science - and it's also the most important to understand. Those are the wind speeds that cause all the destruction." "Wild Weather" follows Reed and his team on their groundbreaking mission.

"Wild Weather" is a fresh and informative documentary, featuring a series of ambitious, surprising, and revealing experiments that will change the way you think about weather forever.