IMPORTANT
** Please read Technical requirements before downloading and installing Virtual Storm.

Virtual Storm

Downloads (New Version, April 2008)

Download the Windows version of the Virtual Storm:

Vstorm_Installer.exe - 32.9 MB

Download the MacOS X version of the Virtual Storm:

Vstorm_OSX.tgz - 75.8 MB

Download the Linux desktop version of the Virtual Storm:

redhat-vstorm-i386-042008.tbz - 56.4 MB

To download Original Version - Original Downloads

EXPLORATION OF A VIRTUAL TORNADIC THUNDERSTORM

[ Download Instructions & sample activity as a Microsoft Word .document ]

The two downloads contain a version of a virtual reality tornadic thunderstorm activity for either Linux-based or Windows-based PCs. The activity is a visually-realistic three-dimensional view of a supercell thunderstorm containing a tornado during the mature, steady-state phase of its life cycle. Audio effects are also present, along with many visual features common to these storms (wall cloud, anvil cloud, mammatus, shelf cloud, rear-flank downdraft clear slot and blowing dust, hail, asymmetric rain core). The activity is meant to be a slice of the real world and thus can be used in every educational setting from K-12 through graduate school. Of most benefit for use in advanced education settings, data probing capabilities exist in the activity, so that students can take data measurements (temperature, relative humidity, wind, pressure, and vertical motion) throughout the three-dimensional world in and near the storm. Younger students can simply navigate all around the thunderstorm to see the typical features present in these dangerous systems. Key concepts that can be explored include storm-scale dynamics (updrafts, downdrafts, wind shear), microphysical effects (evaporatively-driven cold pool), issues of perspective and visibility, and data-collection strategy. Some screen captures from different areas within the storm (mammatus clouds in the anvil region, hook echo rain curtains and tornado, shelf cloud, wall cloud, tornado, RFD clear slot) are shown below:

When the activity is launched (please follow the README instructions for the windows version), resize and move the windows so that the visual depiction of the storm is on the left, and the data GUI is on the right. Navigation can be done either using the mouse within the virtual “world” on the left, or by clicking in the data GUI window to move the arrow. The arrow shows which way the user is facing. Data can be collected using the GUI and stored in the table at the lower right of the above screen captures.

A sample of an activity sheet used for introductory non-major students in a college meteorology course to guide them during their exploration is shown below:

[ Download Instructions & sample activity as a Microsoft Word .document ]

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Take a Ride Through a Virtual Tornadic Supercell Thunderstorm

NAME:

This exercise will place you in a virtual environment where you will experience a severe thunderstorm similar to those occurring in nature. Before beginning, think about the severe storms you may have experienced in your lifetime or heard about, and storms that produce tornadoes. What are some questions you have about these types of storms, and features you don't fully understand about them?

At the computers where the virtual storm resides, all necessary windows should be set up already. You will experience the storm visually in one window (graphics window), and have the ability to collect weather data (what has the storm done to various weather parameters such as temperature and pressure, and what are the current winds and humidities) while moving into a second "data" window. In the data window, you can select the weather parameter you would like to see plotted on the screeen. When you find a point where you want to take a measurement of that parameter, click on the ``Record" button at the lower right. A color-coded dot (or an arrow showing wind) will appear and you can determine the approximate value by using the color scale. (Wind arrows are drawn so that the stronger the wind, the longer the arrow.) The precise value will appear on the top line in the table below the map. The two windows are linked, so when you move in one window, you will be moved to the same spot in the other window. Keep in mind that the data window will always show you the data on a horizontal slice (a flat plane at a certain height).

Think about the questions you wrote down earlier. What data do you think you will have to record to try to answer your questions? In what areas/locations do you think you would need to collect these data?

To navigate in the graphics window, be sure to click once in that window, and then hold down the shift button and use the mouse. The left mouse button accelerates, the right decelerates, and the middle stops you. The mouse also controls which direction you are looking. Moving the mouse to the left or right causes you to turn to the left or right in the graphics window.

In the data window, your position is at the center of the gray arrowhead (marked with a colored dot depicting the value of the weather parameter where you are), and you are looking in the direction toward which the point is aimed. There is a sliding vertical scale on the right of the data window. When you collect weather data at any point, you also have collected it at all points above and below it (notice how the colors change at that dot when you slide up or down). You can go back to the exact spot (location and elevation) where you collected a specific weather parameter by clicking on that entry in the data table.

For today, we will use the structure below to investigate the storm. Please answer the questions below by spending time navigating all around the storm. In addition, keep in mind your own questions that you raised above. In some of the questions below, you will need to take temperature and wind measurements.

1. Explore the storm and sketch what you think the cloud area and precipitation area would look like if viewed from directly above, as though a weather satellite were seeing it.

2. Find the tornado in the storm, and note its location on your sketch on the previous page.

3. Describe the general wind pattern outside of the storm (what directions are the winds blowing, and how do these change as you go up in the atmosphere)?

4. Describe how the patterns of cloud and precipitation relate to the location of the tornado, and give possible reasons for any symmetry or asymmetry you see (in other words, is the tornado right in the middle, toward the side, etc., and why do you think it is where it is).

5. Determine where the coldest temperature perturbation exists near the ground, and discuss what you see going on there.

6. Explain why the temperatures may have become so cool there.

7. Explore the area within 1-2 miles of the tornado near the ground and describe what the temperature field looks like (what are the temperature perturbations and how do they vary)?

8. Explain what you think is happening to produce the temperature perturbations you see near the tornado (if it is cold, why is it cold; if it is warm, why is it warm).

9. REFLECTION: How have your ideas about severe thunderstorms changed, if at all?

10. Try to answer your own questions that you wrote down earlier. If you need to, explore the storm and collect additional data you think you might need to answer your questions. What do you think the data are showing with respect to your questions?

11. Finally, write an explanation of tornadic storms that you would use if you had to teach 10th grade students at a local high school about the storms.

Downloads - Original Version (2004-2005)

IMPORTANT: Technical requirements (Please read before installing Virtual Storm)

[Note: The original version of the Virtual Storm application runs significantly better under Linux than under Windows due to some visual bugs and navigation differences.]

Download Original instructions & sample activity as a Microsoft Word .document.