OU Weather Team In Florida To Study Hurricane Irma

<p>A group of weather researchers from the University of Oklahoma is near Fort Lauderdale collecting data on Hurricane Irma. </p>

Sunday, September 10th 2017, 12:25 pm

By: Amy Slanchik

OU Weather Team In Florida To Study Hurricane Irma

A group of weather researchers from the University of Oklahoma is near Fort Lauderdale collecting data on Hurricane Irma.

It's the same group of researchers that spent time studying Hurricane Harvey, except this time, they're joined by Dr. Dan Dawson and Ph.D. grad student Jie Chen from Purdue University.

OU Meteorology professor Michael Biggerstaff says they will probably operate throughout the day and into the evening.

Biggerstaff says they spent Saturday night in their vehicles.

"Some of the tornado warned cells came within three miles of us," he said. "Glad they missed."

The group says they managed to find a hotel in Pompano Beach for the night.

The picture above with the man in the yellow suit is Dr. Sean Waugh (standing) and OU Ph.D. grad student Addison Alford putting away the launch tube used to prepare and release weather balloons into the outer bands of Irma Saturday night.

We're #DoingAScience in #Irma2017 w/ 60 mph winds. @addisonalford and I are getting close to professionals at soundings. @NOAANSSL @OUCIMMS pic.twitter.com/QYSJp52CXv
— Sean Waugh (@MesonetMan) September 10, 2017

Sounding from 0857 UTC off I-75. Decent environ for embedded rotation. @NWSSPC @NWSTampaBay @NWSMiami @NWSKeyWest @NOAANSSL #HurricaneIrma pic.twitter.com/EBqM5LepH2
— Sean Waugh (@MesonetMan) September 10, 2017

Here's the sounding from 0237 UTC along I-75. @NWSSPC @NWSTampaBay @NWSMiami @NWSKeyWest @NOAANSSL pic.twitter.com/jBBcYhxlpg
— Sean Waugh (@MesonetMan) September 10, 2017

"The soundings showed very high instability and strong wind shear, which is why there were so many miniature supercells in the outer rain bands," Biggerstaff explained.

Sounding from 0857 UTC off I-75. Decent environ for embedded rotation. @NWSSPC @NWSTampaBay @NWSMiami @NWSKeyWest @NOAANSSL #HurricaneIrma pic.twitter.com/EBqM5LepH2
— Sean Waugh (@MesonetMan) September 10, 2017

Here's the sounding from 0237 UTC along I-75. @NWSSPC @NWSTampaBay @NWSMiami @NWSKeyWest @NOAANSSL pic.twitter.com/jBBcYhxlpg
— Sean Waugh (@MesonetMan) September 10, 2017

"The soundings showed very high instability and strong wind shear, which is why there were so many miniature supercells in the outer rain bands," Biggerstaff explained.

","published":"2017-09-10T17:25:10.000Z","updated":"2017-09-10T17:42:40.000Z","summary":"

A group of weather researchers from the University of Oklahoma is near Fort Lauderdale collecting data on Hurricane Irma.

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