Twisters plans to be a bigger-than-ever movie with a new story for this generation. Based on the disaster movie sequel’s trailer, Twisters will have storm chasers risk their lives with multiple tornadoes that merge into one and even a fiery one. The Glen Powell-led sequel also plans on being more scientifically accurate as real-life tornado experts worked on the film.
If 1996’s Twister brought out fear in tornadoes like Jaws accomplished with sharks, Twisters might worry us about multiple cyclones. Technical advisor Kevin Kelleher, who works for the National Severe Storms Laboratory, worked on the original and the sequel. He admitted at the Hollywood Climate Summit that there were a lot of scientific inaccuracies in Twister. On the other hand, the 2024 movie wanted to “get it right” in that department:
“Now you fast forward 30 years, and everybody’s got a cell phone. They have access to a lot of the data that we have access to, and you’ve got radar, you’ve got everything. And if you’ve been to the midwest or live in the midwest, you know that everybody’s pretty weather aware,” said Kelleher to THR. “So if we didn’t get it right this time, it would be a big deal. You don’t want a lot of people who know about this to start saying negative things about [the movie]. There’s going to be a lot of eyes on this, and I’m really hopeful we’ll get it as right as we possibly can.”
Of course, Kevin Kelleher said that there will be some Hollywood-isms in Twisters’ story as well as sci-fi elements. He also made sure to point out not to actually go out and chase storms.
Tornado consultant Sean Waugh hopes the sequel will boost enrollment in meteorology, as Twister did for twenty years after its release.
What scientific inaccuracies were present in Twister?
The original Twister may have gotten it right in terms of storm chasing being real within the meteorology community. However, Fox Weather points out a lot of scientific inaccuracies that prove a lot of Hollywood influenced the film.
For example, Twister had Bill and Jo see a clear “eye” in the center of a tornado. In reality, there are normally multiple vortices in a tornado. Also, a green sky doesn’t always mean a tornado is coming. That unusual sky color comes after light scatters through a large amount of rain and hail. After that, a tornado might be produced.
The movie also made it seem like you can tell the strength of a tornado just by looking at it. In real life, we don’t know about the strength until after the National Weather Service meteorologists look at the damage the tornado caused days later.
Even in terms of shelter Twister wasn’t giving the best safety advice. Apparently, a bridge, an overpass, or big open rooms are not strong enough to handle powerful wind.
While Twister was an entertaining high-grossing movie, it wasn’t without scientific inaccuracies. Fortunately, Twisters improved its incorporation of science ahead of its July 19 release.
