In Brief

Weather Nerds Have Fun With 'Twister' on Twitter

News
By Andrea Thompson
published

The theatrical release poster for the movie 'Twister.'
The theatrical release poster for the movie 'Twister.' (Image credit: Warner Brothers)

That favorite movie of weather nerds everywhere, "Twister," was on TV last night, and its fans took to Twitter to celebrate — and critique — the film.

While the movie caused many (including this reporter) to develop an interest in weather, it gets a few points wrong. Among the errors pointed out on Twitter were questions of tornado dynamics and terminology, as well as a few historical hiccups:

"#Twister first scene, set 1969. "#twister might be an F5" - Jo's Dad. Fujita Scale introduced in 1971," tweeted @4cast4you.

(The Fujita Scale was developed by meteorologist Ted Fujita as a way to evaluate the severity of tornadoes based on the amount of damage caused.)

Read more Twitter comments on "Twister" at the United States Tornadoes site.

Andrea Thompson
Andrea Thompson
Live Science Contributor

Andrea Thompson is an associate editor at Scientific American, where she covers sustainability, energy and the environment. Prior to that, she was a senior writer covering climate science at Climate Central and a reporter and editor at Live Science, where she primarily covered Earth science and the environment. She holds a graduate degree in science health and environmental reporting from New York University, as well as a bachelor of science and and masters of science in atmospheric chemistry from the Georgia Institute of Technology.