Illinois Tornado Intercept: Storm Hawk M.C.C Deploys Weather Probe

Storm Hawk successfully intercepted a tornado in Illinois, with our weather probes recording winds over 130 mph and gusts up to 140 mph. The data will help advance tornado research and improve our understanding of severe storms.

Today, the Storm Hawk team successfully intercepted a powerful tornado in Illinois as part of our ongoing severe weather research mission. With conditions rapidly intensifying, our team safely deployed multiple weather probes to collect critical atmospheric data from the storm. Our preliminary probe data recorded wind speeds exceeding 130 mph, with peak gusts reaching approximately 140 mph during the deployment. These measurements represent some of the strongest winds our equipment has recorded to date and will undergo further analysis as we process the full dataset. The mission focused on capturing high-resolution data from within the tornado's near-surface environment. In addition to wind speed, our probes collected environmental information that will help us better understand tornado structure, storm evolution, and the rapidly changing conditions surrounding these powerful systems. Every deployment is an opportunity to improve our technology and expand our understanding of severe weather. The information gathered today will be carefully reviewed alongside other meteorological observations to support future research and improve our knowledge of tornado behavior. We would like to thank everyone who followed today's mission and continues to support Storm Hawk. Your encouragement allows us to keep pushing the boundaries of storm research while developing new tools and technologies for the future. Additional updates, probe data, photographs, and video from today's intercept will be published as they become available. Storm Hawk Chasing Science. Saving Lives.