Maggie: Happy Friday, guys! It is April 15. I am Maggie Rulli, and Channel One News starts right now.
Let's get right to the news, and first up, the U.S. military this week released dramatic video showing Russian jets flying extremely close to a U.S. Navy destroyer in the Baltic Sea. This is adding to an already tense relationship between the U.S. and Russia. The Russian planes raced by the U.S. Navy destroyer, buzzing low and fast, over and over.
These pictures show just how close they came. The commander of the U.S.S. Donald Cook described it as a simulated attack, although they carried no weapons. And it didn't happen once or twice but a total of 31 runs over two days this week.
It started on Monday, when the Cook was involved in military exercises 70 miles off the coast of the Russian enclave of Kaliningrad. Russian helicopters and more attack jets showed up, but Russia refused to respond to any radio calls. And this isn't the first time Russian aircraft have challenged NATO ships and planes.
Russia says that it did not break any international rules.
The White House is planning to lodge a diplomatic protest.
All right, coming up, Keith Kocinski goes storm chasing.
Maggie: Today we cap off our week-long look at extreme weather. Keith Kocinski has taken us from coast to coast and even inside the eye of a hurricane. Today he faces off against one of nature's most extreme forces.
Keith: I was on the hunt for one of weather's greatest mysteries.
Deke Arndt: Tornadoes are very destructive, although most are short-lived and not deadly. The ones that last longer can wreak havoc with people’s lives and their things.
Keith: Riding along with students from the Ball State meteorology program.
When you told your parents, you said, “Hey, Mom, Dad, I am going storm chasing for
12 days” — what was their reaction?
J. R.: First they thought I was nuts. They see all the tornado damage, and then they realized, you know, it's what I wanted to do, so they decided to support it.
Keith: Every spring a team like this leaves Muncie, Indiana, to spend almost two weeks searching for extreme weather. Most of them have never seen a tornado in person, so it was a test of taking what they learned in the class and applying it in the field.
Do you think you will be scared once we get close to one?
J. R.: I think I'll have a healthy fear.
Keith: Tornadoes can have wind speeds up to 300 miles per hour. They can span miles across, leaving a path of destruction behind them, leveling homes and tossing cars.
The United States is the tornado capital of the world, averaging about 1,300 tornadoes each year, many in Tornado Alley — from South Dakota to Texas — where warm, moist air from the Gulf of Mexico, cold, dry air from Canada and the Arctic and warm, dry air from the Southwest converge.
When that air collides in massive storms, scientists think it creates a horizontal spinning effect in the atmosphere. Strong updrafts then tilt the rotating air from horizontal to vertical. It becomes a tornado when the rotating funnel touches the ground.
Some scientists say tornado season is starting earlier than ever, and Tornado Alley might be moving, shifting east.
Dr. Harold Brooks: Many of the climate models project that drying will move east. That'll have a huge impact on where we see storms, because storms essentially happen where it rains.
Keith: And that is because moisture is the lifeblood of thunderstorms and tornadoes. And as the earth warms, areas that once got a lot of moisture are drying up.
Dave Call: There is not a clear consensus on how climate change will affect tornadoes. We know with warmer temperatures, that would probably…increase lower-level instability, make it easier for air to rise in the storms. On the other hand, the upper levels of the atmosphere will probably warm as well, and that may make it harder for the warm air near the ground to rise. Climate change is gonna reshuffle the deck in terms of our weather.
Keith: Scientists say it is hard to know if or how much climate change is affecting tornadoes. These storms are still a bit of a mystery, and predicting them is nearly impossible.
We were already nearing the end of our second day into our hunt, and we still hadn't found our prey.
Kyle: It's kind of a disappointment, but, you know, everything is a learning experience.
Keith: Just as we were packing up, something promising showed up on our radar.
Kyle: We're heading north to hopefully hit a line of storms that looks pretty good for us.
Keith: We hit the gas, covering over 100 miles north into Kansas. Then, there it was in the distance — the monster we had been chasing.
There it is. We found our first tornado. I am pumped!
While it was a rush to see, luckily, this tornado didn't cause any damage. But, of course, that's not always the case.
Kyle: It's important; a goal of science is to understand the world around us and how things work. Tornadoes and flash floods and hurricanes — these all are things that not only are good subjects for movies but also affect real people.
Keith: While tornadoes are awesome to observe from a distance, they are nothing to mess with up close, and this damage here in Delmont, South Dakota, is an example of their destructive power. Here on this farm, cattle were lost, silos were destroyed, and farm equipment was beat up.
Looking at this tornado damage here, how does it make you feel? What goes through your mind?
Stormy: Just sadness. I'm overwhelmed, like, I can't imagine, like, going through this at all.
Keith: At least nine people were injured, causing thousands of dollars of damage.
Call: It's very sobering to us as meteorologists to see this. It's a good reminder of how important our job can be to help protect people.
Keith: After 12 days on the road, traveling through nine states, we never did see another tornado. Our hunt may be over, but these students are still on the chase, learning more about tornadoes, how to better predict them and, hopefully, save lives.
Jozef: I hope that we can, through our efforts and our research and our studies, that we can help so there’s no fatalities, there’s not as many injuries, help people get out of the way of it.
Keith: Keith Kocinski, Channel One News.
Maggie: Wow, what a trip! Well, after 12 intense days on the road, Keith and Demetrius had some pretty epic stories, and you can check out their behind-the-scenes videos and pics over at ChannelOne.com.
All right, coming up next, we are up early with this week's Next Big Thing.
Maggie: Get ready to say “sayonara, snooze” with this week's Next Big Thing. But before we wake up, let's see what you guys thought about last week's idea.
We told you about an invention that will never run dry, the self-filling water bottle. So is it the next big thing? Eighty-seven percent said, “Yes — my cup runneth over!” Thirteen percent said, “Nope — I'll refill it myself!”
Time for you guys to weigh in.
Class: We are Profe Simpkin’s clase de espanol 3…
Class: We are Miss Nolan’s science class in…Ohio…
Class: Hey, Channel One! We are the seventh-grade students at Cornerstone Christian School in Brighton, Michigan…
Class: This is Ms. Eber’s and Mrs. Cloud’s fifth-period class from Madison Middle School in Madison, Ohio, and we think the self-filling water bottle is the next big thing.
Maggie: But a few of you were not feeling this one. Lewis said, “Wait an hour for a bottle of water? Ain’t nobody got time for that.”
Mornings: the struggle is real. But hopefully this week's next big thing will help. Do you hit your snooze button every morning? Once, twice, probably even more?
Well, one company has created a solution to the snoozing epidemic: the Ruggie. Called the "world's best alarm clock," the foam mat requires you to get out of bed by placing both feet on it to stop the alarm.
The foam memory padding allows a soft landing spot for both of your feet. And for those of you who think you can just tap it with one toe and go back to bed — it is not going to work. The tech-smart product needs to sense your pressure and weight for at least three seconds to know you are awake.
The coolest part? You can customize your Ruggie with inspirational speeches.
Tom: Hey you! It is Tom from Channel One News. Go make today awesome, and we can't wait to see you tomorrow!
Maggie: So is Tom Hanson the next — I mean, is the Ruggie the next big thing? Head on over to ChannelOne.com to vote and weigh in, and make sure to send us your video responses to . We cannot wait to hear what you guys think about this one.
All right, well, now it is time to sleep in this weekend, but we will see you right back here on Monday.
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