Oklahoma City – Tornado season has officially begun in Oklahoma. Now is the time to evaluate severe weather plans with your family. However, beginning May 2021, we’ll see behavior change in some tornadoes.
Next month begins a new era of weather for Oklahomans. We’ve all heard the stories of the house completely flattened with the neighbors house standing untouched. It’s a fascinating phenomenon that has been studied for ages.
A New Era
The International Weather Service in Norman – in conjunction with Willis Lawn Services LLC – set out on a public-private venture just over 20 years ago on the study of this seemingly “selective skipping” that tornadoes do when crawling across metropolitan areas.
A little over two decades ago one of the visionary pioneers on the Willis team, Brandon Ward, thought to himself “It’s a shame that these tornadoes can’t skip over the homes and only destroy the weeds.”
Details have yet to be released but this vision is about to become a reality.
Tornado Modification
What we know is that broad spectrum testing begins on May 1 on a product that’s been in development for 10 years. It’s engineered to change the behavior of tornadoes to suck weeds right out of the ground. The IWS will attempt to perform tests on 1 out of every 5 tornadoes.
The product is launched directly into the heart of a tornado as soon as it drops out of the sky. Once in the funnel, it explodes and releases an organic compound which somehow alters the behavior of the twister. Details were not able to be released because the product is still in testing.
Private tests were unable to be performed on Willis’s customer lawns as there were no weeds to begin with. But when tested on some competitors lawns in 2019 and 2020 – results were amazing. Simple holes were left in the ground where a lawn was completely infested with weeds as you can see in this picture. Though not pictured, the home was left in pristine condition.
An Alternative
When asked, Ward explained that the investment was primarily meant to be a gift to the community.
“You know, there’s not really any way for this to produce revenue for our organization. But there’s a lot of people out there who are still struggling with weeds in their lawn. We’re trying our absolute best through marketing and outreach to inform the public that they can hire us to take care of their weeds once and for all. But for those who don’t know about us yet – at least we’ll be able to help from time to time by saving their homes and removing their weeds with this product.”
Ward recommended that anyone who is struggling with weeds or dissatisfaction with their lawn care company call Willis.
“As you can see, we go to all ends to develop new helpful things for our customers. We are constantly thinking outside the box. Everyone should call us.”
