Do Fire Tornadoes Really Exist? The Science Behind Twisters [Video]

In 1996, screenwriters Michael Crichton and Ann-Marie Martin delivered what is arguably one of the best disaster flicks ever put to film. It begins in 1969, when a young Jo Harding and her family find themselves at the business end of an F5 tornado that claims the life of her father and destroys her home. Twenty-seven years later, never having lost her focus on the storm that uprooted her life, an adult Jo (Helen Hunt) has dedicated herself to understanding the destructive power of tornadoes.

Now, 28 years later, we’re returning to tornado alley in Universal’s upcoming follow-up to the 1996 classic, Twisters. The storm hits theaters on July 19, 2024, but we recently got a taste of the action in a new trailer (above). It begins at a rodeo, where a crowd gathers beneath a dark summer sky; the wind picks up and sirens sound. An unprecedented spat of monster tornadoes breaks out over …