Howard Bluestein has been one of the world's leading tornado research scientists over the past two decades. Interestingly, Bluestein's first interest in tornadoes came as the result of the deadly Worcester, Massachusetts storm of June 1953, which struck 40 miles to the west of his boyhood Boston home. This same storm also caught the mind of the young Thomas Grazulis, the founder of The Tornado Project, author of several major studies of tornado climatology and compiler of tornado films/videos.
In writing Tornado Alley, Bluestein set as his purpose:
"...to describe both photographically and scientifically, tornadoes and related severe-storm phenomena and to present a historical account of research done in the last half century aimed at discovering the characteristics of tornadoes and why they form. The text is written for the educated layperson with some knowledge of science. Physical explanations are given in lieu of detailed equations to avoid boring the nonmathematically inclined."
Overall, I believe Tornado Alley succeeds admirably in achieving the author's purpose. The book walks through the history of the study of tornadoes at a leisurely pace, focussing on the major advances during the last 30 or 40 years, many of which the author contributed to. Most of the scientific discussion is written in very understandable language to the scientifically knowledgeable layperson (however, I did have some problems fully understanding the discussions on Doppler radar). Bluestein masterfully weaves these technical discussions with his true-life experiences as a field researcher and storm chaser.
My only complaint with the book was some of its page layouts. At times, photographs or diagrams were placed on a different page from the describing text. I always find the need to flip between pages frustrating when trying to follow a discussion based on details of photographs, diagrams, or figures.
Howard Bluestein obviously enjoys his work and conveys that enjoyment throughout this book. Like any good storm chaser, he is always up for a chase. In one instance, he jumped on his bicycle to ride home to get his wife's car so that he could chase a late summer storm cell which produced a tornado that Bluestein intercepted and photographed.
One early example of his enthusiasm involved his photographing waterspouts and funnels from the National Hurricane Research Laboratory during summer research work in Florida.
"Funnel clouds and waterspouts were almost routinely visible from the lab's fourth-story windows. I spent a fair amount of time perched on those window ledges, photographing them and other fascinating weather phenomena, and once my colleague Bob Burpee had to yank me back when, exhilarated, I teetered precariously close to the edge of the ledge while photographing a funnel cloud."
Through the years, Bluestein has been involved with a plethora of important tornado research projects and tools. The tornado enthusiast will be delighted to read firsthand accounts of TOTO and SESAME, the portable Doppler radars and Project VORTEX, Turtle and the Mobile Mesonet from one who participated in the projects and instrument development.
Most of all, Bluestein has done a good job of interweaving field-research anecdotes with current tornado information and formation theory. The author relates the many frustrations of the chase: choosing the wrong supercell to chase; instrumentation and camera problems; lack of proper meals and long hours on the road; inability to catch up to a storm forming just ahead; even getting stuck in an elevator on the way to his chase vehicle. Then, he tops it all off with selections from his superb collection of storm and cloud photographs. The final product is a book which describes the beauty, mystery and power of tornadoes from the point of view of one who has witnessed hundreds.
For a true account of the life of a storm-chasing researcher (rather than the very loose, fictional story of the movie Twister) evenly mixed with the science of tornadoes, I highly recommend this book. Tornado Alley deserves a prime spot on the bookshelf of every weather, storm and tornado enthusiast.
Order 
Tornado Alley Today!
Tornado Alley:
Monster Storms of The Great Plains, by Howard B. Bluestein, PhD
Oxford University Press, New York, 1999, ISBN 019-510552-4
Keith C. Heidorn, PhD, ACM
THE WEATHER DOCTOR
May 25, 1999
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