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Dr. Herbert L. Jones and the Origin of Tornado Research in Oklahoma

BIRTH 2 DEC 1904 • Copperton, New Mexico DEATH MAY 1972 • Tulsa, Oklahoma

Tornadoes fascinated and intrigued Herbert L. Jones, an electrical engineering faculty member at the Oklahoma Agricultural & Mechanical College in Stillwater, but their power and destruction also scared him to death. As a young child living in Canada, while walking with his father one spring day on the Alberta prairie, a rapidly developing thunderstorm created a tornado that passed near the two. The terrifying experience remained etched in his memory for the remainder of his life and led Jones to a lifelong fascination with thunderstorms and to research that became the basis of modern tornado forecasting.

'''The Daily O'Collegian, Stillwater, Oklahoma - Tue, Jun 07, 1955. Aggie Laboratory Spots Twisters, Gives Warning''' It takes a mighty tricky tornado to elude the storm detection equipment of Dr. Herbert L. Jones, A&M engineering professor, and his staff. Jones is shown inspecting some of the tornado-tracking equipment at the research center near the Stillwater airport, where experienced storm detectives keep a round-the-clock watch. Stillwater radio station KSPI 780 on the dial during daylight hours and 94 on the FM dialing at night, is to broadcast instructions during such an emergency.

A&M's tornado laboratory was started in 1947, and equipment has been continually modified and brought up to date as technology advanced. Now when a tornado is in the area, a circuit is triggered and the intensity and direction are recorded on a graph and photographed by a motion picture camera.

As early as 1950, the laboratory spotted a tornado 60 miles west of Stillwater, indicating the great range of even the early equipment. It now covers a 160-mile radius. When the tornado equipment "went wild" according to Dr. Jones. The equipment can discern between tornadoes and mere thunderstorms. One radar screen at the research center is continually scanning the skies, seeking likely storms. A thunderstorm shows up on the screen as a small dot at first, spreading out into an oblong shape on the screen as the storm area or cloud formation grows. As the same time, a second round screen indicates the compass direction of the storm in a series of repeated short lines caused by the same atmospheric condition which causes radio static.

When these lines are marked as fast as 26 strokes a second, then a tornado condition exists, according to A&M researchers. Dr. Jones and his staff chose the hill by the airport because they needed an isolated region free from man-made static such as cars, electric razors and the such; free from power lines and metal buildings which would interfere with the crossed loop antenna system; and for economic reasons, on college-owned or college-leased land.

Two years ago, Dr. Jones and his tornado laboratory were featured in "Tornado Trapping", an article in Coronet magazine.

'''Stillwater News-Press, Stillwater, Oklahoma - Tues, Dec 13, 1955. Jones to Have Role at Confab''' Dr. Herbert L. Jones, Oklahoma A&M college electrical engineering professor and authority on tornado tracking by electronics, has accepted an invitation by U.S. Weather Bureau Chief F.W. Reichelderfer to participate in a conference on severe local storms in Washington Dec. 14-16. Reichelderfer wrote Jones that the conference will "critically review the present state of knowledge of severe local storms and the introduction and discussion of new research ideas that might profitably be pursued in the future. The conference will be held at the board room of the National Science foundation.

'''Stillwater News-Press, Stillwater, Oklahoma - Sun, Feb 19, 1956. Dr. Jones is Twister Tracker.''' Dr. Herbert L. Jones, 823 S. Blakely, of the Oklahoma A&M department of electrical engineering, discovered that lightning flashed from tornado clouds sent out atmospheric radio waves of unusually high frequency. This year two networks are operating experimentally out of Tinker Field and Kansas City to measure frequency of a storm's radio waves. When Jones' methods are in practical operation the U.S. Weather Bureau can pinpoint an individual cloud and warn people in the path of a storm to get undercover quickly, he says. Dr. Jones graduated for the University or Oregon and received his doctor's degree from Oregon State college. He came here from the University of New Mexico ten years ago and is director of the Oklahoma A&M Tornado laboratory. He's listed in the "Who's Who of the Southwest", is a member of the Lutheran church, Masons, Elks, Royal Arch Masons, where is is Past Exalted High Priest, and to a large number of professional and other fraternities. He was married to Margaret Zimmerman in 1928. They have a daughter, Mrs. William E. Davis of Waco, Texas, and a son, Herbert Edmond, of the home.

'''The Ponca City News, Ponca City, Oklahoma - Sun, Feb 10, 1957. Twister Trackers Say New Device Pinpoints Storm, Electricity Clue to Strong Winds.''' Dr. H. L. Jones, who has pioneered in the theory of certain storms carrying high electrical discharges that show tornado possibilities, said today that it may be possible during 1957 to issue severe weather advisories for areas as small as a 30-mile radius or less.

BancFirst Video - "Cyclone Jones" - Stillwater, OK - LoyalTV E43

"Cyclone" Jones: Dr. Herbert L. Jones and the Origins of Tornado Research in Oklahoma, By Nani Pybus

A collection of his work can be found at the Oklahoma State University Archives.