The Verification of the Origins of Rotation in Tornadoes Experiment 2, or VORTEX2, began Sunday. From May 10 - June 13, over 100 scientists and crew will travel across the Plains with 40 science and support vehicles in order to gather data on tornadoes.

Participants in this project are from several universities, government and private orginizations. They will have 10 mobile radars, 10 mobile mesonet instrumented vehicles, 38 deployable instruments, weather balloon launching vans and other weather insturments while in the field.

The goal of VORTEX2 is to get a better understanding of tornadoes which should help increase warning times for those in the path of severe storms.

The scientists and crew will return to the Plains next year from May 1 - June 15 to continue their research.