Twisters

Kate Carter is a college student working in Oklahoma with a team of fellow storm chasers including Javi, Addy, Praveen and her boyfriend, Jeb. Alongside a Dorothy V doppler, the team attempts to launch barrels of sodium polyacrylate solution into a tornado with the goal of reducing its intensity. While Javi watches from a distance, Kate, Addy, Praveen, and Jeb successfully launch the solution into an incoming tornado, but as the tornado grows larger, the crew is caught in the middle of it. Abandoning their truck, the four run for cover under a bridge, but Addy, Praveen and Jeb are each blown away and killed by the EF5 tornado winds and circulating debris. Five years later, Kate is working at a NOAA office in New York City. Javi, now a college graduate and working for a company called Storm Par, travels to New York and offers Kate a one-week position to become part of his team as they test a new scanning system for tornadoes in Oklahoma. Still haunted by the death of her teammates, Kate initially refuses, but joins Javi after he sends a news report of a town in Oklahoma recently ravaged by a tornado. Kate and Javi arrive in Oklahoma and join the rest of the Storm Par team, including Scott, a businessman working with Javi. Other storm chasing crews arrive, including famous YouTube storm chaser Tyler Owens, known as the "Tornado Wrangler," who is joined by his crew of Boone, Lily, Dexter, and Dani, along with Ben, a London journalist writing a piece on American storm chasing. Storm Par and Tyler's crew set out on their first tornado which touched down in a nearby windfarm. The Storm Par crew splits into three different groups to set up the scanners. While the other two groups successfully set up their equipment, Kate suffers a PTSD attack and is unable to help Javi set up the final scanner, instead driving their truck away from the tornado. During the next tornado, the Storm Par team successfully launches the scanning system, but the third scanner is soon blown out by the strong tornado winds. Kate and Javi barely escape as the tornado barrels its way around them. The two drive to a nearby town that has been destroyed by the tornado to help recovery efforts, along with Tyler's crew. Having originally dismissed Tyler and his team as glory hounds who hawk merchandise, Kate then realizes that Tyler's team actually use the profits from their merchandise sales to help people affected by tornadoes. Kate also meets Marshall Riggs, a Storm Par investor, who she later finds is profiteering from the tornadoes' devastation by purchasing damaged land. Staying at a motel near Tyler's team, Kate is invited by Tyler to attend a nearby rodeo. Kate tells Tyler that she grew up in Sapulpa, Oklahoma rather than New York City, while Tyler admits to being a former rodeo cowboy who decided to study meteorology following a series of injuries. When a large tornado hits the area, Tyler and Kate hide out in an empty pool next to a motel. In the tornado's aftermath, Kate angrily confronts Javi about Riggs' intentions, causing Javi to blame Kate for the deaths of their colleagues. Kate retreats to her mother's farm in Sapulpa. She is soon followed by Tyler, who uncovers Kate's previous notes and research regarding the tornado disruption experiment. Kate initially declines Tyler's offer to help retry the experiment, still guilty over her colleagues' death, but accepts after Tyler advises that she shouldn't let her past stand in her way anymore. The next day, Tyler and Kate come upon a passing tornado and release the solution, but the tornado fails to dissipate. With the help of scanning data provided by an apologetic Javi, Kate hypothesizes a change in the experiment to correct a previous oversight. Kate joins Tyler and his team as another tornado develops near the town of El Reno. Javi, Scott and the rest of Storm Par join in on the chase. Javi and Scott's truck nearly overturns in a nearby factory, but they manage to escape just as a fire tornado develops in the area. Javi attempts to head to El Reno to help recovery efforts, but is pressured by Scott to continue their mission for Riggs. Javi abandons Scott by the road and quits Storm Par. Kate, Tyler, and their team arrive in El Reno and begin evacuating the townsfolk into shelters and basements. In the ensuing chaos, Tyler's leg is trapped by debris from a crashed train, though he is rescued by Kate and an arriving Javi. The three, along with the rest of Tyler's crew and other townsfolk, hide in a nearby movie theater. Seeing no end to the destruction and devastation of the tornado, Kate leaves the theater and drives Tyler's truck to the center of the tornado. After a brief struggle with the controls, she successfully launches the solution into the tornado, but her truck is overturned whilst she is still inside shortly after. The tornado rips the movie theater open, nearly pulling Lily out, but Tyler is able to save her just as the solution takes effect, dissipating the tornado. Tyler, Javi, and the rest of the team run to rescue Kate and celebrate the calming of the tornado. Some time later, Javi drops Kate off at the airport and promises that more research will continue on their successful experiment. Tyler also says goodbye to Kate and expresses his hope that Kate stays in Oklahoma. Kate responds that she is going to return to New York, but repeats Tyler's slogan of "If you feel it, chase it" before entering the airport. As the airport PA announces that all flights are delayed due to strong winds, Tyler chases after Kate and they return back to his car.