Published: Aug. 22, 2014

An international research effort organized by the University of Colorado Boulder conducted the first multiple, unmanned aircraft interception of a telltale rush of cold air preceding a thunderstorm known as a “gust front” as it rolled across the Pawnee National Grassland in northeast Colorado on Aug. 14.

Organized by CU-Boulder’s Research and Engineering Center for Unmanned Vehicles, or RECUV, the effort also involved the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, Texas Tech University, Colorado State University, the University of Tübingen in Germany and the Center for Severe Weather Research based in Boulder. A gust front is a boundary that separates a cold thunderstorm downdraft from warm, humid surface air, which is of interest to scientists because it can generate damaging wind speeds up to 100 miles per hour.

Continue reading the article here.

Check out the YouTube video here.