UAV's to monitor weather

[wuzafuzz]

Interesting article about using UAV's to research tornadoes:
http://www.usatoday.com/weather/research/2010-04-14-tornado-research-study_N.htm

"The study will take place in parts of Texas, Oklahoma, Kansas, Colorado, Nebraska, South Dakota, Iowa and Missouri, says Keli Tarp, a spokeswoman with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Weather Partners in Norman, Okla."

[blackrain]

When I was in school I had a part-time job at the National Severe Storms Lab and "flying weather instruments" was the subject of some idle discussion though we talked more about using manned aircraft for data gathering. (One of my supervisors at the time was a GA pilot) I never thought it would come about this fast but I think it has great potential. Actually my work was with ground mobile platforms but as you can imagine gathering data across different atmospheric layers would give a much better picture.

Most research was and I'm guessing still is related to research of atmospheric conditions BEFORE the storms form.

Actually makes sense when you think about it and it should not be too hazardous to flying vehicles.

As far as the obvious question of why not use properly equipped CAP aircraft I'm sure liability concerns would still be at the forefront among other things.