History Film / Twister

** Several times in the movie the team explicitly mentions the Fujita rating of the tornado while chasing it and prior to the climax Dusty says that NSSL is "predicting an F5." While Fujita ratings are ''never'' given in advance (as both the old and new systems are based on the ''damage'' the tornado incurs after the fact), the Storm Prediction Center will occasionally issue a PDS[[note]]Particularly Dangerous Situation[[/note]] Tornado Watch, which is an indication that atmospheric conditions highly favor the development of very strong tornadoes ([=EF3=] or higher) and/or a significant tornado outbreak is being forecast. Ironically, some television meteorologists in Tornado Alley have done this as well in recent years, using live footage from storm chasers and news gathering helicopters as well as radar-based wind velocity data to make an educated guess about a tornado's strength based on its size (although many tornadoes that have reached peak widths of one-quarter mile [0.40 km] have been rated [=EF3=] or greater, the size of a tornado does not necessarily always correlate to its strength); these educated guesses are often also based on the encountered damage after the fact, though forensic damage analysis usually takes into account potential flaws in building construction that can affect the final rating.

** Several times in the movie the team explicitly mentions the Fujita rating of the tornado while chasing it and prior to the climax Dusty says that NSSL is "predicting an F5." While Fujita ratings are ''never'' given in advance (as both the old and new systems are based on the ''damage'' the tornado incurs after the fact), the Storm Prediction Center will occasionally issue a PDS[[note]]Particularly Dangerous Situation[[/note]] Tornado Watch, which is an indication that atmospheric conditions highly favor the development of very strong tornadoes ([=EF3=] or higher) and/or a significant tornado outbreak is being forecast. Ironically, some television meteorologists in Tornado Alley have done this as well in recent years, using live footage from storm chasers and news gathering helicopters as well as radar-based wind velocity data to make an educated guess about a tornado's strength based on its size (although many tornadoes that have reached peak widths of one-quarter mile [0.40 km] have been rated [=EF3=] or greater, the size of a tornado does not necessarily always correlate to its strength).

* RealPlaceBackground: Jo's aunt Meg lives in Wakita, an actual town in northern Oklahoma, located about eight miles (13 km) south of the Kansas state line. Shooting of the film took place in the town, and several local buildings were demolished to give the look of the community getting decimated by a violent tornado.

* RealPlaceBackground: Jo's aunt Meg lives in Wakita, an actual town in northern Oklahoma. Shooting took place in the actual town and several buildings were demolished to give the look of the community getting decimated by a tornado.

* SceneryPorn: The beautiful landscape of Oklahoman countryside. Shown during both the film and the end credits.

* TheresNoKillLikeOverkill: When [[spoiler:Jonas' van]] gets picked up by the tornado, only his driver seems to have been impaled by the cell tower, leaving a HopeSpot open that he's still alive... then the vehicle is shown flying to the ground and exploding in a mushroom cloud, leaving no doubt that, [[DeaderThanDead yep, he's a goner.]]

** Two alleged tornado experts go underneath a short bridge during one of the tornadoes. It is common knowledge in general, but especially to people who live in Tornado Alley in the US to NEVER go under a bridge or overpass during a tornado as it actually increases your risk of injury or death from wind channeling and flying debris. (This wasn't necessarily common knowledge in 1996, however, as an infamous 1991 video from a news crew with Wichita Creator/{{NBC}} affiliate KSNW who hid under an overpass during a bypassing tornado led to this false assumption, which wasn't debunked until three motorists were killed while sheltering under two separate overpasses impacted during the violent May 1999 Oklahoma tornado outbreak.)

** Jo says the main reason for tornado research is to develop better forecasting methods to provide an advance warning system, specifically wanting to increase the lead time[[note]]The time between the tornado warning being issued and the tornado (and/or its associated mesocyclone) arriving at a particular location[[/note]] from 3 minutes to 15 minutes. This was a ''big'' problem at the time the film came out: methods for predicting tornadoes were sketchy at best and often tornado warnings weren't issued until after a tornado was already on the ground and the average lead time ''was'' three minutes.[[note]]And in some cases, like [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1984_Barneveld_tornado_outbreak#The_Barneveld_Tornado the F5 that hit Barneveld, Wisconsin in 1984]], the warning wasn't issued until ''after'' the tornado had already flattened the town[[/note]] However, thanks to more sophisticated research done throughout the 1990's and 2000's (such as [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/VORTEX_projects Project VORTEX]]), by the 2010s the lead time had increased to 15 minutes and in some cases could be as high as 30.

** Jo's storm chasers rebuke him for accepting corporate funding, while most such would ''kill'' to receive actual funding - and since when would ''any'' CorruptCorporateExecutive be wealthy and interested enough in storm chasing to fully outfit a team of 20 people with state-of-the-art equipment?

-->'''Bill:''' Me.

** The F4 that strikes both the drive-in and Wakita is stated (as inferred by one of the [=NSSL=] meteorologists immediately before the drive-in scene) to have been caused by a merger of two supercells. While storm cell mergers often result in the complete disorganization of the tornadic cell's mesocyclone (a form of destructive interference), they sometimes can that causes the mesocyclone to "cycle," a process of constructive interference in which the original meso weakens and a new area of mesocyclonic rotation -- provided the cell is able to sufficiently ingest wind shear, moisture and heat to develop the new circulation -- is regenerated elsewhere within the merged supercell.

* IdiotBall: Jo's dad, big time. There was absolutely no reason whatsoever the man should have died. Jo, her mom and Toby are all perfectly safe standing only feet away. This guy gets killed trying to hold the shelter door shut, when clearly their safety was not affected at all by it being open.

* DisasterDodgingDog: The movie has two examples. The first one is Toby from the prologue. It makes it inside the family storm cellar as the F5 tornado arrives. Later in the film, an F4 tornado destroys Aunt Meg's house, but her Golden Retriever survives.

A sequel titled ''Twisters'' is in the works nearly ''[[SequelGap thirty years]]'' after the original movie's release. The film will be directed by Lee Isaac Chung (''Film/{{Minari}}'') and see Hunt reprise her role as Jo.

* NoAnimalsWereHarmed: Jo's childhood dog Toby, Aunt Meg's dog Mose and the horses at the end of the film are shown to have survived their respective tornadoes with no apparent injuries. That poor cow however...

* CoolOldLady: Jo's Aunt Meg. Artist, inspiration to Jo, awesome cook, beef farmer, and has just enough badass in her that she insists she'll drive herself to the hospital after a twister completely devastates her house. She only consents to being put in an ambulance after she's told that her car also ended up in a tree.

** The F4 that strikes both the drive-in and Wakita is stated (as inferred by one of the [=NSSL=] meteorologists immediately before the drive-in scene) to have been caused by a merger of two supercells. While storm cell mergers often result in the complete disorganization of the tornadic cell’s mesocyclone (a form of destructive interference), they sometimes can that causes the mesocyclone to “cycle,” a process of constructive interference in which the original meso weakens and a new circulation is regenerated elsewhere within the merged supercell if the cell is able to sufficiently ingest wind shear, moisture and heat to develop a new area of mesocyclonic rotation.

** The F4 that strikes both the drive-in and Wakita is stated (as inferred by one of the [=NSSL=] meteorologists immediately before the drive-in scene) to have been caused by a merger of two supercells. While storm cell mergers often result in the complete disorganization of the tornadic cell’s mesocyclone, they sometimes can cause the mesocyclone to “cycle” — the weakening of the original meso, preceding the development of a new circulation elsewhere within the merged supercell, provided the cell is able to sufficiently ingest wind shear, moisture and heat to regenerate mesocyclonic rotation.

* LogoJoke: The film was a co-production of Creator/WarnerBros & {{Creator/Universal}}, and both their logos (WB in the US, Universal internationally) are seen emerging from a tornado at the start of the film.

** Two alleged tornado experts go underneath a short bridge during one of the tornadoes. It is common knowledge in general, but especially to people who live in Tornado Alley in the US to NEVER go under a bridge or overpass during a tornado as it actually increases your risk of injury or death from wind channeling and flying debris. (This wasn’t necessarily common knowledge in 1996, however, as an infamous 1991 video from a news crew with Wichita Creator/{{NBC}} affiliate KSNW who hid under an overpass during a bypassing tornado led to this false assumption, which wasn’t debunked until three motorists were killed while sheltering under two separate overpasses during the violent May 1999 Oklahoma tornado outbreak.)

** Two alleged tornado experts go underneath an overpass during one of the tornadoes. It is common knowledge in general, but especially to people who live in Tornado Alley in the US to NEVER go under an overpass during a tornado as it actually increases your risk of injury.

** Jo says the main reason for tornado research is to develop better forecasting methods to provide an advance warning system, specifically wanting to increase the lead time[[note]]The time between the tornado warning being issued and the tornado (and/or its associated mesocyclone) arriving at a particular location[[/note]] from 3 minutes to 15 minutes. This was a ''big'' problem at the time the film came out: methods for predicting tornadoes were sketchy at best and often tornado warnings weren't issued until after a tornado was already on the ground and the average lead time ''was'' three minutes[[note]]And in some cases, like [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1984_Barneveld_tornado_outbreak#The_Barneveld_Tornado the F5 that hit Barneveld, Wisconsin in 1984]], the warning wasn't issued until ''after'' the tornado had already flattened the town[[/note]]. However, thanks to more sophisticated research done throughout the 1990's and 2000's (such as [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/VORTEX_projects Project VORTEX]]), by the 2010s the lead time had increased to 15 minutes and in some cases could be as high as 30.