Dorothy
Dorothy is a tornado instrument used by Jo and Bill Harding used to study the inside of the funnel. The purpose is to create a advanced warning system from 3 minutes to 15 minutes. It is a reference to the 1939 movie "The Wizard of Oz" and the character from the same movie (picture is seen on the can) W.I.P.
Background[]
"Dorothy" is a scientific tornado instrument used to analyze data and to radio back information to create an advanced warning system. It was first built by Jo and Bill Harding before their divorce. There are four Dorothys and each contains hundreds of sensors to radio back data about the funnel structure, wind speeds. Dorothy has security cams to see the inside of the tornado(probably), a Doppler radar on the back 3 red sirens and 2 anemometers and 2 wind vanes.
Twister[]
Dorothy was first introduced to Bill by Jo during a reveal on the back of Jo's 1982 J-10 Honcho. Jonas Miller introduced the counterpart to Dorothy: The Digital Orthographic Telemeter (or DOT 3 for short), it shares the same counterparts as Dorothy: atmospheric pressure, dew point temperatures, satellite com-link, on-pulse doppler radar. This angers Bill and confronts Jonas by saying that Jonas stole his design, but Jonas slyly said that he was trying to give him credit for his design, to Jonas' eyes, it was an 'unrealized idea.' The first Dorothy launch did not go according to plan during the F1 "Ditch" Tornado as Bill and Jo tried to intercept the tornado, but caught up in the damage path, they took cover instead, when Jo's truck went up in the air, so did Dorothy, the truck (and Dorothy) landed in front of Melissa's Ram 2500.
Dorothy II was next to be loaded up, it wasn't deployed during the F2 "Sidewinder" tornado, but it saw action during the F3 "Jumper" tornado as Bill tries to get Dorothy II deployed, despite getting hail rained on, a branch hits Bill, and head slammed into the 3rd brake light. They tried getting Dorothy II to deployed, but the straps can't be undone. The tornado shifted into the overhead utility lines and a pole landed on the bed of the truck and Dorothy II's sensors spilled out before dissipating, Jo tried to recover all the sensors, but Bill throws her back into truck and drove away from the already unstable tornado.
Dorothy III was loaded up at a drive-thru, to which a F4 tornado spawned and wrecked a drive thru, and later advanced towards Wakita. Bill was worried about the sensors that were scattered from their second attempt trying to get Dorothy into the air. Jo asked if it's too light, Bill later responded that the whole contraption is too light. After Aunt Meg's rescue, one of the wind chimes actually inspired Jo an idea: attach wings onto the sensors to make it fly. This is achieved by cutting aluminum cans into a circle using cutters and duct tape as a template.
With the two Dorothys now in the back of the truck, now with the F5 Oklahoma tornado, loaded with sensors, Jo and Bill got Dorothy III ready to go to fly, it was unsuccessful because the wind was tossing it from one side to the other before a tree knocked down Dorothy and spilled out the sensors. Dorothy IV was the last to be launched, using the truck as an anchor and set on cruise control in a cornfield, the launch is a success, and the truck would later be sucked up. However, the tornado was not quite over. In the true final part of the F5, Bill and Jo had to run through the farm.
Trivia[]
Dorothy is inspired by the real-world equivalent tornado observatory "TOTO" (Which is also named after Toto the dog in "The Wizard of Oz), used by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.
The unique siren sound made by Dorothy is achieved by the combination of standard police, fire, and ambulance siren control head. It can be heard again during the chase scene from "Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines."