UMD wind tunnel offers a real hurricane experience

COLLEGE PARK, Md. (WBFF) - Tropical Storm Cindy may have been downgraded, but this year's hurricane season is projected to have above normal activity with the potential for as many as four major hurricanes.

The University of Maryland is at the forefront of research and development when it comes to dealing with hurricane-force winds.

On campus is the Glenn L. Martin Wind Tunnel. It provides important insight for work on airplanes, automobiles, submarines and more. Researchers also can gather key information when it comes to preparing for and dealing with hurricanes.

The tunnel was opened in 1949 and has had more than 2,200 tests conducted.

On Friday, members of the media were invited to go inside the tunnel to experience the wind speeds.

Anyone going inside must be strapped in, wearing a rock-climbing harness and goggles.

Wind speeds go up to 115 miles per hour, Category 3 strength winds.

They start the wind out slow in the tunnel, around 30 or 40 miles per hour, then increase from there.

At 74 miles per hour, winds reach Category 1 strength.

The research done at the facility simulates the worst Mother Nature throws our way.

"It's as close as it gets to actually going inside a hurricane," said Will Miller, with the Department of Atmospheric and Oceanic Science.

Their work is designed to help people better prepare.

"It's not just a little bit of wind that you see. It is something that can be a devastation," said Dr. Gerald Galloway, Glenn L. Martin Institute Professor of Engineering. "And you didn't have flying glass, you didn't have garbage cans, you didn't have pieces of a building flying at you. That can do grievous harm to you or to that building you're in. It's a great reminder to have that."

With this year's hurricane season predicted to be a busy one, that reminder could save lives.

"This could be potentially an active season," Miller said. "Everyone should be aware of just making plans and travel plans."

"The first thing people need to understand is, what is their own personal risk," Dr. Galloway said. "Understand what it is that you might be able to do."

"By making the observations, we can build intelligent models to say, 'We know we are going to have this range of wind speeds, and that correlates to this degree of damage to commercial, residential, industrial type buildings.' That can be sent to an emergency manager who says, 'I know this information and this location is going to be the hardest hit, so we need to send our resources here,'" says Rich Krupar III with the Center for Disaster Resilience. "We can make decisions on how to send more resources or scale it back."