CSSL Field Internship: Tornadoes
The CSSL Field Internship: Tornadoes is an exciting opportunity to participate in field data collection with the Northern Tornadoes Project (NTP). It is ideal for students who are fascinated by the power and complexity of tornadoes and want to engage directly with field-based severe weather research. This internship offers a unique opportunity to work alongside scientists at the Canadian Severe Storms Laboratory, focusing on tornado observation, data collection, and post-event forensic analysis of tornado damage.
Your main responsibility will be to travel to sites across Canada (mostly Ontario and southern Quebec) to conduct ground and drone surveys of damaging wind events. The ground surveys will be important to collect data to rate and classify the event on the Enhanced Fujita (EF) scale, as well as contribute to research goals. You will gain practical experience by collecting and analyzing data from real tornado events, conducting site assessments, and observing how different environments impact tornado development and damage patterns. When not surveying, you will be assigned or select from various survey-related and small research tasks and projects.
This hands-on internship is perfect for students who thrive in dynamic field environments, are passionate about severe weather phenomena, and want to develop their skills in data collection and damage analysis. If you’re excited by the idea of working in the field and understanding the impacts of tornadoes, this internship is the ideal way to start.
Testimonial
When I first enrolled into the Geography and Environmental Management program at the University of Waterloo, I never would have expected the field to bring an opportunity like a CSSL internship my way. Through the CSSL reaching out to our geography department, I was able to learn about and apply to the tornado field internship. This position initially caught my eye as I have previously been involved in environmental work and knew I would enjoy any activity spent outdoors. I love adventures! It seemed like a perfect fit. Additionally, I knew it would balance fieldwork with some assigned research tasks/office work that would not only allow me to apply GIS knowledge I gained in university, but also further develop my skills in data collection. I was impressed by how far the internship passed my expectations in every aspect!
The best part of the internship was absolutely everything, though I would say the experience was truly made because of the people I met. Constantly being surrounded by passionate people in their respective fields is bound to leave you inspired with newfound interests! I moved to London for the summer, along with two other tornado field interns (hi Mica and Ethan!) and fondly recall looking at weather updates on radar and Twitter/X together late at night in preparation for a potential survey the next day. On the road, spending so much time with the amazing survey team was incredibly memorable and I always appreciated meeting the homeowners who wanted to share their stories with us. Investigating the damage first-hand fed my curiosity and put into perspective all the knowledge I learned from the internship, ranging from meteorology, physical geography, wind engineering to social sciences. Being an NTP Field intern, I experienced vulnerable moments of humanity of all kinds and was challenged to develop a greater sense of readiness and adaptability from constantly changing circumstances. I am incredibly grateful to everyone at the CSSL for having trusted me with this position, from going on Quebec surveys and communicating with homeowners in French, operating the survey equipment as well as working on the Michael Newark Digitized Tornado Archive!
Julianne Ho
CSSL Tornado Field Intern (2024)
Application
Note that applications open on December 2, 2024; and the deadline for applications is January 27, 2025.
Questions?
If you have any questions, we have made a FAQ page available for you! If you have any further questions that are not answered there, you can feel free to contact the coordinator for CSSL internships, Dr. Connell Miller, at CSSLInternship@uwo.ca.
