On May 24, 1973, meteorologists, researchers, and storm chasers captured the entire life cycle of a violent F4 tornado when it touched down near Union City, Oklahoma. The revolutionary layer to this storm is that it marks the official birth of modern tornado forecasting and tracking. For the first time in history, scientists from the National Severe Storms Laboratory managed to place mobile cameras right in front of a developing vortex while simultaneously scanning it with an experimental Doppler radar station just miles away. By comparing the visual film with the radar data, scientists discovered the Tornadic Vortex Signature, a distinct rotatory pattern that allowed weather agencies to predict tornadoes long before they hit the ground, vastly improving warning times worldwide.