- v0.33.1 - Bug Fixes & Andover 1991 Scenario Added - 22 September 2026
v0.33.1 brings some fixes to some recently added features and introduces the Andover tornado from April 26th 1991. I did an initial attempt during my live stream but I will add incremental improvements to it with time. I'm hoping to add the Pampa, TX 1995 tornado soon, but I will need to use synchronised video footage to triangulate the tornado's position since official survey data is quite sparse. Bug fixes: The gap around the basement is fixed so you can't fall through the map into the infinite void anymore Adjust vehicle lofting physics: the yellow truck will get lofted at about 150mph (with no upgrades) and the red truck will get lofted at 120mph Trailers have colliders now so you can't just drive through them Vegetation masks have been added to multiple procedural props so you shouldn't get grass growing through solar panels, house foundations etc. Enjoy! :)
- v0.33.0 - Free Cam, Time Freezing, Basement Sheltering and LOTS MORE - 19 September 2026
There's a lot packaged in this v0.33.0 update!The dust was too dusty, so I've dialed that down quite a lot - now you should have a clear view of the tornado unless you're up really close or it's extremely intense (and you're still too close)At night time, power flashes double in frequency so you can see where the tornado is a bit more easilyWind chemicals have been weakened a bit, this is to avoid a positive feedback loop creating mach 12 tornadoes within a few minutes of starting the dayThere is now a gas station in the game - it's not functional yet but I have plans for it being the place to refuel your truck and repair it (both will be toggle options if you don't want to have to deal with that)I have added "vegetation masks" that make the vegetation smaller/removed for randomly placed houses - I still need to finish adding it to each relevant prefab but it's currently there for farms…
- Barns, Farms & Industrial Zones - v0.32.0 - 16 September 2026
v0.32.0 is part of my ongoing effort to make the map feel more alive and populated. I still have a long way to go but this feels like a step in the right direction.We now have farmsteads that are procedurally generated, the positioning and types of silos, hay bales, vehicles, houses and so on are all randomised. Some will have a shelterbelt, other's wont, some will have one that wraps around the property.There are also industrial zones next to railroads, they also have random placements of industrial assets: shipping containers, lengths of rail, wire spools, hoppers and so on.I have also made the tornado ground speed when beginning the game a little faster, it was 10-15mph and after play testing I feel this is way too slow and upped it to 15-20mph. I have also lowered the top speed for tornadoes when fully levelled up, so instead of 30-60mph it is now 20-45mph so you don't always have f…
- v0.31.0 - Tornado Logbook & Updated Tornado Behaviour - 12 September 2026
I am genuinely excited to release this update! (v0.31.0)it introduces a tornado logbook, consisting of personal bests/records and an individual record of every tornado you intercept. Each photo you take is associated with each tornado, so you can go through your logbook, see key stats about the tornado, and flick through the photos that give an overview of the tornado's life cycle. This is really nice because it introduces continuity between chases, and it's just really cool watching stats tick up in real time and feel like you're building your own personal collection of unique chases and tornadoes.I have also updated tornado behaviour so they have an actual life cycle, so they may cycle, rope out, intensify, weaken and generally act a bit unpredictable. I think this is preferable over the previous "steady state" tornadoes where they would rapidly intensify, then just stay like that unt…
- Introducing the SD60 Freight Train! - v0.30.0 - 6 September 2026
Version 0.30.0 brings something I have wanted to add for quite a while: a freight train and level crossings, in this case the SD60.There will always be at least one freight train line, maximum two, and freight trains will move along them between 10-40mph.There are also level crossings so they can block you when trying to escape a tornado!I have also updated the vehicle impact physics so road signs get knocked out of the ground when you drive into them. I have also fixed fences, solar panels, power lines and most importantly cows - so instead of an initial impact that stops your vehicle, the impact sends the other object flying away.As always, enjoy! :)
- v0.29.0 - Road Signs & Major Optimisations - 5 September 2026
v0.29.0 brings procedurally generated road signs and major optimisations to debris physics and ground scouring rendering. I was able to increase my debris limit from 400 to 1000 while streaming and saw no lag or stutter while multiple towns got impacted. I also purchased several other assets, just as a preview of what will come next: - Freight trains, train tracks and level crossings - Barns, wind pumps and silos - Billboards - Gas stations, with an option to simulate fuel consumption Enjoy! :)
- v0.28.0 - Introducing Ground Scouring - 1 September 2026
Only one change in this update (v0.28.0) - ground scouring!The terrain texture is updated and vegetation is stripped from the ground, including grass, shrubs, corn and even in extreme cases leaves from trees! This adds to the atmosphere of the game, as you close in on the path of the tornado you will see evidence of the tornado's intensity.As always, enjoy! :)
- Tutorial/Email System - v0.27.0 - 29 August 2026
There's been an influx of new users recently so I decided to introduce a type of in-game tutorial in v0.27.0 You will receive an email introducing you to the game and explaining basic vehicle and camera controls. Then as certain events happen (tornado touches down, a populated area gets threatened etc.) you will receive an email explaining how that game mechanic works. Hopefully this will stop players feeling like they're just "dropped in" to the game with no explanation what to do. There have also been some fixes to tornado rendering and the vehicle materials. Finally, I fixed the map tile with houses on: vehicle speed limits on and off road now apply. As always, enjoy! :)
- Vehicle Physics Update & Headlight Illumination - v0.26.1 - 26 August 2026
Just a small update for v0.26.1: The yellow truck will actually get lofted in strong winds now - some values got reset while preparing the DLC which essentially made vehicles not respond to wind very much The headlights on the yellow truck will actually illumate now Enjoy! :)
- Red Truck DLC Coming Soon! Map Generator Fixed - Instant 100km Map Generation! - 25 August 2026
This update brings a LOT of change (v0.26.0) - the biggest is that this build will make your game ready for the Red Truck DLC releasing on Friday! This DLC will give you both a great looking 90's era truck as well as the ability to chase with two probes - twice as much data, twice as many chances to deploy successfully!The next biggest change is that the map generator was massively optimised and can now generate 100km maps in less than one second. The career mode map is now 50x50km instead of 20x20km, and Sandbox mode will allow you to generate maps up to 100x100km!Motion blur can be disabled in settingsThere is now a 'Global Volume' and 'Engine Volume' setting slider in the settings menu (Press 'esc' while playing)The vehicles now have 7 gears instead of 5, so no more continuous high-pitched revvingEmissive materials are enabled on the trucks now, so the lights will visibly illuminate…
- v0.25.0 - Tornado ETA, Improved Power Flashes & Probe Camera Optimisations - 10 August 2026
v0.25.0 is pretty small but definitely improves the visuals and performance: The probe camera has been further optimised, and now the main gameplay camera is disabled in the background while viewing the probe camera for vastly improved FPS There are now multiple types of power flashes, with variations in brightness, colour, frequency etc. When power lines are impacted, additional power flashes are generated from the position of the power lines When located on a tile with residents (Trailer park or houses), if a tornado is heading that direction an ETA countdown will show how long you have before impact An icon has been added above the siren to make it easier to locate and more obvious it's something you can interact with Career mode advances every time you exit a session, so you can now progress through the season without having to use skips to advance the date As always, enjoy! :)
- v0.24.0 - Houses, Sheltering, Improved Sirens & More! - 8 August 2026
v0.24.0 brings a lot of new features to the game, and improves existing ones:There are now tiles with houses on them and they need to be warned just like trailer parks. You can shelter in a house and you will be fine as long as you stay inside - once a house starts to break apart you can no longer enter it to shelterThe siren model has been improved from the oversized Nintendo 64 graphics-looking one to a high quality, realistically scaled sirenThe scenario editor now shows a white circle on each node on the path, so you can see how big the tornado funnel is at ground level is at that point. The editor also calculates the timestamp for each point so you can add time-specific notesI have used the scenario editor to improve the Bridge Creek/Moore 1999 scenario - I actually recorded a real-time playthrough and synced it with news footage: Bridge Creek Moore 1999 - Tornado: Research and Res…
- v0.23.1 - Improved scenario editor - 3 August 2026
v0.23.1 brings some minor fixes and improvements to the scenario editor: You can now move individual nodes by default, or use SHIFT+CLICK to move the selected node and all subsequent nodes as one solid block You can open broken scenarios so that you can fix them in the editor There is a little preview of the funnel shape so you can tune bottomRatio to any reference footage you have You can toggle the game's tornado track overlay with space or by clicking the 'trail' button Fixed tornado formation in scenario mode so the tornado doesn't suddenly appear Multi-vortex options are now available in the editor
- In-Game Scenario Editor! - v0.23.0 - 2 August 2026
The major update here is the in-game scenario editor (accessible from the main menu). It is a very early prototype, and you will still have to make some edits to the scenario json file yourself (just to add a description, set the scenario start time, and the player initial spawn location) - but overall it is much quicker and more convenient than manually editing CSV files. I just did a live stream and created a basic El Reno 2013 scenario in about 20 minutes. I have also split the y-axis inversion option into first-person and vehicle third-person options.
- v0.22.0 - Improved Radar & Hook Echoes! - 1 August 2026
With v0.22.0 the biggest change is to the radar:\ Improved algorithm for generating supercell radar visualisations\ Initial implementation of hook echoes, these are experimental and results may vary, but the game now has them :)\ Improved wall cloud and tail cloud rendering, wall cloud rotation now more closely matches tornado rotation\ Running into your tailgate no longer results in damage to health\ Y-axis inversion for controllers is now an option in settings
- Introducing Tail Clouds v0.21.1 - 30 July 2026
This is just a minor update for v0.21.1 I noticed that tornado funnels were rendering through the wall clouds, so this patches the wall cloud rendering so that hopefully doesn't happen anymore (it will by design for mega-wedges as the tornado funnel absorbs the wall cloud as part of its transition into a mega-wedge). While fixing wall clouds I decided to have a first attempt at adding tail clouds, they are somewhat noticeable but pretty small so I will be improving them for the next update.
- v0.21.0 - Chemical Polarisation, Improved Lighting & Wall Clouds - 28 July 2026
v0.21.0 introduces a few nice changes: Improved lighting and post-processing Improved wall cloud rendering Chemical polarisation: you can polarise chemicals to have the opposite effect to normal, so you can now also weaken tornadoes, shrink tornadoes, make the paths *more* unstable (useful if it's heading towards a town) and increase the ground speed This is a pretty big visual overhaul, as always I'm looking for feedback and hope you enjoy the new update! :)
- Tornado: Research and Rescue Has Been Completely Rebuilt - 27 July 2026
Over the past several months, the original 2023 version of Tornado: Research and Rescue has been replaced by a complete rebuild created from scratch in a new Unity project.The rebuilt version has already been available as the main Steam build, but the store page, screenshots and trailer still represented the much smaller game that originally launched. Today, the Steam page has been completely refreshed to properly introduce what Tornado: Research and Rescue has become.Why rebuild the game?As the scope of the game expanded, it became increasingly difficult to develop the original project into the storm-chasing experience I wanted to create. Rather than continuing to build on foundations that were no longer suitable, I started again with a blank project.This allowed nearly every major system to be reconsidered and rebuilt, while retaining the central idea of chasing tornadoes, collecting…
- v0.20.1: Performance Profiles, Improved Vehicle Handling, Minor Annoyances Fixed - 25 July 2026
The goal for this was to fix minor (and some major) annoyances: The drifting behaviour of the truck has been dialed back to keep it controllable You can now enter your vehicle easily without the probe menu interfering You can enter your vehicle even if you park near a siren The mini-map and expanded map automatically adjust their zoom levels so you don't have to keep manually adjusting the zoom between the two Performance profiles have been added in the game (High Fidelity, Balanced, Performance) and shadow quality settings Some optimisations have been made, there was a lot of unnecessary work being done behind the scenes for the windshield rain effects which has been removed Enjoy! :)
- Rain-wrapped monsters, power slides, and more! - 24 July 2026
v0.20.0 completely changes the feel of storms and tornadoes: they are now even more ominous with procedural and randomised rain-wrapping!I have also slightly reduced the grip on the rear tyres, and made the truck slightly biased towards oversteer, this now allows you to do power slides around corners, or quickly stop and spin 180° before deployment.Lastly I have optimised the probe camera so the game hopefully wont lag as badly while using it.Enjoy! :)
