Weather Channel Throws Interns Into 'Twitter Tornado'

Image credit: weather.com

The interns over at the Weather Channel seem to be having a whirlwind of a time.

To celebrate Tornado Week, the Weather Channel has placed its interns into an indoor Twitter-powered tornado. The winds are sustained by Twitter mentions of the hashtag #TornadoWeek and will increase to "a full-blown EF-5 tornado," or somewhere above 200 mph, inside the Weather Channel offices if the number of public mentions reaches 1,000,000, according to the Weather Channel website.

Don't worry, though, this isn't a form of hazing. The Weather Channel says putting the interns' desk in a high-powered windstorm was actually the interns' idea. Talk about taking an active interest in your work …

The Weather Channel is live-streaming the whole event from now until 8 p.m. Friday, May 3, and the interns are available to chat at the Twitter handle @TornadoWeek.

Tuesday afternoon, the Effective Wind Speed (EWS) in the Weather Channel offices was up to 120 mph, but as more #TornadoWeek tweets come in, the number of fans and force of the winds will increase.

And it's not just the interns. The whole staff at the Weather Channel seems to be getting involved. Here's a tweet from anchor Maria LaRosa:

"We need 2500 more tweets for another fan. #FanUp #tornadoweek What will it take?"

Worried about the dangers involved in re-creating a 200 mph tornado in an office? Don't be.

"Our legal team would certainly not allow us to create actual 200 mph winds within our offices. Instead we are trying to re-create the 'feeling' of these wind speeds by close proximity placement of the fans to the interns," a Weather Channel spokesperson told ABC News.

Check out the live stream below while it's still up and keep the #TornadoWeek tweets coming.