As a severe storms expert, meteorologist Cyrena Arnold of Francestown has been busy providing real-life expertise on the movie “Twisters” – the 2024 sequel to the 1996 movie “Twister” – as the film has been released around the world.

“I’ve been on CondeNast Wired. I’ve been on GQ Weather. I was on an Australian morning show – they all wanted to talk to a ‘real-life storm-chaser’ when this movie came out, and it’s just been a whole lot of fun,” Arnold said. “I can’t believe it’s been 28 years since the first ‘Twister’ came out. A whole generation of meteorologists was inspired by that movie.”

Arnold will host a screening of “Twisters” Saturday, Aug. 17, at the Peterborough Community Theatre at 3 p.m. There will be a meet-and-greet session with Arnold beforehand, followed by a question-and-answer session with the audience. 

Arnold, a native of Virginia, said she was already “totally in love with severe weather” when “Twister” came out. She has dedicated her career to studying the science of severe storms, including winter weather, hurricanes and tornadoes. She comments on severe storms in her podcast, “Storm Front Freaks,” as well as giving daily weather updates to her fans, the “weather weenies,” on her Instagram channel, @WxCyrena.   

Arnold says that especially since “Twisters” came out, she has been getting a lot of questions about tornadoes.

“People are always asking me about ‘Twister,’ and now, with the new movie out, I have had a ton of questions from people about what in the new movie is real, what are tornadoes really like, and what it’s like for real storm-chasers,” Arnold said. “I thought showing the movie would be a really great opportunity for people learn about real storm-chasing, so I approached the Peterborough Theatre about doing a screening, and they were super excited to do it.”

Arnold said “Twisters” “made a big effort to get the science right.”

“The sequel, ‘Twisters,’ is definitely more accurate than the first movie. I’ll be talking about how the two movies are different, what they got right this time, and what they didn’t get right. A lot of meteorologists were able to enjoy the new movie a lot more as far as the science – they really put a lot of work into it this time around,” Arnold said.

In May, Arnold spent time in “tornado alley” region of Colorado, Texas and Oklahoma, tracking tornadoes with a team of professional storm-chasers and documenting the team’s progress on her Instagram account.

“If meteorologists wrote ‘Twister,’ there would be no plot, because we would keep everyone safe,” Arnold said with a laugh. “This is a super fun and unique opportunity for people to get out and learn more about tornadoes and real life storm-chasers, as well as to support one of our local theaters.” 

For information about Arnold’s “Twisters” screening, go to wxcyrena.com/twisters.