Purdue students are among those trying to determine why tornadoes in the southeast are so deadly. Jessica Bozell recalls spending five or six hours on a freeway overpass in Alabama, wishing for bad weather. Bozell, 23, is one of a half-dozen students at Indiana’s Purdue University studying tornadoes through an observation program: the Verification of…
Successful tornadoAlert detections without NWS warnings issued…
These are locations where tornadoAlert issued “Tornado Risk” or “Tornado” without corresponding NWS warnings so far in 2017. “Tornado Risk” is an indicator that conditions are favorable for tornado formation within a 30 mile radius. “Tornado” is an indicator that tornado formation has occurred within a 30 mile radius.
Americans are getting less advance notice for tornadoes, as researchers struggle to understand why
Over the past decade, scientific understanding of tornadoes has improved, and the technology available to detect them has leapt forward. Yet recent statistics show National Weather Service forecasters are providing less advance notice for tornadoes than they did five years ago and more frequently failing to detect them. The reasons for the troubling decline in…
Why 2017’s tornado season is off to such an active start
With hundreds of tornado reports only four months in, 2017 could rival both 2008 and 2011 as one of the most active tornado seasons in recent history. However, as the United States’ severe weather season shifts into its climatological peak, experts agree that it might be too early to determine. “Certainly, we’re off to a…
Lightning sensor launch Saturday brings decades of work to fruition
HUNTSVILLE, Ala. (Feb. 15, 2017) — In the mid 1990s, when NASA built two identical Lightning Imaging Sensors (just in case), Hugh Christian planned all along to send the flight spare into space. He just didn’t expect it to take almost 20 years for that to happen. Christian’s two decade wait is scheduled to end…
What is Tornado Alley?
Spawned by the raging interactions of powerful thunderstorms, tornadoes are some of the most awe-inspiring and destructive natural forces seen in the United States each year. The most frequent and devastating tornado events tend to occur in the region of the U.S. colloquially referred to as Tornado Alley. “Tornado Alley is an area of the…
A 20-minute tornado touchdown warning? Alabama scientists go for it
What would you do with a 20-minute warning of a tornado touchdown? Get to safety, of course, but also make sure your family gets the word if you aren’t together? Evacuate a festival, a ballgame or a playground with a sense of urgency, but not panic? More warning means more chance to survive the scariest…
Large-scale tornado outbreaks increasing in frequency, study finds
The frequency of large-scale tornado outbreaks is increasing in the United States, particularly when it comes to the most extreme events, according to research recently published in Science. The study by researchers including Joel E. Cohen, a visiting scholar at the University of Chicago, finds the increase in tornado outbreaks does not appear to be…
Tornado outbreaks are becoming even more extreme, but less frequent
Outbreaks of tornadoes — where multiple tornadoes form over an area in just a few hours or days — are responsible for most of the devastating destruction caused by severe weather, and a new analysis has reached a worrying conclusion about the worst of these outbreaks. Outbreaks with many tornadoes are becoming more extreme, particularly…
Tornado outbreaks are getting more violent…but there’s no trend in smaller ones
A tornado may cause localized destruction, but the most severe problems come when a storm system spawns multiple tornadoes. This creates what’s called a tornado outbreak, which spreads destruction across a wider area. Now, a new study suggests that the most violent tornado outbreaks are on the rise. But the researchers behind the study see…