Why We Need Early Warning Systems For Tornadoes

On the afternoon of April 14, 1886, the city of Sauk Rapids in Minnesota was nearly wiped out after a tornado had struck the city. The whole city was left in complete devastation. Natural disasters have always interested me, specifically tornadoes. Something about tornadoes, whether it’d be how they form or how they acquire their power to cause great destruction, interests me to learn more about tornadoes. This led me to research about tornadoes in Minnesota. As I began surfing the internet about tornadoes that occurred in Minnesota, I came across the effects that each tornado had caused to the areas that it had struck. This is where I discovered the effects of one particular tornado called the Sauk Rapids Tornado. As I looked at the

As storm relative velocity helps analyze the motion of the winds within the storm, information like the rotation of the storm and the speed of the winds can help investigate the chances of the storm developing into a tornado. If the storm appears to be a threat, nearby communities can be notified to take precautions and leave if necessary. Although base velocity can be used for the same reason, the speed of the storm can affect the results of the speed and rotation of winds. Therefore, storm relative velocity is more accurate and reliable than base velocity in determining the threat of a

Tornados are one of the most destructive and devastating natural forces on Earth. When a tornado is fully created, wind speeds can reach up to more than 300 mph (483 km/h). Most tornadoes that occur are between the Appalachians and Rocky Mountains, but tornados can happen where ever the conditions are right. 90% of tornadoes that happen in the United States, happens in the Central United States. Even though scientist have not yet understood how tornadoes are formed, they’ve developed a theory that consist of the process and conditions of which a tornado must have to form.

Hurricanes and tornadoes are both severe weather events that can potentially cause a great deal of damage to property. Both of these storms can threaten human life and in severe events with either a hurricane of a tornado there may well be a loss of life. They may be quite different in how they form and what they actually do but on the other hand those storms are both potentially devastating so they fall into the same category of potential severe weather danger. People who live in areas where hurricanes and tornadoes are known to appear during certain seasons of the year are always urged to be alert to weather warning systems. Those same residents know from experience to keep their radios tuned to weather emergency stations and they are in many cases prepared for the brunt of a storm by building basement shelters.

For millions of people living near the Gulf and Atlantic coasts of the United States, a team of weather experts in Miami were helping make a difference between another hurricane disaster and safe evacuations in the wake of the oncoming storm. These experts are trained to interpret data from satellites, weather stations and specialized computer equipment to give the public advance warning of hurricanes barreling toward any shores (Treaster, 2007, p. 26).

Gave the knowledge of what to look for, this can help save lives and keep loved ones safe but what if someone is unsure of what to look for; well the news channels do provide tornado watches and warnings.

By disproving an Indian myth, this extensive F5 twister confirmed that a tornado can strike anywhere at any time. Ultimately, the twister caused an estimated loss of $41 million by destroying over 600 businesses, 850 homes and 2,000 cars (Sawyer Amanda 1); that is about $363 million dollars in 2016 dollars. Being prepared for a natural disaster such as this, could possibly have led to fewer casualties. If the community of Waco wouldn’t have ignored the warning signs I’m certain more lives would have been saved. When tragedy struck, the city of Waco came together and supported each other during this disastrous time, which showed courage. There were many heroic people on that fateful day, and there also many who lost their lives. Many people believe the tornado was the cause of the way Waco’s downtown area is today, because it never totally recovered. Although, this was a horrific natural disaster, something valuable came out of it. The Waco Tornado of 1953 was a major turning point on how we view and track tornados today. Fortunately, with the use of technology, we are able to track tornadoes. Meteorologist identifies and understands the basic ingredients to be able to forecast a tornado. In today’s modern world we are fortunate to actually have a plan on what should be done before and during a tornado. To able to have warning signs and an action plan

Some tornado specifics can be interesting, some can be boring but these are the fascinating ones. There is a part of land in the Midwestern U.s where more than 1,000 tornadoes form. Most tornadoes only stay on the ground for less than five minutes and some tornadoes stand still while others can go on devastating speeds. The destruction tornadoes make is mostly from the debris that it picks up. More than half of tornadoes are weak and don’t cause many

The National Weather Service, which is part of NOAA, issues more than 15,000 severe storm and tornado watches and warnings each year.

The tornado started at the west side of the town and ended in a different town. May 22 was the day where it changed everybody’s lives. It was just a perfect day were it was busy, everyone was at work and church and there was even a graduation at Joplin High School. Until 5:00 pm. At 4:00 P.M. There were reports that there were funnel clouds near the area. At 5:00, Storm Chasers, Jeff and Kathryn Piotrowski were coming from a storm system in Kansas that was traveling towards Joplin. The storm could produce

The predictions of forecast back around in that time, at times, could have been helpful, other times would not. Though the people had forecast predictions, they were often inaccurate. The forecasters, or indication officers, claimed that their predictions were accurate 83.7 percent of the time for the following day. The indication officers were not allowed to say certain things about the predicted forecast, which often affected the communities negatively not only for this certain occasion but for others, as well. For example, an officer could not even say the word tornado in any of their forecast predictions. The coastal cities of the nation thought that they were immune to the disaster of a hurricane, so forecasters would never mention a such a tragic storm in the predictions of the forecast. On top of the believed immunity and forbidden words to be mentioned in forecasts, the method of predictions was not at the best, either. Instead of relying on the physics of a storm and deeply studying it, indication officers turned more to geometry and cartography, the science of drawing maps, to predict where the storm will go. This did not leave the communities vulnerable for just this blizzard, but for pretty much every storm that swept across the nation, as

It is vital for the survival of mankind that we respect and understand the severity and danger of natural forces and weather conditions. Although advances have been made in the predictions and warning systems of the National Weather Service, or NWS, we must be vigilant in our efforts to always respect what is coming. It is also imperative that we learn from the mistakes we have made in the past and grow from them. One such piece of literature which can help to do this is "Storm Warnings: The story of the a Killer Tornado", by Nancy Mathis, which depicts an amazingly horrific incident where mankind was not prepared for what was coming. The following is understanding of the events that took place on May 3rd, 1999, which showcased an amazing, and terrible, spectacle of tornadoes in Oklahoma. Furthermore we will delve into what has changed since this to better our understanding of upcoming weather related dangers as well as planning for said forces of nature.

Back in 2012 we had a Derecho which was a damaging wind storm which some people called it a mini tornado in Waynesboro. I was outside at a racetrack when this happened and it seemed like time stood still. Everyone was rushing to their cars to go home and running around looking for somewhere to take cover. All I can remember was the adrenaline rush to get into a safe and sturdy place to wait out this storm. My mawmaw told me to get under the concession stand shelf, but all I wanted was to peek up and watch as this wind picked up every little thing it could. Trees were down, power was out, and destruction was left behind for some houses. The ending quote Crenshaw wrote, “I realized they watched from the window to see the terrible beauty of the storm…”( 2004, pg.206), made me relate back to that night because all I wanted to do was sit and watch as this storm

The twister had just hit the ground and was gaining power and strength as it devoured everything in its path. We found ourselves even more frightened than we were just moments ago. The whirling "finger of God" was approaching us at a tremendous rate. The sound surrounding us was outrageous, it sounded something like a steam locomotive roaring towards us, whining and whistling with an awful high pitched roar. As the rumbling cloud of darkness approached us, we started to realize it's outstanding power. This event would be one that we wouldn't soon forget. The rain had almost completely stopped, but the wind was nearly blowing us off the ground as we huddled together under the overpass. We could hear the screeching sounds of car tires as they started sliding across the rain-soaked cement pavement. Electrical explosions lit up the darkened sky as the tornado ripped over power lines,

A tornado is defined as a violently rotating column extending from a thunderstorm to the ground. The most violent tornadoes are capable of tremendous destruction with wind speeds of two hundred and fifty miles per hour or more. Damage paths can be more than one mile wide and fifty miles long. In an average year, eight hundred tornadoes are reported nationwide, resulting in eighty deaths and over one thousand five hundred injuries. In the body of my essay, I will tell you about types of tornadoes, where tornadoes come from, where and when tornadoes occur, the damage they inflict, variations of tornadoes, and how to detect tornadoes.