'Today forecasters use a comprehensive system (to detect storms) but radar is the foundation because radar detects the circulation of winds that form tornadoes,' Henson said. Doppler weather radar was part of a wider modernization of forecast offices nationwide lasting nearly a decade. With the new radar, they could actually detect wind circulations within storms that could lead to tornado formation. Doppler radar allowed forecasters to see more than just precipitation. In the early 1990s, Doppler Weather Radar, or as it was more commonly known, Next Generation Weather Radar, was deployed at local National Weather Service forecast offices nationwide. At this time, tornado and severe thunderstorm forecasts were renamed 'watches' to correspond with products issued by the National Hurricane Center. In 1966, SELS was renamed the National Severe Storms Forecast Center. Today, tornado and severe thunderstorm watches average 25,000 square miles. The first tornado watches issued by SELS usually covered an average area of 27,000 square miles. Weather Bureau established the Severe Local Storms Center, known as SELS. That was the same year official federal records about tornadoes - in terms of their location, strength and damage inflicted - were first kept. This led to using radar to detect storms that could produce tornadoes.įinally, in 1950, the ban on the word 'tornado' in weather forecasts was lifted. Radar operators soon began to notice that rain would often obscure aircraft. Then came Radio Detection and Ranging, or radar.ĭuring World War II, radar was invented to detect enemy ships and aircraft. However, tornado forecasts were only available to Air Force weather offices and were still not issued by the Weather Bureau.

The tornado bulletin brought the Air Force attention from the public and local media. The tornado caused $6 million in damage, but no one was killed, thanks to a tornado safety plan that was implemented at the base after the forecast was issued.

Six hours later, a twister slammed into Tinker Air Force Base in Oklahoma. The first tornado forecast was issued March 20, 1948. Gradually, forecasters started issuing forecasts for severe thunderstorms, but could not tell the time nor place.Īs for tornado forecasts? Still off-limits.Ī breakthrough happened in the late 1940s, when two Air Force officers identified conditions that were favorable for tornado formation in the southern Plains. Weather Bureau started reporting tornadoes, thunderstorms, hailstorms, lightning and high winds at a few experimental locations across the United States in spring 1943. So the emphasis went on observing and reporting rather than forecasting. Thus, experts now don't know whether the 1925 Tri-State tornado - which killed about 695 people when it tore through Missouri, Illinois and Indiana - was actually a single funnel or many, which is why it isn't officially considered the deadliest single tornado. Twisters were not measured in the same way they are now. 'They were a little concerned about the panic or the tools weren't strong enough to predict them,' he said, 'and quite frankly without radar, you couldn't forecast them.' 'They literally avoided the word up until the 1950s or so,' Henson said. Finley was asked to investigate tornadoes and how they developed.Īs Finley was doing his research, tornado forecasting came to a screeching halt when the Signal Corps banned the word 'tornado' from official forecasts because they were concerned the word would cause widespread panic. In 1882, 17 years after the Civil War ended, U.S.

'Most Americans never got a tornado warning,' he said.īefore that, Americans had to endure decades of agonizing blows from Mother Nature, many of the victims taken unaware. 'That's when the warning system we have now was just being developed,' said Bob Henson of the University Corporation for Atmospheric Research. (CNN) - The warnings seem almost ubiquitous today in this world of Doppler Radar and instant communication, but the word 'tornado' actually used to be banned in weather forecasts.īefore the 1950s, there were no warnings that a tornado was about to occur.

Doppler radar greatly improved meteorologists' ability to predict tornadoesĭid you experience the tornado in Joplin, Missouri, on Monday night? Send your photos, videos or stories.

First tornado forecast in 1948 gave air force base time to implement safety plan.

Forecasters weren't allowed to mention tornado possibility because of fears of panic.

Weather Bureau started reporting severe weather at a few U.S.

It hits doppler radar for united states