Tornado Articles

New Tornado Research Attempts to Provide Seasonal Forecasts

This week, we shared an NPR report on new tornado research and the National Weather Service’s use of software called SMART. The Social Media Analytics and Reporting Toolkit could allow first responders to target areas that most need the help and give those in the path of the storm a few extra seconds to reach their storm shelters.But weather researchers at…

NSSA and Industry Standard-A History

1970, Lubbock Texas—a tornado rips through, killing 26 people and destroying a third of the ‘hub’ of the South Plains. Texas Tech researchers took this opportunity to document the damage to find ways of improving building structures for resisting extreme winds. By 1974, the idea of the above-ground storm shelter was born. Over the years,…

Is Tornado Alley Moving East?

Tornadoes have traditionally been considered a Midwest phenomenon, appearing in all their twisting terror in the middle of cornfields or spinning across vast prairie land. We have what we call “Tornado Alley,” which includes the states where most of our country’s tornadoes take place: Texas, Oklahoma, Nebraska, Kansas, South Dakota, Iowa, and parts of Colorado…