Why Are You Bothering Us with Those Annoying Tornado Warnings?; Part 2

As mentioned in my previous post, one of the comments we get about our severe weather cut-ins concerns the tornado warnings themselves. 

Quite often, we find ourselves getting on the air explaining that “no tornado has been spotted, but this storm could produce a tornado at any time.”  This is a different procedure than what an older generation is used to….when tornado warnings were only issued if something had been spotted.

From the late 1980’s through the early 1990’s, the National Weather Service (they’re the ones who issue all of the official warnings for severe weather) upgraded their radar system to Doppler radars.  In short, this allowed meteorologists to view what the winds were doing inside thunderstorms.  This, along with the years of research on tornadoes that has been done since then, has allowed for the issuance of tornado warnings for storms that, while they may not have a tornado in them at that time, have a strong potential to produce one at any moment.

The obvious benefit here is the extra heads up.  With the old way…by the time a tornado warning was issued, a tornado was already occurring…and any warning would be too late for those closest to the storm.  Today, since warnings are issued when the storm exhibits strong rotation at cloud level, people in the path of the storm can be warned before a tornado actually forms.  Even if a tornado does not form, there will likely be an area of gusty winds associated with this turbulent area of the storm…capable of causing some wind damage even in the absence of any tornado.

This is especially helpful here in the Southeast.  It’s very rare that we get the larger, easy-to-see tornadoes that occur in the Plains and Midwest.  Our storms are generally smaller and weaker…and the tornadoes can often be wrapped in rain, making them almost impossible to see.  That extra radar warning is very useful for us locally.

Does this new procedure increase the chance for a few false alarms?  Sure.  Sometimes tornadoes won’t form out of storms that have the necessary spin.  But fewer storms are falling through the cracks, and the success rate on warning for tornadoes has increased significantly over the past couple of decades.  The net result has been better warnings with longer lead times…and more chance to keep everyone out of harm’s way.