Kevin Crawmer
EF2
I think someone brought this up on the 3/1/07 NOW thread, but I would like to start a discussion here. At any given time over an almost 36 hour span there were several tornado warnings at several locations across the country, yet very few of them produced. I have found in the midwest that a tornado warning means that everyone in the neighborhood runs outside to look at the sky instead of preparing for or taking cover.
I spoke with my mom last night who went through a historic tornado on 4/24/75 in Neosho, MO. She said that they had a tornado watch that evening that expired 10 minutes before their sirens started going off for a strong F4 that was approaching the area seen by the county deputy. Obviously the works of Fujita, Bluestein, and many many others along with advances in radar have helped this process of a faster recognition time. A much larger spotter community helps as well.
My questions are these: 1) Are there any organized research projects currently ongoing that will yield a more effective warning process? 2) What do you think will be the next big advancement that will change the way we forecast/warn the public? (ie, is there a experimental radar being used, etc).
This is an exciting time for severe weather enthusiasts with probabilty-based forecasting improving and the new warning system that will be in place next fall.
I spoke with my mom last night who went through a historic tornado on 4/24/75 in Neosho, MO. She said that they had a tornado watch that evening that expired 10 minutes before their sirens started going off for a strong F4 that was approaching the area seen by the county deputy. Obviously the works of Fujita, Bluestein, and many many others along with advances in radar have helped this process of a faster recognition time. A much larger spotter community helps as well.

My questions are these: 1) Are there any organized research projects currently ongoing that will yield a more effective warning process? 2) What do you think will be the next big advancement that will change the way we forecast/warn the public? (ie, is there a experimental radar being used, etc).
This is an exciting time for severe weather enthusiasts with probabilty-based forecasting improving and the new warning system that will be in place next fall.