Tornado History Project - WOW

[beaudodson]

Tornado History Project - Great site for information

WOW - this was posted over on Eastern by forum user jlietz

Copy and paste


http://www.tornadohistoryproject.com/torna...amp;p=1&s=1

or in plain text for copy and paste operations:

www.tornadohistoryproject.com/tornadomap.php?yr=1998&mo=4&day=16&st=%25&fu=%25&co=&l=100&submit=Search&format=basic&p=1&s=1

Over the last year he has created a database of all tornadoes from 1950-2005 (using the NWS historical tornado file) that integrates with Google Maps. Any day or range of days can be plotted, but the link above will take you directly to April 16, 1998.

Looks like some of the paths might be slightly off...would be curious how he plotted them. The tornado days look right though - lot of information on the site.

 

[Jeff Miller]

WOW is an understatement! What a tool!! I am extremely impressed. Thank you for sharing!

 

[beaudodson]

WOW is an understatement! What a tool!! I am extremely impressed. Thank you for sharing!

Hmm I didn't realize that there were tornado outbreaks before the April 3, 1974 event.

http://www.tornadohistoryproject.co...&co=&l=100&submit=Search&format=basic&p=1&s=1

April 1st had an outbreak
April 2nd had an event
April 3rd
April 4th

 

[Joey Ketcham]

That's awesome.

 

[Mark Manchester]

Incredible tool. I can find many good uses for this kind of information. Terrific idea.

 

[Joey Ketcham]

Has anyone else checked the accuracy of the data on this site?

I just looked up April 19th, 2000, the day a tornado went through Parsons, KS. The track is wrong; it shows the tornado further south and completely missing Parson’s. The tornado entered Parsons on the southwest side, travelled northeast leaving a path of destruction before it exited on the northeast side of Parsons.


It’s a nice tool, maybe I’m being picky but if the path of tornadoes is wrong on there, then the data is inaccurate and not usable.

 

[beaudodson]

I wonder how they drew the tornado paths...could prob email the guy. I have not found any errors yet on dates - some of the paths look a tad off though.

 

[Jeff Miller]

I looked up a tornado in Toledo, OH in April 1981 (only Toledo tor in that month) and the placement is wrong. They have it over the Toledo Zoo when it really struck near City Park Ave....

beginning to wonder if they just randomly placed markers in the city...

 

[Paul Townsend]

I just looked at the tornado that hit my house on April 21, 1974 and the plotted path is also to the south of the actual path...

Now I thought that maybe the path they created was a straight line made from the beginning and ending points of the path, but the ending point of this tornado is not correct either.......plotted south or even southeast of the actual ending point.

 

[beaudodson]

Seems like they have the tornadoes right (numbers and ratings and so on)...close to the paths but not perfect. I sent the guy an email and link to the thread. Maybe he will chime in

There is his email addy

TornadoHistoryProject.com Copyright © Joshua Lietz 2006.
Historical Tornado Data courtesy of the National Weather Service
Questions or Comments to [email protected]

 

[Danny Neal]

I just looked at the tornado that hit my house on April 21, 1974 and the plotted path is also to the south of the actual path...

Now I thought that maybe the path they created was a straight line made from the beginning and ending points of the path, but the ending point of this tornado is not correct either.......plotted south or even southeast of the actual ending point.

Same with the 1967 Oak Lawn Illinois tornado. I live in a house that was completely destroyed by the tornado and the damage path was 3 mile south of my house according to that page. Overall though its a great job and great tool. Just a few glitches.

 

[beaudodson]

It would have almost been impossible to plot all of these by hand. Perhaps the NWS has some kind of point locations. I am defin curious. I can't even imagine how long it would have taken to do this by hand!

 

[Kenny Drake]

Hm are the plots all off by the same distance? Seems most of the tracks are just south of where they actually were (from the particular tornado events mentioned in the previous posts.)

 

[Scott Bell]

Nope, I checked on the tornado that hit our neighborhood May 4, 1977 and it's right on or maybe a tiny bit north (but within a block or two)

 

[Joey Ketcham]

It doesn't even have the tornado track for May 4th, 2003 right. At least not for the tornado that went through Franklin, KS.

It shows the tornado passing south of Franklin.