Researchers Explore Ways To Make Tornado Warning System More Effective
PHILADELPHIA (CBS) - With the nation on pace for a record setting year in tornado deaths, a group of researchers in Delaware are looking for a way to make the tornado warning system more effective.
It can mean the difference between life and death for people in the path of a storm.
"The more specific we can be about where these threats are, the better off we're going to be," says Professor Joe Trainor, who's about to wrap up the study at the University of Delaware's Disaster Research Center. "It's difficult for people to determine if this is the one that will affect them."
Tornadoes, of course, can form in just minutes. But with advanced Doppler radar systems, sometimes the warning is much longer – perhaps as long as 20 minutes.
Trainor says it's a matter of getting that information to people directly in the path of the storm.
"It's a lot more about finding a way to communicate the information that allows people to personalize it," he says.
Among the new possibilities: sending emergency alerts to every cell phone within range of a specific tower, which would not require a user to sign-up for a specific alert service. That technology is already being tested in New York City and Washington, D.C. Trainor says it might also be worth revising the current "watch" and "warning" weather alert system.
"It's important to communicate these risks not in a technical way, but in way people understand," he says. "A large number of people can't distinguish what a 'watch' is and what a 'warning' is."
The officials responsible for issuing those watches and warnings say improvements can always be made.
"It isn't enough now just to get you a good warning," says Gary Szatkowski, meteorologist-in-charge at the Mount Holly office of the National Weather Service. "A good tornado warning is the start of the process, but we need to make sure you do the right thing."
Szatkowski understands that firsthand. In 2008, he traveled to Joplin, Mo., site of this week's devastation, to investigate why 20 people died in a tornado near there despite a warning issued 20 minutes in advance.
"We had excellent warnings out, and we were concerned then about the number of people who perished," he said. "We were really looking at why people do what they do when a tornado warning is issued."
Szatkowski says the National Weather Service is always making significant changes, including narrowing the scope of a severe weather warning. Previously, officials would list entire counties likely to be affected by a severe thunderstorm or tornado. Now, they list specific communities directly in the path of a storm.
"We're trying to narrow them down so people know are you at risk or not," he says.
But with dozens dead across the Midwest and South this spring, there is still clearly more work to do.
"This has been a real learning lesson this year," Szatkowski says.
Reported By Ben Simmoneau, CBS 3
