Inside Tornado Alley
July 2019
All Eyes on the Sky
NOAA’s Norman, Oklahoma facility lies within Tornado Alley, one of the world’s most tornado-prone areas. In the glass-walled corridors of this state-of-the-art building, all eyes are on the sky.
Many of the world's severe weather experts work in Norman. Some focus on research and keep our nation's radars running. Others forecast severe thunderstorms and tornadoes for the lower 48 states. NOAA forecasters in Alaska and Hawaii provide forecasts for their own regions.
For Norman staff, work is both a personal and a professional passion. They know how life-changing severe weather can be. As this story map was being developed, eye-witnesses reported over 825 tornadoes tearing through the Great Plains. Using advanced radar and other leading-edge tools, forecasters identified risks days in advance and delivered more precise warnings that helped spare lives during this year's unprecedented stretch of tornado activity.
Oklahoma Spirit
Generations of Oklahomans have weathered severe storms, exhibiting the hardy resilience and enterprising, endur- ing spirit that helped build America's frontier and shape our young nation.
This same spirit galvanizes NOAA's work in Norman. With many partners, NOAA continues to advance the understanding of severe weather and achieve the techno- logical breakthroughs vital to protecting lives, property and the U.S. economy.
Ahead of the Storm
Most NOAA efforts are based at the National Weather Center on the University of Oklahoma campus. Three National Weather Service components operate within the Center: the Storm Prediction Center, Weather Forecast Office, and Warning Decision Training Division.
NOAA Research’s National Severe Storms Laboratory, the Tri-Agency Radar Operations Center and the Southern Climate Impacts Planning Program are also vital to NOAA's work in Norman. In studying weather, NOAA often works closely with the Cooperative Institute for Mesocale Meteorological Studies of the University of Oklahoma.
What is Severe Weather?
Making a Severe Weather Forecast
A Watch means Be Prepared!
Forecasters at the Storm Prediction Center monitor conditions 24/7, delivering accurate and timely watches and forecasts for severe thunderstorms, tornadoes, wildfires, and winter weather, communicating risks up to eight days in advance.
Watches highlight areas at specific risk two to eight hours in advance and typically cover about 25,000 square miles.
A Warning means Take Action!
When danger to people and property is imminent, the National Weather Service issues a warning. Norman's Weather Forecast Office provides warnings for regions in Oklahoma and Texas.
Here's how a forecast is made:
The Doppler Effect
In Tornado Alley, warm humid air from the Gulf of Mexico lies beneath cold dry air from the Rocky Mountains, creating an ideal environment for tornadoes to be born within thunderstorms.
In 1973, National Severe Storms Laboratory researchers intercepted a storm in Union City, Oklahoma being scanned by experimental Doppler radar. By documenting the tornado's life cycle on film, they were able to compare filmed images with Doppler data, leading to the landmark discovery that the tornado was forming within the thunderstorm even before it showed up on film. This pattern was named the Tornado Vortex Signature.
In time, NOAA deployed a national network of Doppler radars, which have since been credited with saving an untold number of lives by detecting hazardous weather and triggering tornado alerts and other warnings.
Milestones in Forecasting
Mysterious Twisters
Supercells, or powerful, persistent and rotating storms, are birthing grounds for the strongest tornadoes across the Great Plains. But scientists don’t yet know why some storms make tornadoes and others don't.
Joined by more than 50 researchers from four universities, Norman scientists recently drove their instruments right to these dangerous storms. They're partners in TORUS, a new and ambitious field project aimed at understanding the link between tornadoes and the storms that spawn the most destructive ones.
To improve forecasts, researchers observe storms using advanced tools such as drones, mobile radars, NOAA aircraft, lidar to detect atmospheric particles, swarms of instruments tied to small weather balloons and more to yield a data-driven, multi-dimensional view of each storm system.
Continuing Quest for Better Forecasts
A Proud Legacy
NOAA’s National Severe Storms Laboratory has improved knowledge about severe weather and pioneered advances in technology, leading to increased warning and forecast lead times and accuracy and bringing pivotal change to weather forecasting.
Each year, in the quest to improve forecasts, the lab partners with the Storm Prediction Center to host experiments in the Hazardous Weather Testbed. In this real-time environment, forecasters and researchers strengthen their skills and sharpen their perspectives by learning more about each other’s worlds.
As they test and evaluate emerging forecasting and warning technologies, visiting broadcasters and emergency managers share their own vital insights.
Communicating Risk
The Human Element
Along with science and technology, NOAA forecasters consider the human aspects of making life-saving decisions.
Simulating past events, the Warning Decision Training Division teaches forecasters the latest methodologies for interpreting data. But human factors such as communications, cognitive overload and situational awareness are also key.
Built on forecasting advances and an understanding of how the public responds to safety messages, FACETs is a proposed new framework for more completely communicating severe threats to help people make better decisions.
For Weather Geeks
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