"Why is it important to know if it was a tornado?" Topic

We had a violent storm race through the Poconos a few days ago.*
The meteoroligists are arguing if the damage was caused by a tornado, or "just" 110 mph winds.
Why is it so important to decide if it was a tornado or not? Are there insurance or government regulations here?

* OK, OK, Oklahonma and Texas. In PA, they are kind of scarce!

Shrug….Bragging rights ????

Tornado science is still in development. Typically when a storm comes through the severe weather office teams up with amateurs on the ground to track what is happening. By coordinating what people see (lowerings, rotation, funnels, hail, etc) with what can be recorded and measured (wind speed, direction, rain rates, radar images) they are learning to track and predict tornadoes.

When I first started tracking tornadoes just about all we knew was that it was a big storm with potential. These days they can tell by the shape of the storm and the way it moves whether it is forming a tornado… usually. So it's important to keep gathering data, and it matters if the storm produced rotation and a funnel, or if it only produced straight-line winds from a down-draft. The more we understand about what happened, and what was recorded, the better we are able to predict the outcomes of future storms.

because a tornado is an "act of God" to the insurrance companies.
Your home owner policy only covers wind damage.
ymmv,
R.

As a resident of "Tornado Alley", what Jana said.

I've had a couple of personal experiences with straight-line winds. The first time was back in May of 1989, when a strong line of thunderstorms raced across the DFW Metroplex with sustained winds of anywhere between 60-80 m.p.h. One local weatherman, the late, great Harold Taft, tracked it live and, during the broadcast, witnessed a couple of gusts that jumped up to 105-115 m.p.h. My second experience was two months later, following an unbelievably stiffling day. I can remember the clouds churning with the winds shortly before the front blew through. When all was said and done, my front porch overhang was resting right-side up on my roof. It was an incredible night weatherwise.

Forty years ago, weather radars were nothing more than enhanced tracking systems not too far removed from their World War II counterparts. Today, thanks to the dedication and perseverance of countless meteorolgists and scientists, they've become the leading-edge tools in tracking and disecting a severe storm. It would be fascinating to witness what they'll become in the next forty years.

Because tornadoes are cooler.

Same thing with a hurricane, which is no more than a really, really big rainstorm from the ground-eye-view.
-Kle.

What Jana and Saginaw said. Data, data, and more data, leading to more accurate predictions in the future.

We'll be able to stop/divert tornadoes before we can predict them reliably.

How so, blackscribe?

How so, blackscribe?

We can do it now – nuclear bombs.
-Kle.

Small ones – without any radiation effects that are more harmful than say a week at a sun tanning salon. Right Klebert?

Even using nukes – and, really, what's the harm in a little radiation exposure among friends if it saves a life or three? – how could you possibly deploy a nuke fast enough to stop the tornado without knowing ahead of time where it will be? Most tornados are *not* long-lived events, lasting only a few seconds to a few minutes, despite what the movie "Twister" would have you believe. (Although there have been tornados that lasted for hours.)

I'm sure folks in Tornado Alley wouldn't mind having a few thousand low-yield nukes in short-range missiles deployed all over the heartland.

"Looks like a tornado forming over Evansville! Launch! Nope, my bad, just a big thunderstorm. Oh, well, can't win 'em all! Hahahahaha, let's go grab a brewski."

No, you run wind farms in reverse