Steve Runnels from National Weather Service, Springfield, MO

Here are some facts that we learned from Steve Runnels from the NWS.

J.L.

 

-75% of the time the National Weather Service issues a Watch when conditions are right for a tornado but no tornado forms.

-In a super cell the up draft is the storm tower and the down draft is the rain.

-Even when a tornado is on the ground, its exact path is unpredictable. Therefore NWS is never sure who is going to be hit.

-the NWS issues tornado warnings in polygons of the most likely affected areas. This is more specific than the previous entire county warnings.

-Impact Base Warning system created to include

1. Why is warning/watch being issued.

2. What is the confidence level of their prediction? 

3. What is the impact of the storm.

-The barometer drops suddenly as a tornado passes. This means that the pressure inside a tornado is much lower than outside of the tornado. But the pressure just a short distance away does not change much.