Groundbreaking Nocturnal Tornado Study
A really interesting study on nocturnal tornadoes, and their danger, was released by scientists at NIU through the AMS (American Meteorological Society). The study answered the question "Why are nighttime tornadoes so dangerous? " with a list of things that I already suspected:
- People are asleep and don't take shelter - Less people are in sturdy office buildings - Warning sirens can't be heard well indoors - Spotters can't spot tornadoes in the dark
RANDOM TORNADO PHOTOS FROM OUR PHOTO GALLERY (RELOAD FOR MORE):
The article at ScienceDaily reveals some of the statistics. Apparently, while the overall death rate for tornadoes has been declining recently, it may start rising again, because of the nighttime tornado death rate (which never declined) and the population spreading out (tornadoes are small, so the more people there are spread out, the more likely they will encounter a tornado). Related stats:
- Only 27% of Tornadoes were nocturnal - But 39% of Tornado fatalities occur at night - And 42% of killer Tornado events occur at night - So Nocturnal Tornadoes are 2.5 times as likely to kill
They also noted that 61% of fatalies in mobile homes take place at night, and the nocturnal tornado danger is magnified in the South, where there are more mobile homes than in Tornado Alley.
One thing that they didn't explain in the article (I don't have access to the full study as of this time) was why "Nocturnal Tornado Alley" is shifted to the east of regular Tornado Alley, as the map above shows). I suspect that it has to do with the timing of the atmospheric dynamics required for tornadoes.
The obvious answer, of course, is that more people should have NOAA WeatherRadios, or subscribe to a cell-phone warning delivery service such as the ones from our Wireless services or AccuWeather.com RadarPlus, but there's no way to force people to do those things.
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