A team of scientists reports that they accurately predicted the nation’s extensive tornado outbreak of late May 2019 nearly four weeks before it began.
A team of scientists reports that they accurately predicted the nation’s extensive tornado outbreak of late May 2019 nearly four weeks before it began.
The team’s study, detailing factors that went into the forecast, is newly published in the journal, Geophysical Research Letters.
“This is the first documented successful long-range forecast for an extended period of tornado activity in the U.S.,” said lead author Victor Gensini, a professor of meteorology at Northern Illinois University.
Gensini said extended-range predictions are the “new frontier of forecasting.”
“In our field, there’s a big push to accurately predict all kinds of extreme weather events well in advance,” Gensini said.
“If we can better anticipate when and where these extreme events may be occurring, it gives us a better chance to mitigate their impacts. We think any additional lead time could be extremely valuable to emergency response teams, insurance companies, and numerous other sectors of industry.”
Read more at Northern Illinois University
Image: The 757 tornado warnings (red polygons) issued by NOAA’s National Weather Service from May 17 to May 30 of this year. Credit: Northern Illinois University
