July 21, 2010
Senate Capitol Visitors Center 212
10:30 am to 11:30 am

On average, the United States experiences over 1300 tornadoes a year; as a consequence, lives are lost, hundreds are injured, and damage to property and infrastructure can run into the hundreds of millions of dollars. Many major urban areas such as Dallas, Atlanta, and Chicago, are at risk of violent tornadoes that could inflict incredible suffering and produce catastrophic damage. The unique violence of tornadoes relative to other severe weather hazards provides a compelling reason to continue to improve our nation’s storm prediction capacity and warning system efficiency. Come and hear about the latest understanding of how and why tornadoes form; advances expected from the recent major tornado field experiment, VORTEX2; how warnings are currently issued; methods now under development that will improve warnings, including much increased lead times; and how to enhance communications before and after severe storms. 

Speakers:

Maggie Walser
Associate Program Officer, Board on Atmospheric Science and Climate, National Academy of Sciences

John T. Snow
Regents’ Professor of Meteorology and Dean Emeritus, College of Atmospheric and Geographic Sciences, the University of Oklahoma, Norman

Roger Wakimoto
Director, National Center for Atmospheric Research, Boulder, Colorado

Steven M. Zubrick

Science and Operations Officer, Weather Forecast Office, National Weather Service, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Sterling, VA

 Briefing sponsored by:

American Geological Institute

American Geophysical Union

American Society of Civil Engineers

University Corporation for Atmospheric Research