Improvements in Tornado Warnings and Tornado Casualties

Abstract

Doppler radar installation by the National Weather Service (NWS) improved tornado warning performance, raising the probability of detection and mean lead time while reducing the false alarm ratio. Research on tornado casualties has established that a warning reduces tornado injuries while lead times of up to fifteen minutes also reduce tornado fatalities. In this paper we estimate the decrease in tornado casualties attributable to the observed change in the distribution of warning lead times, and thus provide evidence on the benefit to society of weather warning systems. We find that increases in warning lead times accounts for 30–50 percent of the reduction in injuries but no more than 1/4 of the reduction in fatalities which occurred with the installation of Doppler radar by the NWS. Future improvements in warning performance to further reduce tornado fatalities by 18 percent and injuries by 24 percent.