Today in History...

Yesterday, April 11, 2005, was the forty year anniversary of the Palm Sunday outbreak of tornadoes back in 1965, the worst, according to this article, in the history of the United States. It was a major factor in changing how tornado warnings and watches are put out to the public. Thankfully, meteorology and the technology that makes the science possible has come a very long way since the sixties, even since the early nineties. The major difference between the tornado in the Plainfield, Illinois area in August 1990 and the one in Roanoke, Illinois last year was the fact that there was a better warning system and much better radar. A model from the 1950's, the radar from the Plainfield tornado showed hardly anything happening due to a lot of ground clutter, when, in reality, there was a huge storm blowing up. Since it didn't look like a typical, ice cream cone-shaped twister and the radar was not showing much of anything, the tornado was not reported until some time later after it had done most of its damage. However, the Roanoke tornado was a different story. The newer technology, such as the Doppler radar, and better knowledge allowed meteorologists to have a much better view of the situation and to issue warnings before the citizens were hit. Hopefully, things in the weather community will continue to improve so that severe weather like this can continue to be predicted and people warned before it strikes.