History of tornado research
The history of tornado research spans back centuries, with the earliest documented tornado occurring in 200 CE and academic studies on them starting in the 18th century. Several people throughout history are known to have researched tornadoes. This is a timeline of government or academic research into tornadoes.
Early studies
The earliest-known tornado occurred in Sardegna, Sardinia and Corsica, Roman Empire in 200.The earliest-known German tornado struck Freising in 788. The earliest-known Irish tornado appeared on April 30, 1054, in Rostella, near Kilbeggan. The earliest-known British tornado hit central London on October 23, 1091, and was especially destructive, with modern research classifying it as an F4 on the Fujita scale.
After the discovery of the New World, tornadoes documentation expanded into the Americas. On August 21, 1521, an apparent tornado is recorded to have struck Tlatelolco, just two days before the Aztec capital's fall to Cortés. Many other tornadoes are documented historically within the Basin of Mexico. The first confirmed tornado in the United States struck Rehoboth, Massachusetts, in August 1671. The first confirmed tornadic death in the United States occurred on July 8, 1680, after a tornado struck Cambridge, Massachusetts.
First tornadic case study
The first case study on a tornado took place following the violent 1764 Woldegk tornado, which struck around Woldegk, Duchy of Mecklenburg-Strelitz, Holy Roman Empire. Between 1764 and 1765, German scientist Gottlob Burchard Genzmer published a detailed survey of the damage path from the tornado. It covers the entire, 33 km long track and also includes eyewitness reports as well as an analysis of the debris and hail fallout areas. Genzmer calls the event an "Orcan" and only compares it to waterspouts or dust devils. Based on the damage survey, modern day meteorologists from the ESSL were able to assign a rating of F5, on the Fujita scale, and T11 on the TORRO scale, making it the earliest known F5 tornado worldwide. The T11 rating on the TORRO scale also places this event among the most violent tornadoes ever documented worldwide.First studies by country
In May 1820, Józef Karol Skrodzki, Professor at the University of Warsaw, read a paper describing a tornado that occurred in Mazew, Łęczyca County in Poland on August 10, 1819. It was described that the tornado had the appearance of a funnel whose color seemed different depending on the lighting, and that it damaged several buildings by tearing off roofs, damaging the structure, and lifting a hay wagon into the air. The paper was published in a collection of works by the Warsaw Society of Friends of Learning in 1821.In 1838, the earliest recorded Asian tornado struck near the city of Calcutta in present-day West Bengal, India. It was described as moving remarkably slow across its path southeast over the span of 2 to 3 hours. It was recorded to cause significant damage to the area, including hail being observed at the Dum Dum weather observatory.
Between 1839 and 1841, a detailed survey of damage path of significant tornado that struck New Brunswick, New Jersey, on June 19, 1835, which was the deadliest tornado in New Jersey history, occurred. The path was surveyed by many scientists on account of its location between New York City and Philadelphia, including early tornado theorists James Pollard Espy and William Charles Redfield. Scientists disagreed whether there was whirling, convergent, or rotational motion. A conclusion that remains accurate today is that the most intense damage tends to be on right side of a tornado, which was found to be generally easterly.
In 1840, the earliest known intensive study of a tornadic event published in Europe, by French scientist Athanase Peltier.
In 1865, the first in India and earliest known scientific survey of a tornado that analyzed structure and dynamics was published by Indian scientist Chunder Sikur Chatterjee. The path damage survey of a tornado that occurred at Pundooah, Hugli district, West Bengal, India, was documented on maps and revealed multiple vortices, the tornadocyclone, and direction of rotation, predating work by John Park Finley, Alfred Wegener, Johannes Letzmann, and Ted Fujita.
Research by topic
Tornadogenesis
In December 1898, Dr. B. F. Duke, along with Dr. Cleveland Abbe, published a paper regarding the United States's Weather Bureau's first official theory on how tornadoes form after Duke observed the formation of a tornado near Pascagoula, Mississippi, in April 1894. This theory included that winds have to be moving in two different directions and that when those winds meet, they form a rapid updraft, which forms a very buoyant cloud. The buoyant cloud then will "suck up the air beneath it with such violence as to form a waterspout over the ocean or a tornado over the land and the winds immediately below it are suddenly and greatly increased". Dr. Abe then theorized that "it is possible that we may have violent whirls with horizontal axes", for the first theory of horizontal vortices within tornadoes.In 1960, Bernard Vonnegut suggested that electricity in thunderstorms may power tornadoes.
Characteristics of tornadoes
In April 1899, Dr. Cleveland Abbe, along with Professor A. W. Baker and E. L. Dinniston, published an article regarding the characteristics of tornadoes. In the study and analysis, Abbe discovered that tornadoes in the United States rotate counterclockwise, just the same as a large low-pressure system. Abbe also stated that this rotation rule for tornadoes "is almost invariable".In November 1900, S. C. Emery with the United States Weather Bureau conducted a case study, including detailed damage surveys, for a small tornado outbreak in Tennessee, Mississippi and Arkansas on November 19, 1900. In the study, Emery surveyed and mapped that one of the tornadoes "divided" into two nearly parallel parts, or that it had a "zig zag" motion, as some buildings were not damaged and others destroyed. Emery also stated he was "inclined to believe the latter explanation as more reasonable". Emery also noted one of the tornadoes had an average forward speed of and that a separate tornado travelled.
In 1901 and later again in 1906, Frank H. Bigelow, chief of the United States Weather Bureau, calculated and published formulas to find the rotational speed of a tornado based on the height above sea level. In his study, Bigelow studied a waterspout off the coast of Cottage City, Massachusetts. Bigelow's formula went on to help Alfred Wegener, a leading geophysicist, atmospheric scientist, and an Arctic explorer, develop the hypothesis that tornadoes can form off of a gust front.
| Height above sea level | Diameter of tube | Radial velocity outward | Rotational velocity | Vertical velocity upwards |
The 1957 Dallas tornado was studied extensively by the Severe Weather Forecast Unit in Kansas City, who proved several prominent theories about tornadoes were wrong. One of these-then proven false theories was that all air and debris flowed inward into the funnel and then upward, but on the outside edges of the funnel debris and people were even lifted. Among the studies was the first-ever photogrammetric analysis of wind speeds in a tornado. The film of the tornado is still regarded as being of exceptionally high quality and sharpness. Additionally, structural surveys following this and the Fargo tornado later in the year provided data that contributed to the development of the Fujita scale.
In 2018, researchers with the University of Oklahoma's School of Meteorology, NWS, NSSL, and Ohio University published a detailed analysis of the multiple-vortex nature of the 2013 El Reno, Oklahoma tornado.
Tornado watches and warnings
In April 1899, the Chicago Tribune wrote to the United States Weather Bureau via a news article posing the question on why tornado warnings are not sent out via telegraphs or even the telephone to warn the local population in the path. Cleveland Abbe responded by saying "it is certain that if any such arrangement were possible, the Weather Bureau would have done this many years ago" along with "we must remember that the destructive areas of tornadoes, and even of thunderstorms, are so small that the chance of being injured is exceedingly slight" and that "we do not attempt to prevent that which is inevitable".In June 1899, U.S. Weather Bureau Oklahoma section director J. I. Widmeyer published that long-range forecasters in Oklahoma were sounding "unnecessary tornado alarms" due to "ignorant predictions" to residents in Oklahoma and that they were causing "frightened men, women, and children" to take shelter, despite no tornadoes occurring. Cleveland Abbe added on to the publication by Widmeyer saying, "It is unnecessary to resort to the caves and cellars, or to stop our ordinary avocations for fear of a tornado, until we see the cloud in the distance, or are positively certain that one is about to pass near us".
In April 1908, the U.S. Weather Bureau published several replies regarding a question posed to the Weather Bureau on: How can we protect against tornadoes?.
- Lieutenant John Park Finley responded with "the best we can do is to watch the distant tornado, and if it seems to approach us then move away toward the left; so far as we have learned, this still continues to be the best rule".
- The Chief of the Weather Bureau responded with the idea to establish a warning system by surrounding a city at a distance of with wires hooked up with alarms. That way, a warning can be given to the city for an impending tornado. The wire system would detect sudden pressure differences, if wires were twisted, or if wires were short circuited. It was also stated that at a distance of four miles from the city, the tornado "would be unable to reach the city from any direction without giving us an alarm".
- Cleveland Abbe responded by saying the idea of a wire-based system around a city is not practical as well as how tornadoes are very infrequent. Abbe ended by saying that "the mere forewarning of a tornado is no protection against its coming" and that it would be wiser to "spend your money to protect yourself against diseases, accidents, lightning, ect…".
In May 2024, Timothy J. Dolney with Pennsylvania State University, published a new analysis of the 1985 United States–Canada tornado outbreak, specifically focusing on the state of Pennsylvania and Tornado Watch #211 issued by the National Weather Service for the tornado outbreak.