How to Solve the Tornado Problem

2min Snip

00:00

Play full episode

Summary

Transcript

Episode notes

Our current paradigm for warning for tornadoes is something called warn on detection, meaning either it's indicated by radar or somebody in the field has phoned in and reported it. We need to bring that false alarm rate down so that when we do issue a tornado warning, we're extremely confident people are actually going to take action. So for one, Robin's really pushing for just better, faster radar that can scan areas more quickly - like a faster strobe light.

8 minutes, 24 seconds. That’s the average amount of warning time people get before a tornado touches down. To do better, and to understand tornadoes, scientists need to confront more of these storms, head on.

For a clean version of this episode and more, go to http://vox.com/unexplainable

It’s a great place to sign up for our newsletter, view show transcripts, and read more about the topics on our show.

Also, email us! unexplainable@vox.com

We read every email.

Support Unexplainable by making a financial contribution to Vox! bit.ly/givepodcasts

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices