Scientists Exploring the Feasibility of Multi-Week Tornado Weather Predictions

Yale Climate Connections has written an article doing a deep dive into current debates over producing long-range tornado outlooks, similar to the hurricane outlooks the general public relies on. Long-range hurricane outlooks are typically measured in terms of seasonal activity, however, which may not transfer easily to tornados or other types of severe weather that can be measured in terms of minutes or hours, instead of days. Efforts by multiple researchers are listed, though the broad consensus appears to be that the best current modeling can do is to predict whether a season will be more or less active. Meanwhile, researchers are finding more potential in developing multi-week outlooks, with some efforts demonstrating it is possible to identify certain dangerous weather patterns two weeks in advance. This capability would not only be valuable during tornado season, but also during off-season periods such as winter where tornados may be a sudden and deadly surprise. Read more at Yale Climate Connections.