Tornado records provide a chronological listing of tornado events by U.S. state from 1950 onward. The National Weather Service compiled these reports, which include statistics on injuries, fatalities, and damage estimates. Data is coded according to the Pearson Tornado Tape 82-column text format.
Use Cases
- Analyze the relationship between Fujita scale code and estimated damage cost code across different U.S. states.
- Model tornado path characteristics using beginning and ending latitude/longitude, track length, and direction of movement.
- Study temporal patterns in tornado events using date, time, and the number of fatalities and injuries reported.
- Investigate geographic distribution and county-level impact by mapping US counties involved and the number of states passed through.
Strengths
- Records span over 55 years, from 1950 through at least 2005.
- Includes over 20 major parameters such as path width, visual characteristics, and rotation direction.
Limitations
- Data is temporally stale, with no updates recorded since December 2005.
- The raw description indicates data is in a legacy 82-column text format, which may require parsing and validation.
Provenance
- Source
- National Weather Service (NWS) reports compiled by NOAA's National Centers for Environmental Information (NCEI).
- Collection Method
- Compiled from the Climatic Data National Summary (1950-1959) and the Storm Data Publication (since 1959), coded to the Pearson Tornado Tape format.
- Time Range
- 1950 to at least 2005.
- Freshness
- null
- Geography
- United States, with data listed by state and county.