NSSL contributes to DFW tornado preparedness study
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An example of digitally mapped tornado path information and actual damage contours laid over Dallas-Fort Worth urban and demographic data. Light green represents F1 damage; green, F2; yellow, F3; and dark orange, F4. Photo courtesy of Scott Rae, NCTCOG. More information is at http://www. dfwinfo.com/weather/study.html. |
NSSL played a vital role in a recent study by
the North Central Texas Council of Governments (NCTCOG) and the NWS in
Fort Worth to make a general assessment of Dallas-Fort Worth's susceptibility
to a major tornado outbreak. The goal of the project was to help emergency
personnel prepare for such a disaster by better defining the magnitude
of the warning, rescue and recovery tasks. The study featured the use
of digitally-mapped tornado path information and actual damage contours
from the May 3, 1999 Oklahoma City tornado outbreak laid atop Dallas-Fort
Worth urban and demographic data. Contributors to the project included
NSSL Researcher Greg Stumpf and former NSSL scientist Amy Wyatt. Ironically,
during the evening rush hour on March 28, 2000, a pair of F3 tornadoes
hit downtown Fort Worth and Arlington, Texas. Following these tornadoes,
Scott Rae, Senior Research Associate at the NCTCOG, expects the study
results to be taken more seriously than before. "There were certainly
a few people around that dismissed the study results early by thinking
that tornadoes could never strike a place like downtown Fort Worth. The
ironic strike on March 28 certainly erased many of those views. The scenarios
were suddenly that much more viable....Urban areas are not immune to tornado
strikes and urban buildings are certainly not invincible."
