TORNADO Act Progresses, Seeks to Improve Forecasting and Warning Times

Tornado damage is seen in Mayfield, Ky., after extreme weather hit the region on Dec. 12, 2021. (BRENDAN SMIALOWSKI/AFP via Getty Images)

A bipartisan bill intent on bringing better understanding, increased forecasting and warning times for tornadoes and severe weather passed the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation on Wednesday, May 10.

The TORNADO Act, short for Tornado Observations Research and Notification Assessment for Development of Operations, was reintroduced this year by Sen. Roger Wicker (R-Miss.) alongside colleagues from both sides of the aisle.

“I introduced the TORNADO Act to help protect against future loss of life and property,” Wicker said in praising the committee’s passage. “Improved forecasting is the best way to give residents more time to seek shelter. I appreciate my colleagues for seeing the value in this legislation, and I look forward to earning the support of the rest of the Senate.”

The legislation would improve the forecasting and understanding of tornadoes and other severe weather by requiring the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) to update methods for predicting and issuing weather alerts.

Wicker said on March 24 that a tornado “left a path of death and destruction that stretched from” Rolling Fork to Amory, Mississippi, claiming “over twenty lives, injuring dozens, and causing an estimated $100 million in property damages.”

He added although NOAA followed current protocols, residents were only issued a warning 20 minutes before the storm arrived, leaving little time for preparation.

The Bill

Provisions of the legislation (pdf) would require NOAA to prepare and submit an action plan for national implementation of “high-resolution probabilistic guidance for tornado forecasting and prediction.”

It will also encourage NOAA to evaluate the current tornado rating system, the Enhanced Fujita Scale or EF Scale, and make updates.

The EF Scale became operational in 2007, according to NOAA, and is used to assign a tornado a ‘rating’ based on estimations of wind speed and surveys of damage. Damage is helped to better estimate wind speeds a tornado likely produced using indicators that place a tornado on a scale of EF0 to EF5.

The original Fujita Scale was updated to better determine wind speeds based on ground examinations and surveys of damage. “The [EF] scale has to do with how most structures are designed,” according to NOAA.

More stipulations of the legislation would require NOAA to “coordinate with appropriate entities when conducting post-storm assessments to optimize data collection, sharing, and integration.”

A man, top center, salvages a jacket as he looks over a tornado-damaged home, in Rolling Fork, Miss., on March 26, 2023. (Julio Cortez/AP Photo)

“Even when tornadoes are well-forecasted, warnings do not always provide enough lead time to ensure the public can respond or seek appropriate shelter. The federal government has a vested interest in making sure Americans have as much notice as possible of severe weather,” Wicker said. “The TORNADO Act would improve the forecasting and understanding of these natural disasters so we can prevent future loss of life and property.”

Fellow Mississippi Sen. Cindy Hyde-Smith said advances had been made in past decades, but those advancements should continue.

“Great advances in weather forecasting in recent decades have helped save lives, but more can and should be done to alert people when tornadoes threaten their lives. The terrible and deadly tornadoes that ripped through Mississippi recently tells us that,” Hyde-Smith said. “This legislation would be useful in helping provide greater support for NOAA and its research partners, like the University of Mississippi, to advance severe storm and tornado detection technologies.”

Senators from Other Tornado-Prone States Cosponsor

Sen. Marsha Blackburn, R-Tenn., toured Bethel Springs, Tennessee, earlier this week following a deadly March 31 tornado that took nine lives.

“Earlier this year, severe weather and tornadoes took over a dozen precious Tennessee lives and disrupted thousands of livelihoods,” said Blackburn. “This bipartisan legislation would provide a better understanding of forecasting and communication before and during hazardous weather so that we can improve warning time and help keep people safe.”

The legislation was also cosponsored by U.S. Senators Ted Cruz (R-Texas), John Thune (R-S.D.), Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa), Todd Young (R-Ind.), John Boozman (R-Ark.), and Gary Peters (D-Mich.).

Cruz said the effort to use innovative technologies to respond to the deadly storms that often threaten Texans would allow greater speed and efficiency in response.

Thune said South Dakotans rely on warnings to protect their families, property and livelihoods.

“This common-sense legislation would improve the accuracy of tornado forecasting and streamline the weather alert system, which would lead to earlier, more accurate warnings for tornadoes and other severe weather,” Thune said.

Sen. Marsha Blackburn (R-Tenn.) tours a tornado-ravaged town in McNairy County, Tenn., after storms in late March killed nine. (Office of U.S. Senator Marsha Blackburn)

Peters, the only Democrat that signed onto the bill as a cosponsor, echoed some of Thune’s beliefs.

“There are common sense steps we can take to better predict and warn Americans about tornadoes and other severe weather events,” Peters said. “I’m pleased to partner with Senator Wicker on the bipartisan TORNADO Act, which would do just that.”

Grassley, Young, and Boozman all mentioned the frequency of severe weather in their states, along with deadly tornadoes that can wreak havoc. They mentioned tornadoes this year that took lives and decimated communities that are still in clean-up, focusing on modernizing NOAA communications to give Americans a better chance to take to safety and be informed.