Historical Tornado Distribution Map (1950-1995)
Texas Tech University, Lubbock Texas
Lucia S. Barbato, Kevin R. Mulligan, Steven Weinbeck
Distribution of Historical Tornadoes 1950-1995
This map shows the spatial distribution of 43,433 tornadoes in the United States recorded between 1950 and 1995. During this period, tornadoes accounted for 4,143 reported deaths and more than $19 billion in damages.
To create the map, digital tornado data from 1950 to 1995 from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Storm Prediction Center (SPC) was obtained and processed. The SPC database stores tornadoes as either a single x, y coordinate event or as multiple x, y coordinate pairs representing long track tornado events. To create the long track tornadoes, a script was used to generate the line segments for events having two or more coordinates pairs. By compiling the tornado data in a GIS format, it is now possible to view, query, and spatially analyze the data.
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The Fujita Map
(JPG 583KB, TXT 24KB)
In 1987, Theodore T. Fujita published this exceptional map showing the spatial distribution of tornadoes in the United States. It shows the magnitude and location of 23,264 tornadoes observed between 1930 and 1978. The Fujita map is exceptional in that each tornado was mapped by hand and the map took three years to construct. By contrast, it took five hours of computational time to generate and map the tornadoes from the SPC database using GIS.
Last Modified: Thursday, 04-Jun-2009 13:35:58 EDT