Word: weather
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Dates: during 1950-1959
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...Such weather wisdom warns of tornado conditions only an hour ahead at best; usually much less. This is not time enough to broadcast an alarm to people who spend little time in the open and so cannot watch the sky. For such potential victims, the U.S. Weather Bureau, with a big assist from the Air Force, has developed a system that warns of tornadoes two to four hours ahead...
...Force Base in Oklahoma, when a tornado swept across it. After the disaster they went over their data on conditions before the storm and found a "peculiar pattern." Five days later they came to their office, took a look at the day's charts and saw the same weather pattern. They did not dare use the dread word "tornado," but they told key men about their hunch that a tornado was coming. Tinker Field got a forecast of an 80-m.p.h. wind, which ensured all possible precautions. Less than seven hours after the warning, the "pattern" delivered the goods...
Stimulated by this success, Fawbush and Miller dug through past records looking for weather patterns that had produced tornadoes. As their experience grew, their forecasts improved, and were extended to cover military installations all over the central...
Since the Air Force is not in the business of warning the general public, the Weather Bureau set up a "severe-weather warning center" in Washington in 1952 to develop the Tinker Field system. Moved to Kansas City in 1954, it now issues warnings two to four hours in advance, spotting about 70% of the tornadoes within 150 miles of the warning area...
...Jones hopes that his system will be ready next year for practical operation. Then the Weather Bureau can pinpoint an individual cloud and warn the people in its path to get under cover quick...