A terrible tragedy struck Friday night, when powerful tornadoes hit a multi-state area from Arkansas to Kentucky. Initial estimates suggest that 50-100 individuals lost their lives and hundreds were injured.
The point of all of this was that simple extrapolation of the severe storm’s motion provided an excellent short-term forecast for the event over the next hour or so.
Tornado guidance must be made available in real time to individuals or businesses so they can make instant, optimal decisions to save lives and property. For tornadoes, people must determine if they are threatened, and if so, should shelter in place or stay out of the storm.
Smartphone-based tornado warning app
Most people have smartphones and such phones know their exact location since they have GPS.
Obviously, we can now deliver National Weather Service forecasts, including tornado warnings and warnings, to smartphones, providing location-appropriate forecasts. mentioned. This is low fruit…and obvious.
But in operational scenarios, things are happening so quickly and locally that NWS forecasters can guide people… .automatic software has to take over.
By using Doppler radar imaging (available approximately every 5 minutes), the instantaneous path of the storm can be determined in real time, and the location and path of the storm can be provided on electricity. smartphone, with continuously updated information about the probability that the smartphone’s location is being exceeded. Estimated arrival times may be noted.
But there’s more than that. Modern radars can also track the debris cloud of large tornadoes… .and thus have confirmation of the tornado’s position and motion
Smartphones can not only provide warnings of an impending tornado, but can also provide information on the best direction to flee if shelter is unavailable – usually at right angles to the road. away of the storm. Distances of several thousand feet can make a huge difference if there is no place to hide.
It is also possible that the THEMSELVES smartphone can provide important weather information to facilitate the determination of the location and movement of tornadoes. Many smartphones have very capable pressure sensors, which I know because I have been researching the meteorological applications of those sensors for over a decade.
Cyclones have a large pressure signature, and smartphones can collect and communicate those pressures in real time. Such smartphone pressure observations could be used by automated systems to determine the intensity and path of tornadoes, and thus improve guidance for individuals making decisions important determination.
I tried talking to Apple and Google about helping to collect pressure data on smartphones to improve weather forecasting. So far, they have listened politely and done nothing. Perhaps that could change. Or perhaps Amazon can help.
In short, a smartphone app, applying real-time meteorological data, can provide particularly valuable guidance during tornado outbreaks and could save lives.
It can be done. And I suspect that only a government organization would take on this because of liability concerns.
News7g: Update the world's latest breaking news online of the day, breaking news, politics, society today, international mainstream news .Updated news 24/7: Entertainment, Sports...at the World everyday world. Hot news, images, video clips that are updated quickly and reliably