Dear Tom,
I have always been fascinated by the work that survey teams do after a tornado. Their work seems straightforward, but I suppose it isn’t. What problems do they have?
Todd Tenburg
Dear Todd,
Meteorologist Rusty Kapela, at the Milwaukee National Weather Service Office, documents tornado occurrences in Wisconsin, and he relates several difficulties in aftermath assessment. The NWS often receives multiple reports of the same (or different?) tornado, and the information (such as times of occurrence) is sometimes contradictory. The cause of the wind damage–straight-line or tornadic winds–is sometimes perplexing to ascertain. And finally, field investigations are difficult when tornadoes occur in remote or inaccessible locations.
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Tom Skilling is chief meteorologist at WGN-TV. His forecasts can be seen Monday through Friday on WGN-TV News at noon and 9 p.m.
WGN-TV meteorologists Steve Kahn, Richard Koeneman and Paul Dailey plus weather producer Bill Snyder contribute to this page.
