50 Years of Progress in Tornado Warnings -- The Greensburg Success Story ----- MP3 audio file

In 1955, a strong F-5 tornado struck without warning in the dark of night destroying the town of Udall, Kansas, killing 82. An earlier tornado from the same supercell struck the town of Blackwell, OK -- also in darkness and without warning -- and killed 20.

Fifty-two years later, a remarkably similar tornado struck the town of Greensburg, Kansas, one of a series of tornadoes that occurred in southwest and central Kansas the night of May 4-5, 2007. In spite of those remarkable similiarities involving building codes, time of day, strong F-5 intensity, supercell configuration, and radar signature, the death rate in Greensburg was one-fourteenth of Udall's. Why?

This paper examines how today's advanced warning technology combined with skilled meteorologists and storm spotters to produce that remarkable result -- of which the entire meteorological profession should be proud.