This home along East Pearl Street in Whiteland was severely damaged by an EF-3 tornado on March 31, 2023.
Daily Journal File Photo
Received a tornado warning? Had a home or business damaged by a tornado?
Researchers with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration want to hear about it.
The Tornado Tales citizen science tool is an online survey that provides a way for people to anonymously report their tornado experiences. Developed by researchers at the National Severe Storms Laboratory, the tool will be used to better understand how people receive, interpret and respond to tornado information from NOAA, according to the agency.
The survey asks basic questions to collect information about an individual’s responses to warnings and watches, including how they prepared for and monitored the weather and what safe space they used to shelter when a warning was issued by the National Weather Service, an agency of NOAA. This information can help NOAA identify areas where warning messages may not be resulting in the most safe and effective actions. This knowledge will help the agency hone safety messages, federal officials say.
Like the sensors meteorologists use to study the atmosphere, Tornado Tales is designed to gather information, in this case about what people affected by weather are really doing and generate a more robust set of observations than NOAA social scientists currently have available. The information gathered by the tool can also be used by other social scientists, local emergency managers and NWS forecasters to inform research and community engagement activities, according to NOAA.
To take part, visit apps.nssl.noaa.gov/tornado-tales/survey.
