This blog is intended to facilitate communication about the impacts of selected severe weather events, particularly major tornadoes, in the United States in near-real-time. We hope it will allow us to assist media, forecasters, researchers, emergency managers, and other interested parties to understand what we at the NOAA Weather Partners in Norman, Oklahoma have been able to gather about the events. We also hope to include information that puts recent events into historical perspective and provide guidance about how to interpret the record of reported events.
This blog is not intended to provide critical weather forecast information. For that, go to the National Weather Service 
, especially the Storm Prediction Center for national guidance, and your local National Weather Service Forecast Office for local information. Find it here . Nor is this intended to provide information on a broad range of research topics associated with severe weather. For that, go to the National Severe Storms Laboratory .
One of the interesting questions that comes up every year is how to compare a tornado season with previous seasons. In 2009, that question has come up particularly in light of the quiet conditions lately. One way to do this is to start by adjusting historical reports for the long-term “inflation” in reports. If we [...]
Unusually quiet weather conditions for this time of year continue into the weekend.
A cautionary note about deterministic guidance from high-resolution NWP models.
A remarkable forecast of severe storms last Friday, May 8, 2009.
A look at an unfolding severe weather event and some new forecast techniques.
We frequently get asked, “how many…” occur each year. One of the most common of those questions involves tornado deaths. Here’s the raw data.
The relationship between the preliminary and final counts of tornadoes is not as straightforward as it seems.
The question of how rare an event the Oklahoma tornadoes of 10 February 2009 is very difficult to answer.
The number of severe thunderstorm wind reports on Wed. Feb. 11, 2009 is unusual for so early in the year.
Tornadoes as far west or farther west than the Oklahoma City-Edmond tornado have occurred rarely in January or February since 1950.