Did you know there was a time in history where the word “tornado” was banned from American weather forecasts? Up until the 1950s, these storms were thought to be so terrible that reporting on them may cause panic.

 A century ago, the only warning you may have received about an approaching tornado was a neighbor yelling “It’s a twister” as you saw the funnel cloud drawing closer. Part of the problem was not just the impending anxiety it may cause, but also a problem with the Weather Bureau (which would become the National Weather Service) not having the technology to accurately predict when a thunderstorm might turn deadly. Read full blog post.