Weather: Dr. Forbes developed the Tor-Con Index

Weather is so unpredictable. Kansas weather is unpredictable. Weather can shift from day to day. One day it could be sunny. The next day it could be cloudy. You just never know. Weather forecasters have changed the groundwork for reporting the weather. One weather forecaster that changed the landscape of weather is Dr. Forbes. Dr. Forbes developed his love for weather in 7th grade when he learned about weather phenomena. He received his masters and doctorate at the University of Chicago. While at the University of Chicago, he studied under Dr. T. Theodore Fujita who is famous for his invention of the F-Scale used for measuring tornadic terrors. Once Dr. Forbes completed his Ph.D., he served as a manager for the Project NIMROD, which is “the first measurement program to study damaging thunderstorms winds from downbursts and microbursts. One of the most useful invention that Dr. Forbes is the Tor-Con Index. Dr. Forbes should be celebrated as a hero because he alerted the Moore Residents of the dangers of Tornadic Terrors on May 20th, 2013.

On that fatal day, Dr. Forbes released a Tor-Con Index of 9 out of 10 for Northwest Oklahoma, which means that a 90% chance of tornado forming in a 5-mile radius. A Tor-Con index gives a ranking of how likely a tornado can develop in your area. This Tor-Con Index brought an awareness of the possibility of a tornado strike to the Moore Residents. This also helped the World Vision recovery team to have people on standby if a tornado strikes the city of Moore. Dr. Forbes should be recognized as a hero because he played a part of getting the residents to safety.

The Moore, Oklahoma Tornado “touched down in Newcastle, near Oklahoma City at 2:56 p.m. on May 20th, 2013.” (about six years ago). This met that The Moore Residents had 35 minutes of Advanced waning, which helped all the people get to safety who heeded the tornado warning. Climate Central reported on the Moore Tornado incident that “While 24 died and more than 350 people were injured Monday, that advance [tornado] warning no doubt saved dozens, if not hundreds, of lives. Nationally, the average warning lead time is about 13 minutes.” (World Vision, 2018, Para. 14). The 1.1-mile width Tornadic Terror traveled 14 miles (that’s a lot of miles traveled) and lasted over 40 minutes. This tornado horrified the Moore Residents, destroyed over 300 buildings, and caused $2 billion worth of damage. (World Vision, 2018, para. 9).

After the tornado struck, World Vision helped the city of Moore recover. World Vision reported, “Within 24 hours of the deadly tornado on May 20th, 2013, World Vision staff arrived in Moore, Oklahoma, with a 53-foot trailer carrying emergency supplies, including food kits, hygiene kits, diapers, blankets, cleaning supplies, and tarps.” This proves that the citizens were resilient and fought their way to recovery. Their recovery effort is impressive. It is incredible how a city can fight back against the impossible odds of a tornado strike.

In conclusion, Weather are still unpredictable, but Weather forecasters are saving lives across the nation. Therefore, a celebration of Dr. Greg Forbes is warranted because he helped alert the Moore Residents of the possibility of tornado. Thus, I declare Dr. Forbes as a hero.

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