Tornado TracksThis feature layer, utilizing data from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), displays tornadoes in the United States, Puerto Rico and U.S. Virgin Islands between 1950 and 2024. A tornado track shows the route of a tornado. Per NOAA, "A tornado is a narrow, violently rotating column of air that extends from a thunderstorm to the ground. Because wind is invisible, it is hard to see a tornado unless it forms a condensation funnel made up of water droplets, dust and debris. Tornadoes can be among the most violent phenomena of all atmospheric storms we experience. The most destructive tornadoes occur from supercells, which are rotating thunderstorms with a well-defined radar circulation called a mesocyclone. (Supercells can also produce damaging hail, severe non-tornadic winds, frequent lightning, and flash floods.)"EF-5 Tornado Track (May 3, 1999) near Oklahoma City, OklahomaData currency: December 30, 2024Data source: Storm Prediction CenterData modifications: Added field "Date_Calc"For more information: Severe Weather 101 - Tornadoes; NSSL Research: TornadoesSupport documentation: SPC Tornado, Hail, and Wind Database Format SpecificationFor feedback, please contact: ArcGIScomNationalMaps@esri.comNational Oceanic and Atmospheric AdministrationPer NOAA, its mission is "To understand and predict changes in climate, weather, ocean, and coasts, to share that knowledge and information with others, and to conserve and manage coastal and marine ecosystems and resources."

A database of verified tornado tracks across Canada has been created covering the 30-year period from 1980 to 2009. The tornado data have undergone a number of quality control checks and represent the most current knowledge of past tornado events over the period. However, updates may be made to the database as new or more accurate information becomes available. The data have been converted to a geo-referenced mapping file that can be viewed and manipulated using GIS software.

• Update Frequency: Weekly

Data from this dataset can be downloaded/accessed through this dataset page and Kaggle's API.

Context

Severe weather is defined as a destructive storm or weather. It is usually applied to local, intense, often damaging storms such as thunderstorms, hail storms, and tornadoes, but it can also describe more widespread events such as tropical systems, blizzards, nor'easters, and derechos.

The Severe Weather Data Inventory (SWDI) is an integrated database of severe weather records for the United States. The records in SWDI come from a variety of sources in the NCDC archive. SWDI provides the ability to search through all of these data to find records covering a particular time period and geographic region, and to download the results of your search in a variety of formats. The formats currently supported are Shapefile (for GIS), KMZ (for Google Earth), CSV (comma-separated), and XML.

Content

The current data layers in SWDI are:
- Filtered Storm Cells (Max Reflectivity >= 45 dBZ) from NEXRAD (Level-III Storm Structure Product)
- All Storm Cells from NEXRAD (Level-III Storm Structure Product)
- Filtered Hail Signatures (Max Size > 0 and Probability = 100%) from NEXRAD (Level-III Hail Product)
- All Hail Signatures from NEXRAD (Level-III Hail Product)
- Mesocyclone Signatures from NEXRAD (Level-III Meso Product)
- Digital Mesocyclone Detection Algorithm from NEXRAD (Level-III MDA Product)
- Tornado Signatures from NEXRAD (Level-III TVS Product)
- Preliminary Local Storm Reports from the NOAA National Weather Service
- Lightning Strikes from Vaisala NLDN

Disclaimer:
SWDI provides a uniform way to access data from a variety of sources, but it does not provide any additional quality control beyond the processing which took place when the data were archived. The data sources in SWDI will not provide complete severe weather coverage of a geographic region or time period, due to a number of factors (eg, reports for a location or time period not provided to NOAA). The absence of SWDI data for a particular location and time should not be interpreted as an indication that no severe weather occurred at that time and location. Furthermore, much of the data in SWDI is automatically derived from radar data and represents probable conditions for an event, rather than a confirmed occurrence.

Acknowledgements

Dataset Source: NOAA. This dataset is publicly available for anyone to use under the following terms provided by the Dataset Source — http://www.data.gov/privacy-policy#data_policy — and is provided "AS IS" without any warranty, express or implied, from Google. Google disclaims all liability for any damages, direct or indirect, resulting from the use of the dataset.

Cover photo by NASA on Unsplash
Unsplash Images are distributed under a unique Unsplash License.

Storm Data is provided by the National Weather Service (NWS) and contain statistics on personal injuries and damage estimates. Storm Data covers the United States of America. The data began as early as 1950 through to the present, updated monthly with up to a 120 day delay possible. NCDC Storm Event database allows users to find various types of storms recorded by county, or use other selection criteria as desired. The data contain a chronological listing, by state, of hurricanes, tornadoes, thunderstorms, hail, floods, drought conditions, lightning, high winds, snow, temperature extremes and other weather phenomena.

We provide a dataset of tornadoes and waterspouts in Chile from 1554 to present based in chronicles, newspaper articles, social media, scientific literature and books. The database includes only those events that have been qualified as more than likely a tornado or waterspout based on a subjective qualification by the researchers. For each tornado we provide at least one geographical location point, the local and UTC hour (if known) and for most cases an estimation of the intensity based on the Enhanced Fujita damage scale.The following are the parameters contained in the database:N°: This is the entry number or identifier for each record in the file.Location: The name of the place where the weather event occurred.Latitude: The geographical latitude coordinate of the event's location.Longitude: The geographical longitude coordinate of the event's location.Date (Gregorian Calendar): The date when the event occurred, according to the Gregorian calendar.Hour (local): The local time when the event occurred.Hour (UTC): The time of the event in Coordinated Universal Time (UTC).Sound: A binary indicator (usually 1 for 'Yes' and 0 for 'No') showing whether there was a notable sound associated with the event.Hail: A binary indicator showing whether hail was a feature of the weather event.Electric Storm: A binary indicator showing whether the event involved an electric storm.Damage: A binary indicator showing whether there was any damage resulting from the event.Tornado: A binary indicator showing whether a tornado was a part of the event.Waterspout: A binary indicator showing whether a waterspout was observed during the event.Register: This column refers to the existence of some witness account or visual material of a rotating column.Max. EF Rating: The maximum Enhanced Fujita Scale rating assigned to the tornado, indicating its intensity.Analyst: The name or initials of the person who analyzed or reported the event.Fatalities: The number of fatalities (deaths) caused by the event.Injured: The number of injuries reported due to the event.Link to Documents: References or links to documents where the event is described or recorded.Sources: The sources or references from where the information about the event is derived.Comments: Additional remarks or notes about the event, providing context or extra details.

A database of verified tornado occurrences across Canada has been created covering the 30-year period from 1980 to 2009. The tornado data have undergone a number of quality control checks and represent the most current knowledge of past tornado events over the period. However, updates may be made to the database as new or more accurate information becomes available. The data have been converted to a geo-referenced mapping file that can be viewed and manipulated using GIS software.

The National Weather Service (NWS) Storm Prediction Center (SPC) routinely collects reports of severe weather and compiles them with public access from the database called SeverePlot (Hart and Janish 1999) with a Graphic Information System (GIS). The composite SVRGIS information is made available to the public primarily in .zip files of approximately 50MB size. The files located at the access point contain track information regarding known tornados during the period 1950 to 2006. Although available to all, the data provided may be of particular value to weather professionals and students of meteorological sciences. An instructional manual is provided on how to build and develop a basic severe weather report GIS database in ArcGis and is located at the technical documentation site contained in this metadata catalog.

The National Weather Service (NWS) Storm Prediction Center (SPC) routinely collects reports of severe weather and compiles them with public access from the database called SeverePlot (Hart and Janish 1999) with a Geographic Information System (GIS). The composite SVRGIS information is made available to the public primarily in .zip files of approximately 50MB size. The files located at the access point contain composite track information regarding tornados, large hail, and damaging winds for the period 1950-2006. Although available to all, the data provided may be of particular value to weather professionals and students of meteorological sciences. An instructional manual is provided on how to build and develop a basic severe weather report GIS database in ArcGis and is located at the technical documentation site contained in this metadata catalog.

A database of verified tornado occurrences across Canada has been created covering the 30-year period from 1980 to 2009. The tornado data have undergone a number of quality control checks and represent the most current knowledge of past tornado events over the period. However, updates may be made to the database as new or more accurate information becomes available. The data have been converted to a geo-referenced mapping file that can be viewed and manipulated using GIS software.

This data from the National Weather Service provides Geographic Information System (GIS) graphical representations of tornados, large hail events, and damaging wind reports in the Continental United States for the period 1950 through 2006. The data provided are in .zip files that are generally around 50 MB. Although available to all, the data provided may be of particular value to weather professionals and students of meteorological sciences. An instructional manual is provided on how to build and develop a basic severe weather report GIS database in ArcGis and is located at the technical documentation site contained in this metadata catalog.

A database of verified tornado occurrences across Canada has been created covering the 30-year period from 1980 to 2009. The tornado data have undergone a number of quality control checks and represent the most current knowledge of past tornado events over the period. However, updates may be made to the database as new or more accurate information becomes available. The data have been converted to a geo-referenced mapping file that can be viewed and manipulated using GIS software.For more information visit Canadian National Tornado Database: Verified Events (1980-2009) Thumbnail: The Elie F5 Tornado, taken by Portager Violet Enns in 2007Base de données nationale sur les tornades du Canada : Événements vérifiés (1980-2009)Une base de données sur les tornades vérifiées dans l’ensemble du Canada a été créée afin de couvrir une période de 30 ans, de 1980 à 2009. Les données sur les tornades ont subi un certain nombre de vérifications à des fins de contrôle de la qualité et représentent les plus récentes connaissances sur les tornades qui ont eu lieu au cours de cette période. Cependant, des mises à jour peuvent être effectuées dans la base de données à mesure que des renseignements nouveaux ou plus à jour sont disponibles. Les données ont été converties dans un fichier de cartographie géoréférencé qui peut être consulté et manipulé au moyen d’un logiciel de système d’information géographique (SIG).

This data set contains Tornadoes that occurred in Tennessee between 1950 and 2017. The data was downloaded from the NWS Storm Prediction Center.Column Names and Definitions from the NWS (pdf)om - Tornado number - A count of tornadoes during the y ear: Prior to 2007, these numbers were assigned to the tornado as the information arrived in the NWS database. Since 2007, the numbers may have been assigned in sequential (temporal) order after event date/times are converted to CST. However, do not use "om" to count the sequence of tornadoes through the year as sometimes new entries have come in late, or corrections are made, and the data are not re-sequenced.NOTE: Tornado segments that cross state borders and/or more than 4 counties will have same OM number. See information about fields 22-24 below.yr - Year, 1950-2017mo - Month, 1-12dy - Day, 1-31date - Date - in format yyyy-mm-dd formattime - Time - in format HH:MM:SStz - Time Zone - All t imes, except for ?=unkown and 9=GMT, were converted to 3=CST. This should be accounted for when building queries for GMT summaries such as 12z- 12z.st - State - Two letter postal abbreviation (PR=Puerto Rico. VI=Virgin Islands)stf - State FIPS Number - Note some Puerto Rico codes are incorrectstn - State Number - number of this tornado, in this state, in this year: May not be sequential in some years. Note: discontinued in 2008. This number can be calculated in a spreadsheet by sorting and after accounting for border crossing tornadoes and 4+ county segments.f - F-Scale - F-scale (EF-scale after Jan. 2007): values -9, 0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 (-9=unknown).inj - Injuries - when summing for state totals use sn=1, not sg=1 (see below)fat - Fatalities - when summing for state totals use sn=1, not sg=1 (see below)loss - Estimated property loss information - Prior to 1996 this is a categorization of tornado damage by dollar amount (o or blank-unknown; 1<$50, 2=$50-$500, 3=$500-$5,000, 4=$5,000-$50,000; 5=$50,000-$500,000, 6=$500,000-$5,000,000, 7=$5,000,000-$50,000,000, 8=$50,000,000-$500,000,000; 9=$5,000,000,000) When summing for state total use sn= 1, not Sg=1 (see below). From 1996, this is tornado property damage in millions of dollars. Note: this may change to whole dollar amounts in the future. Entry of 0 does not mean $0.closs - Estimated crop loss in millions of dollars (started in 2007). Entry of 0 does not mean 0$Tornado database file updated to add "fc" field for estimated F-scale rating in 2016. Valid for records altered between 1950-1982. slat - Starting latitude in decimal degreesslong - Starting longitude in decimal degreeselat - Ending latitude in decimal degreeselon - Ending longitude in decimal degreeslen - Length in mileswid - Width in yardsns, sn, sg - Understanding these fields is critical to counting state tornadoes, totaling state fatalities/losses. The tornado segment information can be thought of as follows:ns - Number of States affected by this tornado: 1, 2, or 3.sn - State Number 1 or 0 (1=entire track info in this state)sg - Tornado Segment number: 1, 2, or -9 (1 = entire track info)1,1,1 = Entire record for the track of the tornado (unless all 4 fips codes are non -zero).1,0,-9 = Continuing county fips code information only from 1,1,1 record, above (same om).2,0,1 = A two-state tornado (st=state of touchdown, other fields summarize entire track).2,1,2 = First state segment for a two-state (2,0,1) tornado (state same as above, same om).2,1,2 = Second state segment for two-state (2,0,1) tornado (state tracked into, same om).2,0,-9 = Continuing county fips for a 2,1,2 record that exceeds 4 counties (same om).3,0,1 = A three-state (st=state of touchdown, other fields summarize entire track).3,1,2 = First state segment for a three-state (3,0,1) tornado (state same as 3,0,1, same om).3,1,2 = Second state segment for three-state (3,0,1) tornado (2nd state tracked into, same om as 3,0,1 record).3,1,2 = Third state segment for a three-state (3,0,1) tornado (3rd state tracked into, same om as the initial 3,0,1 record).f1 - 1st county FIPS codef2 - 2nd county FIPS codef3 - 3rd county FIPS codef4 - 4th county FIPS codefc - fc = 0 for unaltered (E)F - scale rating. fc = 1 if previous rating was -9 (unknown)