Tornado Density and Effect by State

Name: _________________________________       Date: _____________

An anonymous billionaire has announced that she will donate $10 million to projects that will prevent death and injury by tornadoes, such as regional tornado research, public awareness campaigns, emergency warning systems, and the construction of emergency shelters. The money will be distributed among states east of the Rocky Mountains by demonstrated need. You and other state emergency management officials (your classmates) need to assess how badly your state needs these funds. Your job is to gather statistics on state population, land area, number of tornadoes, and deaths and injuries due to tornadoes to aid in putting together a request for your portion of the $10 million.

1. Everyone in your class should pick a different state to represent. What state do you represent?
   
   
   
   
2. Visit the National Climatic Data Center's Average Annual Numbers of Tornadoes page. What is the average annual number of strong to violent (F2–F5) tornadoes per 10,000 square miles for your state? (If the average of the state you picked is 0.0, choose a different state.
   
   
   
   
3. What is the population of your state? Click on your state from the Map Stats site at the U.S. Census Bureau. Then click the State Profile link. Click on State Abstract to get a general profile of your state. Record the population of the state you chose. Keep in mind that the population may be given in thousands.
   
   
   
   
4. Visit the Storm Prediction Center's Tornado Ranks by State. Record the number of deaths and injuries over this 44-year period, then find the yearly averages. Using your answer to question 3, calculate the fraction of the population affected each year and write it in scientific notation.
   
   

   Fatalities			Injuries
   Number	Average	Fraction of Population	Number	Average	Fraction of Population
   		_._ _ _ X 10 _			_._ _ _ X 10 _

   
   

In Class

5. Rank the states according to number of tornadoes per 10,000 square miles, deaths due to tornadoes per capita, and number of injuries per capita.
   
   
   
   
6. You might expect that tornado density (yearly tornadoes/area) would be a good predictor of the percentage of the population affected by tornadoes (deaths and injuries). However, the three rankings your class has generated don't correlate. Which states had more deaths and injuries than you might expect? Which had fewer?
   
   
   
   
7. Can you explain the differences between the three rankings? Do you think that some states are simply not as prepared or lack emergency resources? Do you think that the comparison is unfair? What variables do your equations leave out? What assumptions are made?
   
   
   
   
8. How do you think the $10 million should be distributed? Do you think that states that have the most fatalities and injuries should receive the most money? Do you think that states should receive money according to the differencesin their rankings?