Esri's Interactive Tornado Map Is Awesome
GIS software company Esri released an incredible interactive tornado map, documenting every tornado reported in the United States between 1980 and 2012.
The map allows users to pan, zoom, and click on individual tornadoes to see their tracks, along with statistics such as the twister's rating on the Fujita or Enhanced Fujita Scales, length, injuries and fatalities, as well as property damage measured in millions.
As Helen Thompson notes in a Smithsonian Magazine article about the map — and as we saw yesterday near Sacramento, California — the map drives home the point that tornadoes can occur virtually anywhere in the United States almost any time of the year, and it only takes one to cause major damage.
