In 2011, regardless of continued developments in forecasting, tracking, and warning engineering, the United States was hit by the deadliest tornado season in decades. More than 1,200 tornadoes touched down, shattering communities and their safety nets, and killing far more than 500 people—a death toll unmatched given that 1953.

Drawing on the exclusive analysis described in their 1st book, Financial and Societal Impacts of Tornadoes, economists Kevin M. Simmons and Daniel Sutter right here examine the aspects that contributed to the outcomes of such tornadoes as the mid-April outbreak that devastated communities in North Carolina, the “Super Outbreak” across the southern and eastern United States in late April, and the single, mile-wide funnel that touched down in Joplin, Missouri, in late May. In the program of their study the authors identify patterns and anomalies, and reconsider prior assertions about the effectiveness of the Doppler radar and storm warning systems. Their conclusions, as properly their assessment of early recovery efforts, are aimed at helping community leaders and policy-makers maintain vulnerable populations safer in the future.