April 2004 marked the 30th anniversary of the April 3-4, 1974, super tornado outbreak. It was the worst tornado outbreak in U.S. history, with 148 twisters touching down in 13 states. Before it was over 16 hours later, 330 people were dead and 5,484 were injured in a damage path covering more than 2,500 miles.
Twenty-five years ago, National Weather Service forecasters could see only green blobs on their radar scopes and had to wait for visual confirmation of the tornado before issuing a tornado warning. Thanks to a $4.5 billion weather service modernization effort, today’s forecasters, view evolving storms in graphic detail and can now issue warnings before tornadoes even form, with an average lead time of 11 minutes.
“Deadly storms such as the 1974 super outbreak can and will happen again,” said Ken Haydu, meteorologist in charge of the National Weather Service’s forecast office in Wilmington, Ohio. “The people who experienced the super outbreak have an important story about tornado awareness and preparedness to pass on to later generations.”
In all, 13 states were struck by twisters: Alabama, Georgia, Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Michigan, Mississippi, North Carolina, Ohio, South Carolina, Tennessee, Virginia, and West Virginia.
http://www.publicaffairs.noaa.gov/storms/
1. The author’s purpose is to. . .
a. describe the effect twisters had on thirteen states.
b. compare twisters to other natural disasters.
c. contrast weather forecasting today with that in 1974.
d. allude to the high cost of damage done in 1974.
e. personify twisters as destructive monsters.
2. In the second paragraph, “modernization effort” is referring to. . .
a. updated computer technology
b. updated construction technology
c. updated media technology
d. updated forecasting technology
e. all of the above
Choose the answer below that indicates the correct order for each of the two questions associated with this reading passage:
17
1. a, 2. b
1. c, 2. c
1. c, 2. d
1. d, 2. d
1. e, 2. d
