For more than 60 years, US meteorologists were not allowed to use the word “tornado” in their forecasts. No tornado warnings were issued in this period at the end of the 19th century and beginning of the 20th – even when danger was imminent.
Sergeant John Park Finley, of the US Army Signal Corps’ Weather Bureau, was one of the first to work on tornado prediction. By 1884, Finley had trained almost a thousand “spotters” to identify the conditions associated with tornado formation and send reports by the new telegraph system. The resulting trial predictions were not always accurate, but the warnings saved lives by giving people time to get into storm cellars.
In 1885, the chief signal officer banned the use of the word “tornado” to avoid spreading panic, and Finley’s work was terminated. The ban continued after the US Weather Bureau took over forecasting.
The situation only changed in 1948, after a tornado touched down at Tinker air force base in Oklahoma, causing massive damage. After an investigation into why 54 aircraft were destroyed and no warnings were issued, the science of tornado prediction was revived and updated, and tornado warnings were finally resumed.
In 2025, US officials are again imposing rules on the language used by meteorologists. These days, though, it is terms relating to, and research into, the climate crisis that are taboo because of the risk of alarming the public.
