STORM2K

In 1882, 17 years after the Civil War ended, U.S. Army Signal Corps Sgt. John P. Finley was asked to investigate tornadoes and how they developed.

As Finley was doing his research, tornado forecasting came to a screeching halt when the Signal Corps banned the word "tornado" from official forecasts because they were concerned the word would cause widespread panic.

"They literally avoided the word up until the 1950s or so," Henson said. "They were a little concerned about the panic or the tools weren't strong enough to predict them," he said, "and quite frankly without radar, you couldn't forecast them."

The U.S. Weather Bureau started reporting tornadoes, thunderstorms, hailstorms, lightning and high winds at a few experimental locations across the United States in spring 1943. Gradually, forecasters started issuing forecasts for severe thunderstorms, but could not tell the time nor place.

As for tornado forecasts? Still off-limits.

A breakthrough happened in the late 1940s, when two Air Force officers identified conditions that were favorable for tornado formation in the southern Plains.

The first tornado forecast was issued March 20, 1948.

Six hours later, a twister slammed into Tinker Air Force Base in Oklahoma. The tornado caused $6 million in damage, but no one was killed, thanks to a tornado safety plan that was implemented at the base after the forecast was issued.