Check out some references to WeatherData, Inc., in the NTSB report of a 1997 Amtrak derailment on BNSF track just east of Kingman AZ.
Not that their warnings helped prevent the derailment, but interesting that BNSF was getting the updates about flash flooding well ahead of the bridge washout.
That does sound interesting and I'll have to get a copy. I spent most of the year of 1955 stationed at Fort Riley, KS and had many experiences with tornadoes. I remember during the spring and summer of that year we used to say, "Let's go eat before the cyclone hits the Mess Hall."
Not to make light of it, of course, especially since we've had a few in St. Looey this year. Not nearly as bad as Joplin, but it is an interesting subject.
I am half through a book that I would suggest to anyone who likes trains and weather. Warnings is a work done by Mike Smith, a former tv weatherman and now CEO of Weatherdata Inc. Smith describes how forecasts of severe weather, such as floods, hurricanes and tornadoes, improved over the yrs. Several references are made to railroads. His company provides weather forecast services for several of the nations railroads. In addition there is great detailed coverage of the Woodward, OK tornado in 1947 that basically followed the SF trks in the TX panhandle and nw OK and in the process derailed three trains. A chapter also covers the Greensburgh, KS tornado in 2007 and the warnings sent to UP of which trains were then safely stopped outside of the warning area. Worth a read. Good book.
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