These projects explored impacts of storm timing (nocturnal vs daytime), barriers to receiving tornado warning information, and structure of homes on vulnerability and safety. With respect to storm timong, responses from 1,804 Tennessee residents to tornado warnings, found over 80% of participants reported a high chance of warning receipt in the daytime versus fewer than 50% at night, with perceived local risk and prior tornado experience increasing the likelihood of nighttime warning receipt. Within this group, barriers to receiving tornado warning information included frequent power disruptions, rurality, heavy sleep, and hearing impairments. Interviews with those who are legally blind revealed that high quality verbal descriptions of the hazard and location were key to participants’ ability to respond to the warning information. A different study found that nocturnal tornadoes are nearly twice as deadly as daytime tornadoes, and nocturnal tornadoes impact 13% more people than daytime tornadoes. Regarding impact of home structures on safety, surveys of SE US residents found that mobile home residents generally have lower perceived access to shelter and self-efficacy. However, knowledge of where shelters were located positively impacted shelter seeking behavior. Including shelter location information may help encourage sheltering behaviors in vulnerable communities. Another study, focused on Alabama, identified some additional complexities. Using network analysis revealed that mobile homes in Alabama are on average farther from shelters than permanent homes, and, first responder stations are also farther away since mobile homes are common in rural areas. Another means for improving safety for residents in vulnerable areas was the inclusion of hazard-specific (tornado, flood, winter, fire) vulnerability information from emergency managers for use by National Weather Service forecasters in the Southeast US; this tool is called the Brief Vulnerability Overview Tool (BVOT).
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