Tornadoes are an extreme natural hazard which predominantly occurs in the United States. The intense winds produced by these events can result in severe damage to property and loss of life. Mobile homes can be particularly susceptible to the effects of tornadoes due to the structural design. It is important to understand the distribution of mobile home across America, particularly throughout Tornado Alley. By investigating the co-occurrence of tornadoes and mobile home developments, early warning systems can be better implemented to warn of potential tornadoes. Additionally, this analysis can help inform people where they should avoid placing their mobile homes and inform insurance premiums.
This map was created using data from the National Weather Service’s Storm Prediction Center. The data is displayed as a bivariate map which displays two variables simultaneously to reveal underlying interactions between the data. In this case we can see that Americans typically avoid building mobile homes in areas with high tornado rates, with the exception of a few counties such as Campbell County in Wyoming.
This map was created in two main steps:
1) Each data set (mobile home percentage and tornadoes from 1950-2017) were standardized and then classified into three classes.
2) Each class was assigned a unique id (1,2,3 and a,b,c) which were then used to combine the two datasets into the bivariate map of 9 classes (3 classes x 3 classes) based on the combined id’s (ie. 1a,1b…3c).
I hope you enjoyed his map as much as I enjoyed making it!