European NMHSs are progressing towards impact-oriented and impact-based warnings. This publication gives an overview of warning implementation as surveyed at 32 of the 37 NMHSs participating in the EUMETNET Meteoalarm project. Topics adressed include warning format, legislation and production process of warnings, dissemination and verification of warnings, impact databases, warning strategy and cooperation and cross-border collaboration. Obstacles are identified and trends are discussed.

This study of a historical tornado that occurred about 100 years ago was motivated by the fact that rich photo material of the inflicted damage was available. It is important to rate particularly strong tornadoes, because their number is generally low, and statistics of the frequency for such events and the subsequent risk assessment heavily rely on a sound data basis. The tornado reached maximum winds of F4 intensity and caused 34 fatalities. A working method is presented for similar events.