The proposed 1883 Holden tornado warning system

Abstract

In some ways, Holden was 50-75 yr ahead of his time in devising an automatic tornado warning system in 1883 that would not only detect the tornado, but warn people in individual homes and outdoors of its approach. Unfortunately, because of the resistance of the Signal Corps and the Weather Bureau to tornado forecasts or warnings, Holden's system was never used (to the authors' knowledge).