Over 1200 tornadoes strike the U.S. each year, bringing destruction, injuries, and deaths to communities. Until recently there were no structural design standards specifically aimed at providing some tornado protection for buildings.

In this podcast we talk with Dr. Marc Levitan, Lead Research Engineer at the National Institute of Standards and Technology’s National Windstorm Impact Reduction Program, to learn about tornadoes, the research he has done to lead the development of ASCE wind loading standards for designing structures to resist them, and the process for moving research into enhanced building codes.