Find Your Tornado Shelter – Corporate Site

Find Your

Tornado Shelter

We work with Emergency Managers across the United States to develop and map tornado shelters to keep the public safe during tornadoes and severe weather. We can provide assistance if your community is interested in developing such shelters and we will map them for the public to see.

To see our map of tornado shelters, visit the main website which is located at http://findyourtornadoshelter.com

From mapping to consulting and partnership development

Emergency managers have various opinions on whether or not tornado shelters are warranted in public, or whether the focus should be on private tornado shelters and sheltering in place. However, our view is that the goal should be to protect the population from even the strongest tornadoes – those rated EF-4 or EF-5 on the Enhanced Fujita scale, the ones that result in the greatest damage and loss of life. We have seen the damage in some communities and the loss of life when they are unable to find proper shelter. That is what brought us to develop Find Your Tornado Shelter.

The base map at findyourtornadoshelter.com is the core of the product and it is updated frequently as new information is provided from emergency managers or other research such as through verified social media responses. Licensing the data of the map is always available and if you have a radar system, if you are a television or social media based weather service, or if you are an emergency manager, government or business (large or small), you can reach out to us for information on licensing our data for your own utilization to help increase the reach of potentially life-saving information when severe weather strikes.

The map and expertise is provided by Dr. Craig Croskery, who finished his Ph.D. in 2023 at Mississippi State University and has published an article regarding tornado sheltering recommendations during unusual circumstances (with another article expected to be published soon). Consulting and business assistance and additional work is provided by other members of the Find Your Tornado Shelter corporate team and partners in the field, all of whom have experience with severe weather planning and operations as well.

Using our expertise in both the academic and meteorological field, we can also provide recommendations for emergency managers and local officials to determine the best possible tornado sheltering plans, understanding the local needs and case studies from elsewhere. We can also work to find funding opportunities and make recommendations on funding applications. Our goal is to make sure everyone who can possibly be safe is indeed safe during tornadoes and severe weather.

Small tornado shelters

One good option, particularly for rural communities, would be to introduce small tornado shelters along side roads which are able to withstand wind gusts of well over 200 mph. They could be in land used by volunteer fire departments, churches/places of worship, community centers, parks, anywhere that security could be provided. These typically hold between 30 and 100 people per shelter.

As a low cost and flexible option with the opportunity to set up several on a single site (flexible in that one could be for pets as well, for example), the capacity is limited but they can be useful in rural or small town areas, particularly in places where there are a large number of mobile homes or otherwise vulnerable people. Consult with us for any recommendations on locations or situations that may warrant such shelters. We can also help to identify funding sources that might be available in our reports.

(Image from Dr. Craig Croskery in Pickens County, Alabama)

Larger tornado shelters

In a more urban or suburban area, or in a larger community that would be better serviced by a larger and more centralized storm shelter, these larger domes, or concrete box buildings are often a better option to withstand wind gusts over 200 mph. Their main advantage is the capacity – often in the hundreds and sometimes as many as 3,000 people – and that can serve communities much larger than smaller shelters.

These are much more expensive than smaller shelters, however, and require significant amounts of funding in many cases. That said, federal grants often become available – both proactively and reactively in the event of a major natural disaster. Regardless, we can help you find the best source of funding and the best location(s) where these may be warranted or useful, if these are ideal options. Consult with us for recommendations in larger communities as well.

(Image from Dr. Craig Croskery in Smithville, Mississippi)

School retrofits

School districts will stop at nothing to work to keep their students and staff safe. That includes during severe weather and safe rooms help keep their entire student body, staff and visitors protected. These often involved new gymnasiums, music/art rooms, specialized classrooms, wings of school campuses or other facilities that double as tornado shelters. Remaining space can be used to house vulnerable community members if policies allow, and these provide excellent options for the community outside school hours.

School districts and boards of education have unique needs that must be considered before tornado shelters are built on the site. They need to look at capacity, while ensuring spare capacity for events and community members. We can help emergency managers, school districts and communities at large for recommendations on the best plan for your schools.

(Image from FEMA)

Services

Mapping

We provide to you the map at findyourtornadoshelter.com and we continue to map any new tornado shelters across the United States that may be built or may be identified and verified by our team. We also take responses to public identification of missing tornado shelters and follow up on those tips.

Licensing

The map data – either nationwide or on a regional basis – can be licensed to you to help your own products, or share with your own customers. We will be happy to reach out to you to provide this data with your service and share it to make your work even more complete or help save lives in your community.

Consulting

We work with communities across the country, as well as other private or public entities, to help determine the right plans for your area. Every community is different and the plans and reports that we work on will be tailored to your specific needs and your ability to pay, knowing the needs of each local situation.

Planning

The work to find solutions to tornado sheltering challenges is never complete – it is always a moving target. We would be very happy to work with other parties through partnerships, both business and academic, to expand on what we already know and find even more opportunities.

Stories from the community

Your product saves lives period. a family in Plantersville didn’t know there was literally a shelter 5 blocks from them. They saw one of my posts with YOUR http://findyourtornadoshelter.com in it. They said they clicked it and was at the shelter within 3 mins. the tornado came through 13 mins later. so THANK YOU for your hard work and dedication to save lives.

– ThomasParkerwx on Twitter/X, March 20, 2025 – after the tornado outbreak on March 15, 2025 in Alabama

As Featured

Some of the media outlets, both national and local in different regions across the United States, that Find Your Tornado Shelter, and its founder and meteorologist Dr. Craig Croskery, have been featured. Links to articles are included wherever applicable.

Partnerships

Find Your Tornado Shelter is partnering with other weather companies via affiliation agreements to help keep you safe in multiple ways. Whether you are an emergency manager with a local government or business, or just trying to keep yourself safe, these partnerships expand all our reaches to ensure a Weather-Ready Nation. As a Weather-Ready Nation Ambassador, it is important to use the information for all of our safety when tornadoes threaten.