Meteorologist: The number of tornadoes reported annually has more than doubled since the 1950s. But their actual numb...

Ravi on July 1, 2019

@mjenei,

Happy to help.

This is a tricky question. However, one thing that's important to note
is that the meteorologist is counting on there being more tornadoes
that are actually detected now. In the 1950s, it's likely that many of
the really big ones were detected. Now, the meteorologist is
suggesting that we are able to detect smaller, less noticeable
tornadoes because we have better detection technologies. Thus, it'd be
really helpful to know that the majority of the increase in the number
of detected tornadoes came from smaller tornadoes or tornadoes that
were in really rural areas. If any of the tornadoes that are now
detected would likely have not been detected before, this would
greatly help the meteorologist's argument.

(C) says, "The number of large and medium sized tornadoes reported
annually has remained roughly constant since the 1950s."

(C) is tricky, but it actually helps the meteorologist's argument a
lot. If the total number of medium and large sized tornadoes has
remained the same, this suggests that the increase in reports has come
from more detections of smaller tornadoes. Because the meteorologist
says that we're now better at detecting tornadoes, it makes sense that
we may have missed many tornadoes in the 1950s that we now are able to
detect. This therefore helps the meteorologist's argument that the
increase in reports of tornadoes does not mean that there has been an
increase in the actual number of tornadoes. Thus, (C) is the correct
answer choice.

Hope this helps. Let us know if you have any more questions!

Hannah-Anderson on October 11, 2019

@Ravi: Looking back on this question, I can see how C could be a correct answer. However, reading through your explanation, I'm not sure where you got the information,"...In the 1950s, It's likely that many of the really big ones were detected. Now, the meteorologist is suggesting that we are able to detect smaller, less noticeable tornadoes..." I'm really confused about where this size information comes into the question body? The text didn't mention size so I didn't want to assume information from outside the stimulus and thus, rejected C.