---
title: Database Co-produced by UMD Undergrad Is First to Document Tornadoes Worldwide
date: 2025-02-05T05:30:00-05:00
author: University of Maryland
canonical_url: "https://today.umd.edu/database-co-produced-by-umd-undergrad-is-first-to-document-tornadoes-worldwide"
section: Articles
---
# Database Co-produced by UMD Undergrad Is First to Document Tornadoes Worldwide

*February 5, 2025* — by [John Tucker](/author/john-tucker)


> Archive Captures Records on 100,000 Twisters, From U.S. Plains to Eastern Hemisphere

*Toraji 2013 09 02 0425 Z 1920x1080 — The outflow from Tropical Storm Toraji spawned tornadoes that caused injuries and property damage in Japan in September 2013. A UMD undergraduate helped create a global database of tornadoes that could spur greater understanding of how twisters form in places where they're less prevalent than the U.S. Great Plains' so-called Tornado Alley.*

The world’s oldest documented tornado likely occurred in Sardinia in 200 AD. What’s probably the northernmost recorded twister hit Norway in 2005, a rare occurrence in the Arctic Circle. In 2001, one that ripped through the University of Maryland campus killed two students.

Those are among the facts detailed in a first-of-its-kind archive built by a research team co-led by UMD undergraduate Malcolm Maas ’25. It offers a historical record of more than 100,000 tornadoes that spun through all 50 states and every continent but Antarctica.

Until now, individual attempts to document twisters outside of the United States have been inconsistent, sometimes even contradicting each other. Maas’ archive streamlines data cultivated from all corners of the globe. The project was detailed in a [recent paper](https://journals.ametsoc.org/view/journals/bams/105/7/BAMS-D-23-0123.1.xml) published in the *Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society*, with Maas serving as lead author.


*Malcolm Maas headshot — Malcom Maas '25*




**Topics:** [Research](https://today.umd.edu/tags/research)


**Tags:** [Atmospheric and Oceanic Science](https://today.umd.edu/topic/atmospheric-and-oceanic-science), [Physics](https://today.umd.edu/topic/physics), [Research](https://today.umd.edu/topic/research), [Student Experience](https://today.umd.edu/topic/student-experience)


**Units:** [College of Computer, Mathematical, and Natural Sciences](https://today.umd.edu/topic/college-computer-mathematical-and-natural-sciences)