Which air base was the site of the first successful official tornado forecast in 1948?

The air base that hosted the first successful official tornado forecast in 1948 was Tinker Air Force Base.

The milestone followed a devastating tornado on March 20, 1948, which struck the base near Oklahoma City and destroyed or damaged large numbers of aircraft and buildings. The event convinced commanders that severe weather needed to be anticipated rather than simply reported after it arrived.

Air Force meteorologists Major Ernest J. Fawbush and Captain Robert C. Miller studied the atmospheric pattern behind the March 20 storm. Five days later, they recognized similar conditions developing and issued a forecast for tornado activity near Tinker. A tornado struck the base on March 25, making the prediction a landmark success.

The achievement was especially important because public tornado forecasting was still controversial. Forecasters had limited radar, hand-drawn weather charts and upper-air observations, and the U.S. Weather Bureau was cautious about issuing tornado forecasts. The Tinker success helped demonstrate that atmospheric conditions could be systematically analyzed, paving the way for modern severe-weather watches and warnings.