WACO, Texas -- Rural residents along the Interstate 35 corridor are less likely to be warned of severe storms than their urban neighbors, according to a Baylor University study that has prompted concern from National Weather Service officials.

Weather service warning coordination meteorologist Gary Woodall in Fort Worth said the problem could be due to less radar coverage in rural areas and fewer storm spotters. Spotters on the ground are trained to look for certain storm characteristics such as wall clouds or rotation.

Baylor graduate student Kevin Barrett and geology professor Don Greene studied severe thunderstorm warnings issued over a 20-year period from Jan. 1, 1986, through Dec. 31, 2005 in 132 Texas counties along I-35. They discovered that rural counties with small populations were less likely to be issued a severe thunderstorm warning by the NWS than urban counties with large populations, according to a report in Sunday editions of the Waco Tribune-Herald.

“It seems logical to assume that meteorologists, in general, are concerned about the greater good of the population and that more of a heads-up would be given to larger cities than rural areas,” Barrett said. “But, acting on a purely scientific basis, the weather person issuing the severe weather warning should issue it based on the strength of the storm, without regard for the population density of a certain area.”

Although the study’s findings are cause for concern, Barrett said the weather service is addressing the problem, and the agency’s storm coverage is improving each year.

Woodall said the study has generated conversation among the staff of the National Weather Service.

“Another issue that probably comes into play is radar coverage, because the farther away from the radar a storm is, you don’t get as good a look at the storm,” Woodall said. “Perhaps, in some cases, the radar signatures that might get us concerned about a storm could be not as easily seen.”

Radar is expensive. Eric Howieson of the NWS said each radar costs more than $10 million to procure and install, with annual maintenance and operation running about $900,000.

Woodall said some solutions might involve looking at “more subtle radar signatures” and continuing to be proactive in training spotters in rural areas. He said the agency’s goal is “to try to provide a similar level of service to anybody, be they in Dallas County or McLennan County or Comanche County.”