I'm one of a number of researchers at NOAA who are working on ways to combine all of the environmental, radar and other weather data into a computer model that will attempt to predict when the tornado will develop and how strong it will be as much as an hour in advance.
Despite the advent of GPS, radar technology and 3-D computer software, an exquisitely hand-drawn map and carefully collected data often can outdo what a couple of whiz kids can find on a laptop.