The Joplin Globe, Joplin, MO

Carthage, Jasper County

Discussion

November 28, 2009

Key findings by tornado assessment team outlined

Key findings



Weather experts who reviewed the May 10, 2008, tornado tried to determine why there were such a high number of fatalities despite the fact that watches and warnings were in effect.

Here are some of the findings:

-- The Storm Prediction Center placed the region under a tornado watch six hours before the tornado touchdown. A three-hour lull in severe weather occurred, creating a perception that the severe weather was over.

-- The tornado entered Newton County about eight miles farther south than indicated by a pathcast issued by the weather forecast office in Springfield. The tornado, however, did occur within the official warning zone for the tornado.

-- Trained severe weather spotters went to a location south of the anticipated tornado pathcast to track the tornado safely. Some of those spotters ended up being close to where the actual tornado track, which they thought to be eight miles farther north. One of the fatalities near Missouri Highway 43 and Iris Road was a trained storm spotter who was positioned at that location.

-- The area under warning did not correlate well with residents’ perception of their own location. Several residents interviewed by the team who were aware of the warning did not believe themselves to be at risk.

-- Family and social networks made a difference in disseminating watches and warnings, and in encouraging people to take action. Lives were saved because people contacted family members thought to be in the path of the tornado.

-- People interviewed expected tornadoes to travel in a northeasterly direction and expected the storm to look like a classic tornado — a funnel cloud extending to the ground. The tornado moved in a southeasterly direction and did not appear like a classic tornado.

-- The National Weather Service has included TV media in an experimental instant message system, but there has been less emphasis on including print media. Online editions of newspapers provide up-to-the-minute information just as TV and radio do. The Joplin Globe, for example, received millions of Web page hits in the wake of the tornado. Newspapers are moving toward 24-hour weather coverage on their Web sites. The team recommended the NWS should explore potential partnerships with newspapers for the dissemination of severe-weather information.

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