Getting more people to act: warning response

[Tom Dulong]

Storm Ready Program

This is a great thread since it addresses "the rest of the story." People still die from a tornado, even when there is a 20 minute forewarning. Community preparedness is the key for saving the rest of these lives.

The National Weather Service has a nationwide program that facilitates meteorologists working with public schools and other entities in the community on preparedness. This program is called "Storm Ready." Check it out. The link is below.

http://www.stormready.noaa.gov/

 

[rdale]

I'm not sure that StormReady has anything to do directly with school education... It's more connected to making sure the county is able to receive and transmit severe weather warnings.

 

[Mike Smith]

I would like to see if a little perspective might be helpful. Following from NWS:

12. MISSISSIPPI DELTA OUTBREAK

* February 21, 1971
* Especially Mississippi, also Louisiana, Arkansas and Tennessee
* 10 tornadoes
* 121 deaths
* 1524 injuries
* Damage ?
* 4:00 pm - 9:00 pm

This outbreak occurred the same month and in the same states (but a little farther south) than Tuesday's. It had double the number of deaths and the tornadoes ended earlier in the day (i.e., not as many people had retired for the night).

Tuesday's warnings clearly saved many lives.

We live in a free society (thank goodness) and there is nothing we can do to force people to take warnings seriously. Detailed morbidity studies have shown, in recent years, most (not all) of the people killed in tornadoes knew they were coming and chose not to take shelter. That is tragic for them and their families. However, we should not beat ourselves up over their unfortunate choices.

 

[Jesse Risley]

Tuesday's warnings clearly saved many lives.

We live in a free society (thank goodness) and there is nothing we can do to force people to take warnings seriously. Detailed morbidity studies have shown, in recent years, most (not all) of the people killed in tornadoes knew they were coming and chose not to take shelter. That is tragic for them and their families. However, we should not beat ourselves up over their unfortunate choices.

I think that about sums things up. The real problem is usually apathy, not failure to provide any warning. No one will ever be able to prevent every death from a tornado, no matter how hard we try. However, there is nothing wrong with better educating the general public on warning preparedness either.

 

[Doug Lee]

I don't know about other TV markets, but in the Tulsa area the 3 VHF stations that provide weather coverage help with educating the public about severe weather. The mets will go to schools and make presentatons during classes. KTUL puts on the "Wicked Weather Show" that travels around to various high school auditoriums and puts on demonstrations with tornado simulators and Van de Graf generators. KOTV does something similar with their "Wild, Wild Weather Show."

These programs haven't been going on for very long, so judiging what kind of effect they have had is hard.

This might work in other areas, but the idea might be a hard sell to station managers. In the Tulsa area, the stations compete on the quality of their severe weather coverage.

 

[jason kissam]

i remember back on june 22 1995 when a tornado touched down in falcon colorado. the rotating wall cloud was right over my mom's daycare center. we had about 50 kids or so in class that day. we asked a local fire fighter if it was something to be concerned about he told us no its just a cloud. well the hail and the wind from that storm was amazing. as a precaution we had the kids take shelter in a middle room of the school. i was watching the storm and getting updates on the weather radio. as i watched the tornado form we had to take extra coverage in the room.

at college in missouri i had a similar situation where at 11am it looked like 11pm. the storm was a monster. i was in my dorm as were 200 other residents. the tornado sirens sounded just as the dorm alert system went into effect. the wall cloud and funnel passed over the dorm!!!!! well the tornado hit a mobile home sales lot down the highway...

my experience with these events and looking back on them after reading everyones posts.. i think it is up to each individual to act on response to an active severe weather warning. introducing a plan at schools are great... but like teaching fire safety in schools i found most kids dont retain it until they are older.

like the recent outbreak and in the case of the college yes they had ample warning and all the nws and media did the best job... but that thing was huge even if one is safe in a home or structure if you have a massive tornado your pretty much at the mercy of the storm. and it is everyones responsibility to take safety measures and to ensure you are going to be safe... yes i know people like to see mother nature is an aswesome sight to see when she unleashes herself. i think it all boils down to common sense. seeing people that are safe at home get into a car ant try to outrun it and then end up planted into a neighbors house is sad... but thank goodness the guy survived.

the local weather alerts and coverage are different here in colorado then say in missouri. the media in mo are more in tune and have a wider and longer coverage of the storm. here in the springs area the local network alerts i noticed one station that broke into national coverage and stayed with the storm start to finish. i know for sure id rather see the updates then what oprah has to say on the book of the month. in missouri i loved the storm coverage they never broke away or went back to regular programs... peoples lives are in the line they keep you informed. not nocking how they cover it but it would be better to see coverage like i noticed in mo.

and well thats why the storm chaser and storm spotters do what we do.