Lambert International ... Luck of the Draw, Not a Miracle

[Karenlynch]

There was certainly plenty of advanced warning from the NWS. I don't know what kind of advanced notice the airport itself passed along to staff and patrons, but the first NWS warning issued for the area around 7:30 PM included the airport itself: http://mesonet.agron.iastate.edu/vtec/#2011-O-NEW-KLSX-TO-W-0046

A new warning, issued at 755 PM, included the airport and areas to the ENE towards the river: http://mesonet.agron.iastate.edu/vtec/#2011-O-NEW-KLSX-TO-W-0049

This second (later) warning was 20 minutes prior to the airport tower reporting a tornado on the ground at 814 PM.

I stand corrected, I have no idea how I missed that! If there was a confirmed tornado on the ground headed their way 20 min prior, then why the heck didn't they do something???

 

[Mike Peregrine]

... If there was a confirmed tornado on the ground headed their way 20 min prior, then why the heck didn't they do something???

It's pretty sobering to realize the ONLY thing that actually saved lives that day was a storm which just happened to be producing a weaker tornado at the precise moment it struck a terminal containing thousands of people. If the storm was just a couple of minutes further along in its lifecycle, I'm convinced this story's outcome would have been far different.

And after getting the message from the passenger at the airport, I'm really disappointed in the airport's comments to the media now. Sure appears as though they were trying to cover themselves.

 

[Matt Hunt]

I agree, Mike. It looks like the airport did a terrible job of warning the patrons. Clearly in that video Todd posted, nobody was aware of anything more than a "lightning storm" as the guy taking the video said. Right after that huge bolt, you can hear the roar, and the window that ends up blowing out begins to shake. It is only then that people start to get up and take cover. Look at the guy facing the camera to the left. He has a surprised look on his face as people begin scrambling, wondering what is going on. Also, as he comes back up from the ground, you can see the gate agent getting up from the floor. So it doesn't look like she even got a warning. I don't understand how only certain parts of the airport got a warning. They obviously need to re-evaluate their emergency plan, and find a way to broadcast warnings to the entire airport. Certainly their comments to the media do NOT reflect the reality. Lucky, indeed, as there would have been numerous deaths had this tornado been at EF4 strength at the time it hit the airport.

As far as people just ignoring the warnings... I don't buy that in this case. Look at the Lowe's store in NC a couple weeks ago, or plenty of other big box stores that have been hit by tornadoes in the past where the management team successfully corralled hundreds of shoppers into a safe area before the tornado hit.

 

[Mike Peregrine]

Another interesting thread concerning the debate over FAA rules concerning NWS tornado warnings:

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/trav...-will-not-allow-atc-use-tornado-warnings.html

http://meteorologicalmusings.blogspot.com/2011/04/more-on-problem-with-tornado-warnings.html

Some interesting discussion going on over this. As always, we will wait for massive loss of life before anything changes, I'm sure. Reminds me a lot of the years leading up to a thousand people losing their lives in a certain hurricane hitting the Gulf Coast a few years back ...

 

[Jennifer Palmer]

Sadly, I think it takes being hit to take the warnings seriously sometimes. I was in a situation where we were hit by an intense line of storms in late February and was even under a tornado warning. Everyone was standing around the window looking when the large crash of a window downstairs got everyone moving away. Only then was everyone told to go to their shelter.

On April 27th, 2011, that morning we were hit again. Thankfully, they had ushered everyone downstairs during the warning and before the tornado it. Some people still didn't heed the warnings, but you can't protect people from themselves.

I can guarantee that they won't ignore the tornado warnings for a long time! I would say the same goes for many airports across the country after all of this.