NWS explains no warning before Northeast MO tornado

[Jesse Risley]

CLARK COUNTY, Mo. (WGEM) -

The National Weather Service explained why a warning wasn't issued earlier this week when a tornado ripped through northeast Missouri.

There was significant damage to property in Clark County following the EF-2 tornado Monday night. The Missouri Department of Transportation's facilities near Wayland were also damaged.

NWS Meteorologist Donna Dubberke who is based in the Quad Cities said they certainly missed the tornado. She said there wasn't enough information on their radar and not enough clear data to issue a tornado warning.

Dubberke said it was dark and difficult for spotters to see, and fast moving, so there were issues identifying the storm.

"We do case studies after the fact so we can learn about it and take the damage track and put it directly over the radar and go back and look at the full storm and learn from it," Dubberke said. "So the next time we will have a clue beforehand rather than not knowing until after."

Dubberke said they are discussing future training options at NWS and in the community to make sure something like this doesn't happen again.

She added that warnings are issued for 70 percent of tornadoes. This was one that fell in the 30 percent of misses.

http://www.wgem.com/story/37010924/2017/12/06/nws-explains-no-warning-before-nemo-tornado

 

[Kevin R Burgess]

In some locations,especially in northern MO. there are a lot of 'Dead Zones' that may only be able to see 10,000 ft.,and up-words on radar.
I wonder if CASA http://www.casa.umass.edu/main/research/urbantestbed/components/ may help,for some of these areas ?

 

[Ethan Lang]

I truly believe that no warming desk is going to be totally perfect and the fact that we can get warnings on 70% of tornados is really good

 

[Jesse Risley]

It crossed right in front of me and I didn't even realize there was a tornado on the ground. There were several other chasers in the area on various angles of the storm, and all anyone could confirm was a wall cloud about 5 minutes prior to the tornado touching down. The radar signatures were not overly impressive, BUT this region is arguably one of the most notable "radar holes" east of the Rockies relative to the population of the area in the "hole" and the risk of severe weather due to its favorable location in the central Corn Belt.

 

[beaudodson]

If memory serves, 70% of tornado warnings are false alarm. For some offices, at least.

Interesting wording in the article concerning the stats.

Sent from my SM-G955U using Stormtrack mobile app

 

[Jeff Duda]

Also a pretty difficult situation given the time of year. Tornadoes in northeast Missouri are next to unheard of in December. Very climatologically unfavorable.