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"When the Sirens Were Silent"

  • Thread starter Thread starter Mike Smith
  • Start date Start date
MPavlac said:
It was interesting but disappointing. This was just a short write up hitting just the one note that warnings were messed up. It reads like an ax grinding. This could serve as a book outline, though. If fleshed out this could rival Bonar Menniger's account of the 1966 Topeka event. Also, a minor but annoying point, the introduction writer claims that the Springfield - Sturbridge, MA 2011 tornado was alarming close to Boston. No. It wasn't.
Click to expand...

If you read the introduction to Sirens its stated goal is to examine the Joplin tornado warnings. It does that.

Comparing When the Sirens Were Silent to Menniger's is an invalid comparison. Compare my first book, Warnings: The True Story of How Science Tamed the Weather and I believe you'll find Warnings holds up very nicely against Mr. Menninger's book.

As to an "axe to grind" I believe you'll find the opposite is true. Warnings is filled with praise for the NWS and, as I wrote in Sirens, criticizing them "gives me no pleasure." But, the people of Joplin have been fed a story of a magic (my word) tornado that suddenly materialized on the west side of the city that couldn't be warned of effectively. Don't believe me? Read this article from Sunday's Joplin Globe: www.joplinglobe.com/local/x1647280603/Weather-service-implements-storm-warning-changes-after-2011-tornadoes

The representative from the NWS states,

“It happened so fast when it formed over Joplin. There was no way to give that kind of warning. We didn’t know there was an EF-5 coming.â€￾

Joplin was essentially blindsided by the tornado, he said.

I agree Joplin was "blindsided by the tornado" but not because it "formed over Joplin." Thus, my book. I note that, other than distance from Boston, you do not challenge any of the facts that my research uncovered.

With regard to whether the tornado was "near" Boston, I've never lived in Massachusetts. Jenna was a long-time resident of Boston at the time of the tornado (she has since moved to Wichita). I'll let you two residents of the Bay State fight that one out.

Thank you for reading the book. Sorry you were disappointed in it.
 
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I definitely hate bureaucratic butt covering. My criticism isn't defending that.

I also didn't directly compare it with the Menniger book. This could become a book equal to or better than the Menniger book if points covered in the monograph would be expanded on and further developed. What was there was intriguing and left me with wanting a lot more detail about everything about the Joplin, the storm system, official responses to it from multiple official agencies and those affected by it. Since it had little of that, the one note of NWS screwing up overwhelmed. The one note was obviously the point of the booklet.

You are right in that I am not a meteorologist. I am an avid reader, a weather geek and in a different career track years ago, I was an editor. The magnitude of what happened to Joplin reaches across many disciplines, can serve many educational opportunities and ways to improve a great many things. I hope someone else, if you choose to not do so, expands on what you presented.
 
Those who have been engaged in the discussion on this thread may notice many posts are missing. General discussion about the Joplin event should take place in a different sub-forum. The posts are not gone, they will be moved to a more appropriate thread in a couple of hours when I'm home from work. Thanks for your cooperation.
 
I posted a review of the print version at Amazon.

In addition to the points I made in the review, I second some of the comments made above, that if someone could take the outline followed in "Sirens" and expand upon it with more personal stories, more detail about what was happening on the ground, and more about the aftermath and recovery, I'd definitely want to read it. I'm thinking something along the lines of "Storm Warning" by Nancy Mathis (about OKC in '99) or "Tornado Watch 211" by John G. Fuller (about the '85 OH/PA outbreak) or even "The Forgotten Storm" by Wallace Akin (account of the 1925 Tri-State Tornado by someone who survived it as a toddler). I haven't read the Menninger book yet but it sounds like one I'd be interested in.
 
Elaine posted a very fair review at Amazon and I thank her for it. Her review is here: www.amazon.com/When-Sirens-Were-Sil...dp_top_cm_cr_acr_txt?ie=UTF8&showViewpoints=1
A book of the nature she, and others, suggest has already been written. It is called Joplin 5:41 and was written by Kansas City Star publishing. Here is the Amazon listing: www.amazon.com/Joplin-Monster-Shattered-Missouri-Spirit/dp/161169017X

There were two motivations for writing Sirens as an examination of the warning system (only). The first was to help insure "another Joplin" doesn't happen. I wanted to get it out as quickly as possible because what I believe are unfortunate decisions are being made based on the wrong lessons being learned from Joplin. That precluded a longer book like some of the ones mentioned above.

The second is to dispel the mythology of a "magic" (my word) tornado that appeared out of nowhere on the west side of Joplin that has been fed to the residents of that city for the past year. Here is just one example from the Joplin Globe last Sunday quoting a representative of the National Weather Service in Springfield:

“It happened so fast when it formed over Joplin. There was no way to give that kind of warning. We didn’t know there was an EF-5 coming.”

Joplin was essentially blindsided by the tornado, he said.

www.joplinglobe.com/local/x1647280603/Weather-service-implements-storm-warning-changes-after-2011-tornadoes

I agree that Joplin was "blindsided" by the tornado but not for the reasons stated. Thus, my examination of the numerous miscalculations made that day.

Early in the book, I describe Sirens as a "monograph" which is defined: A detailed written study of a single specialized subject or an aspect of it. I believe Sirens​ fulfills that definition.

Thank you, everyone, for your interest in Sirens. I believe you'll find it a worthwhile use of your time.
 
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Father's Day Autographed Copies

As an author, I'm pleased to report that Sirens is selling so well we may have to do a second printing. That said, we should have plenty for anyone who would like to give (or get) an autographed copy of it or Warnings for Father's Day. Please order as soon as possible in order to assure delivery in time.

If you'd like to learn how to get copies, just go here: http://meteorologicalmusings.blogspot.com/2012/06/great-books-for-fathers-day.html
 
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