But the storm taught forecasters lessons that may have saved lives during subsequent disasters, including the May 2013 tornadoes in the Oklahoma City area, a National Weather Service official said Wednesday.
During a keynote address Wednesday at the National Tornado Summit in Oklahoma City, National Weather Service Deputy Director Laura Furgione discussed lessons the agency learned from a series of deadly tornadoes in the spring of 2011.
When a tornado outbreak occurred across the southeastern United States on April 27-28, 2011, National Weather Service forecasters had been issuing severe weather bulletins for days ahead of time, Furgione said. But despite those warnings, the rash of tornadoes resulted in 311 deaths across the South, she said.
Similarly, when an EF5 tornado struck Joplin a month later, forecasters were able to give residents plenty of advanced warning, Furgione said. But despite those warnings, the tornado left 161 people dead. After the storm, the agency determined many of those injured or killed hadn’t acted on the warnings they’d gotten.
“We had information in advance, but it wasn’t enough,” she said.
Changes Made
Over the next two years, National Weather Service officials began to discuss ways to make sure residents received weather alerts and acted on the information when necessary. One change forecasters made was to place greater emphasis on the impact weather would have on residents, Furgione said.
For example, where a weather bulletin years ago might have warned residents to expect snow at 5 p.m., forecasters might now tell people a snowstorm was likely to affect their commutes, Furgione said.
That kind of warning gives residents more actionable information about what’s coming and what they should do to prepare, she said.
Officials also began using more avenues to deliver weather-related information than they had before including social media sites like Facebook and Twitter, Furgione said.
Those changes helped forecasters get better, more helpful information to residents before subsequent tornadoes arose, she said.
Those new methods later became a part of the agency’s response to the series of tornadoes that struck central Oklahoma in May 2013.
According to a National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration service assessment released after the tornadoes, the National Weather Service’s Norman forecast office issued 55 tornado warnings and hundreds of statements and social media posts about hazardous weather between May 19-31.
Forecasters also provided emergency managers, disaster workers and residents with information that would help them get a better idea of the impact the tornadoes would have, the report concludes.
That information didn’t prevent fatalities entirely. Authorities reported 25 people died as a result of the May 20 tornado, and another 23 died in the May 31 tornado and subsequent flash flood.
But Furgione noted that the Moore tornado’s death toll was lower than a previous tornado that struck the city in 1999, despite population growth in the city. More than 40 people died in the 1999 tornado, authorities reported.
Furgione said the agency is continuing to look for new ways to keep residents informed when severe weather is on the way, and to make sure they act on the information they’re given.
“We can have the most accurate forecast, but if no one takes any action, it’s no forecast at all,” she said.
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