Those changes helped forecasters get better, more helpful information to residents before subsequent tornadoes arose, 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. That kind of warning gives residents more actionable information about what’s coming and what they should do to prepare, she said. One change forecasters made was to place greater emphasis on the impact weather would have on residents, Furgione said.įor 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. 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. “We had information in advance, but it wasn’t enough,” she said. After the storm, the agency determined many of those injured or killed hadn’t acted on the warnings they’d gotten. But despite those warnings, the tornado left 161 people dead. 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 rash of tornadoes resulted in 311 deaths across the South, she said. 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. The tornado that struck Joplin, Mo., nearly four years ago left 161 people dead and much of the city devastated.īut 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.ĭuring 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.
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