Two Week Anniversary
When the Sirens Were Silent has officially been out two weeks. I welcome comments from readers and offer the opportunity to post them here.
The East Coast Severe Weather Threat is Over
Midnight: The East Coast Threat for Tornadoes and Severe Thunderstorms Has Ended 3:50pm. Tornado watch for the Middle Atlantic Region. 2:30pm Tornadoes are also forecast in the South. 2:20pm. A couple of tornadoes, hail and wind gusts to 65 mph are possible with these storms. This includes NYC and Philadelphia. 1:05pm. The tornado risk has been extended northward into New York. The brown area has a significant risk of tornadoes. Remember: if a tornado warning is issued, go to your basement and get under heavy furniture like a pool table. Of, if your basement is finished, get into the bathroom. Go ahead an put a couple of water bottles and, if appropriate, diapers in your shelter area. Wear shoes. If you don't have a basement or safe room, go to the lowest floor and get into a bath or closet in the middle of your home. Children should be put in the bathtub. I'll update later today.
I need to get a copy! Is it at Watermark??
ReplyDeleteYes, Watermark has it.
ReplyDeleteIt is also at Amazon, Kindle and Nook.
Love the book, Mike. Got it for my iPad via the Kindle reader. Really well written, easy to understand without becoming too technical in meteorological terminology. I remember seeing those weather warnings with the incorrect storm locations and its direction of travel.
ReplyDeleteI own the DVD the Jeff and Kathryn P. made of their adventure/nightmare of that day. Very tough to watch.
John Sacrey
NWS Storm Spotter
Benton, AR
http://sacrey.info
Mike - I just read the book and it was outstanding! Nice work and really well written. I look forward to backtracking through "Warnings" now (which arrived just yesterday along with this book). I am curious about something though. With all the errors NWS Springfield made that day, could that manifest into some sort of liability issue between them and the City of Joplin? Would it even be possible for the City to sue NWS for "negligence"? I guess that seems a bit far fetched but when you compare this against the April 27th, 2011 Outbreak, since the number of deaths in that oubreak was not necessairly preventable due to the earlier convection that caused severe infrastructure problems. But there were no infrastructure issues in southern Missouri that day. Some citizens of Will County did sue the NWS in 1993 as a result of the 1990 Plainfield tornado (http://www.deseretnews.com/article/307628/ILLINOIS-RESIDENTS-SUE-AGENCY-SAY-TORNADO-WARNINGS-INADEQUATE.html) but I was unable to find the outcome of that lawsuit. What do you think?
ReplyDelete@Pete. I'm not an attorney, but I would tend to doubt it. They were clearly watching the storms and issuing warnings.
ReplyDeletePete,
ReplyDeleteI found the following passage from a Google Books version of "The Tornado: Nature's Ultimate Windstorm" by Thomas Grazulis. It occurs in the midst of a paragraph discussing the possibility of lawsuits arising from a violent tornado strike on a large gathering or sports event:
"No matter what decision is made, fault will certainly be found.... Legal action, citing inadequate forecasting, is not unknown. In August 1993, two of the people who were injured at Plainfield, Illinois, along with the survivors of twelve people who were killed, sued the NWS for $74 million. The suit was eventually dismissed."
If you scroll back to the beginning of that particular chapter, you will find an eerily prophetic statement:
"It seems inevitable, however, that a killer tornado with a death toll of one hundred or more people will strike the United States at some time in the future." (The book was written in 2001)
Grazulis also goes on to say that "spikes" in the tornado death toll should be expected in the 21st century when tornadoes occur "at exactly the wrong time and in exactly the wrong place."
Elaine