Regarding the 2011 Joplin Tornado

Today is the 13th anniversary of the horrific Joplin Tornado of May 22, 2011. I was not going to write about Joplin this year but there is so much incorrect information in the media today, I want to briefly summarize some of the vital points I covered in my Joplin book. 

Here is a very brief outline as to why the death toll was so very high:

• It was an F-5 tornado; deaths are going to be relatively high regardless. I suspect about 30-40 would have been killed if everything had worked properly. 
• The NWS issued a tornado warning for areas just north of Joplin. Even though it didn't affect the city itself, officials in Joplin sounded the tornado sirens. 
• When people, upon hearing the sirens, turned on their televisions and radios for more info on the warning, they were told, "this warning does not affect Joplin, except for the far north part of the area."
• So, people went about their business.
• Three minutes later, the NWS issued a tornado warning that did include Joplin -- but the NWS said the tornado was moving "northeast" -- which would have taken it north of the city. The tornado was actually moving straight east. 
• Local emergency management did not sound the sirens for the warning that did include Joplin! So, the people, who had just been reassured the earlier tornado warning did not affect the city, were now in terrible danger -- but didn't know it. 
• NWS again states the tornado is moving northeast -- which would miss Joplin. The sirens are still silent.
• At the time the tornado is entering the southwest edge of Joplin, storm chaser Jeff Piotrowski pulls alongside a police car and pleads with them to turn the sirens on. The people of Joplin still do not know what is moments away! You can hear the sirens coming on in the clip below, but the tornado is already chewing up a neighborhood and injuring people. 

Below is a clip of the coverage from KSNF (NBC) TV in Joplin. You hear the meteorologist Caitlin McArdle and anchor Jeremiah Cook talking about the tornado in a more or less normal tones of voice. Their sky camera was showing the tornado but it doesn't occur to them it is a tornado as they had in mind the NWS's northeast movement, thus missing the city (per my interview with Caitlin).

When it suddenly dawns on them that the power flashes are caused by a tornado, their tone entirely changes. 

• Because KNSF is on the north side of the city, it could see the tornado for a time. But, on the east side of the tornado -- along its path -- there was a solid curtain of torrential rain. No one could see the tornado coming. The other TV stations didn't have a cloud camera and were repeating the inaccurate info the tornado was moving northeast (it was moving straight east).

Photographer Jaime Green was directly in the path of the tornado and it went right over her. This is what the tornado looked like (can't see it, solid rain) just moments before it arrived.

• The people of Joplin, because the tornado was invisible, could not save themselves by observing the tornado and taking cover. They were entirely dependent on the warning system -- which badly failed. 

The National Weather Service's report on the tornado was essentially a coverup of their poor performance that explains literally none of the above. 

The report essentially blamed the people of Joplin for not responding to the tornado warning -- that they never heard about for the reasons stated above. Multiple media reports the last 24 hours restate the incorrect information from the NWS report, thus this post to correct the record. 

There is much more in the book, including special tornado safety recommendations for home, for schools and for work. 

There are still serious issues pertaining to the warning of tornadoes, tsunamis, wildfire fires and other extreme weather and related situations. The United States desperately needs a National Disaster Review Board to prevent future mega-disasters.