Review: "Twister," Netflix Documentary

Finally got to view the documentary about the 2011 Joplin Tornado yesterday. The human nature of the video was very well done and I enjoyed it. The weather science aspects? Not so much. 

The people of Joplin did not know the giant tornado was headed for the center of their city because of mistakes made by the National Weather Service (NWS) and local emergency management which was in charge of siren activation. This not discussed in the documentary. In fact, the people of Joplin are depicted as foolish for ignoring the sirens. The reason the sirens were ignored was because radio and TV told the populace the tornado was going to move to the north of the city (see below). 

The documentary begins with far too much time spent on some silly forecast of the Biblical rapture for May 21, 2011, the day before the tornado. I had never heard of this forecast and I doubt many people care about it today. If you can fast forward through this, the program will likely be more enjoyable for you. 

Here are some other lowlights:

• I consider WNBC TV meteorologist Janice Huff to be a wonderful professional and a friend but she didn't have anything to do with warning of the Joplin Tornado. Janice is not related to Dr. C.J. Huff, the superintendent of Joplin's schools the day of the tornado. 
• At no time did the National Weather Service's tornado warnings say, "the tornado is headed for northern Joplin." They said (in order), a tornado was near Riverton heading northeast and near Galena heading northeast. Both would have taken the tornado well north of the city. See map below. My company, WeatherData Services, correctly warned its clients that the tornado was headed straight east into Joplin. The tornado was a straightforward storm for which to issue a warning. 
• The graduation was over before the tornado hit. 
• The image below is from the end of the movie. It is false as it regards tornadoes. F-5 tornadoes like Joplin are much less frequent than they were 50 years ago. The last F-5 tornado was in 2013 -- the longest interval in history for a storm of that intensity. Normalized tornado damage is also down the past 50 years. 

The map shows Carl Junction (rectangle) where a funnel cloud report from the public triggered a tornado siren activation in the City of Joplin. Broadcasters went on the air and said, while the sirens were sounding, "the tornado warning does not include Joplin" (there was no actual tornado). A few minutes later, a second tornado warning was issued that did include Joplin -- but the sirens were silent. After being reassured by broadcasters there was no threat, people went about their business even though they were now in mortal danger. 

The first genuine tornado warning had the tornado near Riverton, KS but the NWS said it was moving northeast (arrow). It would completely miss Joplin. The second had it over Galena, also moving northeast -- again, missing the city. That's why almost everyone in Joplin thought they were safe -- that the tornado was going north of the city. The documentary makes it seem as if everyone knew there was a tornado coming for Joplin. One hundred sixty-one died in the tornado. 

Again, I recommend viewing the documentary if you like human interest stories. However, it gets a "D" from a weather science perspective.