Joplin, after the tornado We all remember the 2011 catastrophic Joplin Tornado and the loss of 161 lives — by far the worst single tornado disaster since the civilian tornado warning program began 1957. From 2000 to 2011, the National Weather Service (NWS) was making tremendous progress in warning of tornadoes. Tragically, the NWS and local emergency management during the hour before the tornado arrived did just about everything wrong . Prior to Joplin, the NWS, on average, provided 13.3 minutes of advance notice and correctly warned of tornadoes 73.3% of the time. In 2007, they reached a superb 78% of the time. For reasons that are not entirely clear, the tornado warning program has suffered serious deterioration since 2011. The NWS’s most recent figures reveal they correctly warn of tornadoes just 57% of the time (a 27% reduction) and, when a warning has been provided, it has dropped to 8 minutes of advance notice (a 40% reduction). NOAA has set a target of 72% of tornadoes to be