You have often heard about the issues facing the NWS and NOAA from this blog. As frequent readers know, I am a political conservative.  So, I wanted to bring you the perspective of a former NWS and NOAA employee who is a political liberal. You can read his entire piece here . In addition to the items he cited, for a period a few hours after Alan posted his piece, a number of NOAA web sites were down -- and the problem continues this (Wednesday) morning.  Further, Alan Gerard writes about an NWS office with no way to communicate with the outside world during a severe thunderstorm event earlier this spring: There are definitely increasing concerns about the reliability of the aging NEXRAD fleet, in this case the issues were not with the radar themselves, but apparently with communications lines. The office at Wilmington was without communication for several hours, forcing the NWS office in Cleveland to provide backup services for the incommunicado Wilmington. Cleveland issued se...

NBC Chicago Undoubtedly Wednesday morning, you will be hearing about the tornado which struck the Kankakee, Illinois, area (south of Chicago) around 6:25pm. The damage is considerable. Chicago's WGN-TV says, "Kankakee County was severely damaged." There is report of two people killed by this tornado across the border in Lake Village, Indiana.  After the poorly warned tornadoes in southwest Michigan Friday, one would think the NWS would have made it a point to have its radars operating on optimum settings and then jump on any supercell thunderstorm with tornado characteristics. It appears this did not happen in Kankakee.  Below is what I posted on Twitter/X at 6:04pm. I do not use the term "tornado warning" as I believe it should be reserved for the National Weather Service (NWS) which is the official warning source.  Unfortunately, we did not hear from the NWS regarding the tornado threat for quite a while. While a severe thunderstorm warning for "softball ...

Governor Whitmer: If you wish to be helpful, get on the bandwagon for a National Disaster Review Board which would investigate situations like this with an eye to making improvements in the way we forecast and react to disasters.  Friday's forecast for southwest Michigan was poor. There were unforecast major tornadoes. While I don't like it, it happens. I've certainly made my share of poor forecasts over a 50+ year career. The forecaster(s) involved likely feels like kicking themselves and is resolving to do better in the future.  That stipulated, there were no cuts in tornado watch forecasters at the National Storm Prediction Center where tornado watches are issued which, by the way, is not in Michigan but in Norman, Oklahoma. President Trump had nothing to do with it. I suspect Governor Whitmer already knows it. Attempting to politicize a poor weather forecast is beyond the pale.  I also fault the Detroit News  for playing along . They didn't even contact the Nat...

I believe a lot of people have an unrealistic view of what needs to be done to recover from a major ice storm. Comments like these are common on social media today. Unfortunately, this comment reveals a lack of understanding as to what has to happen to get power back up and running. If media reports are correct, more than 200 power poles in Nashville were snapped. It takes a considerable amount of time to get each of them replaced. There is also damage to the high voltage transmission lines. Can you imagine having a job where you have to sit on the skid of a helicopter in freezing weather to make repairs?! The linemen are heroes!! Given that hundreds  of extra crews and utility trucks were brought in ahead of the storm (based on the weather forecasts of a major ice storm), I'm not sure what Robby would have done differently. Which brings us to personal responsibility.  Starting the morning of the 22nd, and continuing through the weekend, you saw this and ever more dire warning...

 ... if you didn't see it at the time, please take a look at my  interview with Andy Revkin  pertaining to the creation of, and reasons for, a National Disaster Review Board.  Momentum for a NDRB seems to be building and I'll be talking about later this week. 

Headline at PJ Media today: We know at least some Los Angeles officials have not been completely honest about the fires. For instance, they were telling us the death toll was 31 when it was actually 440 .  Now, with regard to the cause(s) of the fires: The natives are getting restless, however. Angelenos want to know what officially caused these fires, which led to homelessness and despair and contributed to a corrosive and abiding distrust of local and state government competence. If we had a National Disaster Review Board , this wouldn't be an issue. As with the NTSB and aircraft accidents, we would know the cause(s) and we would know how to prevent future fires in similar situations. We -- especially the people of Los Angeles -- would not have to tolerate the games local officials are playing.  It is vital to learn the cause of the fires as soon as possible. Congress, please hold hearings and move quickly on a National Disaster Review Board. 

Los Angeles January Wildfires from NOAA weather satellite You may have seen some of the news coverage the past few days which says ~440 people were killed by the Los Angeles Wildfires, not 31 as previously reported. As I am not a medical statistician, I don't have an opinion as to the quality of the study. However, after years of tracking the consequences of extreme weather events, including wildfires, 31 has always seemed too low to me.  This is the type of issue a National Disaster Review Board would be able to study so as to publish reliable answers. 

These were posted on LinkedIn yesterday. Mr. Fugate is the former head of FEMA: And Ms. Sutherlin, Los Angeles Area Emergency Manager "WEA (the FCC/FEMA/NOAA "Wireless Emergency Alerts) is extremely problematic when used alone. Which what many of us have said since it went online in 2012.  If we had a National Disaster Review Board these issues would not exist. Experts would be asking these (highly appropriate) questions after major disasters and we would learn and improve as opposed to Mr. Fugate's correct observation, ...after 40+ years in emergency management, I still see us making the same mistakes." Congress?

I'm pleased to report the House of Representatives has introduced a bi-partisan bill to completely reform FEMA. The details of the changes are  here . On the its logo you see the words, "Department of Homeland Security." That will change if the bill becomes law. FEMA will become an independent, Cabinet-level agency reporting to the President. One item in the bill is money for new headquarters. As I wrote months ago about my reform ideas: I want to thank the team at Rep. Sharice Davids' (D-KS) office for a dialog on the disaster-related issues in our nation and for bringing the proposed FEMA changes to my attention.  As you know, I believe major changes are necessary at the National Weather Service. One of which is cleaving the NWS from NOAA. The new NWS would become an independent agency. Details of my NWS reform plan are  here .  Finally -- and maybe most important -- we  must  have a  National Disaster Review Board  to keep FEMA (old and new), ...

What the National Weather Service Intends to Send in  Flash Flood Warning Situations is Often Not What the  Public Receives! Apologies may be appropriate by those critical of the decision-making in  Texas during the pre-dawn hours of July 4 in light of this new information. News4SanAntonio "We didn't know this flood was coming." So said the chief executive of Kerr County, Texas, Rob Kelly. He went on to say, "We had no reason to believe that this was going to be anything like what's happened here, none whatsoever."    July 4, 2025 In dozens of media including the New York Times, Washington Post, etc. -- I won't list them all here -- the National Weather Service (NWS) has countered statements like Mr. Kelly's by asserting, correctly, it sent out a flash flood warning at 1:14am that called for "life-threatening flooding."  Horribly, the "life-threatening" message did not  reach segments of the public.  What follows is the result ...

[This is an update of a Post that appeared in December, 2024] Investigating the 2011 Joplin Tornado An Outline of the National Disaster Review Board Regardless of whether there is an attempt to fix NOAA through incremental improvement  or whether there is a “divorce” of the NWS from NOAA, neither has much of a chance to be successful without a National Disaster Review Board (NDRB) modeled after the hugely successful National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB). Last week's independent report on the NWS's failing tornado warning program only confirms this near certainty.  Accountability is not a natural part of the culture inside the Beltway. The NDRB will be an essential step in that direction.  Regardless of our political preferences and affiliations, I believe most of us can agree on the following: Mega-disasters (i.e., July 4 Texas Hill Country flash flood [likely worst since 1886], Los Angeles wildfire, southern Appalachians floods after Helene, Maui Wildfire, etc.)...

NWS office in storm warning mode While flash flood warnings have -- rightly and understandably -- dominated the news the past 10 days, this does not mean the National Weather Service's (NWS) other types of storm warnings are effective and meeting their goals. They are not; a point made here for more than a decade.  I have two pieces of new information.  The first involves an independent study (by an outside contractor) of the NWS's tornado warning program that was published last week but was not noticed because of all of the news and concern pertaining to the July 4 Hill Country Flood. Below are the results of the study with my comments and more below that.                                                                                ...

NBC News published a story about the growing support for a National Disaster Review Board. You will find it here .  Please keep sending notes (or send this story) to your congressional representatives. Keep the momentum going.  Also, great story about the heroism July 4 at the link.