Post #1196747
2026-04-16 13:38 UTC
I hadn't had time to follow up on this. We used to be able to say that if a tornado hit without warning, it was a pretty good chance that you just weren't paying attention.
But a localized tornado outbreak south of the Kansas City metro on Monday evening was not captured in severe weather outlooks issued earlier in the day. And while the NWS ultimately issued a tornado watch once they realized what was happening, it happened suddenly enough to catch people by surprise.
https://www.nbcnews.com/weather/tornadoes/tornadoes-kansas-concerns-changes-national-weather-service-rcna331826
Replies (1)
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@paulknightly@mstdn.social 2026-04-16 13:41
There are other similar events that have happened over the past year, and I've noted a sharp drop in forecast quality and accuracy where I need it the most to perform my job duties. The culprit here appears to be rooted in balloon launches that have been shifted, delayed, or eliminated, reducing input data that supports numerical weather models and provides critical observational data for meteorologists to review. It's a key broken chain in a system that was once the envy of the world.