Emergency services, storm spotters, businesses, political aides and National Weather Service representatives converged on Poplar Bluff last week. These entities comprise Butler County’s Integrated Warning Team, and their goal was to brainstorm the most efficient responses to severe weather predictions and build rapport.
“IWT is a group of individuals committed to notifying the public about potential weather hazards and providing resources to them,” explained Christine Wielgos, warning coordination meteorologist for NWS Paducah.
The NWS also took the opportunity to recognize Butler County’s renewed Storm Ready designation.
The Storm Ready program helps “counties to be as prepared as they can be, to prepare all their citizens and be the best arm they can against severe weather,” Wielgos said.
Most counties in Southeast Missouri are not storm ready, she added, but the application process has been recently streamlined to encourage application. More information on the program can be found at weather.gov/stormready.
The main item of discussion at the Friday meeting was how to improve the average person’s comprehension of and access to weather warnings.
“It’s not enough for ‘there’s a chance of severe weather,’ we’ve got to dig a little bit deeper, and we’ve got to increase and improve our messaging to be able to do that so people make better decisions, and they do better in prepping for severe weather,” Wielgos said.
As an exercise, she led a review of the NWS warnings disseminated in the week before the April 5 tornadoes, including the fatal Glenallen tornado. Participants were asked to evaluate the readability of the graphics and information provided.
“I think most people can interpret what’s put out from a public standpoint. They’re pretty good about that,” noted =Keith Berry, assistant field coordinator of the Poplar Bluff Severe Weather Response Team.
Several IWT members agreed and said a greater obstacle is getting and keeping people’s attention. Ben Stratemeyer, who owns the KLUE radio station, pointed out severe weather often seems “oversold” compared to what people see, and recommended adding more nuance to threat levels.
“I think the one thing we’re also tap dancing around is: weather is not perfectly predictable,” said meteorologist Steve Eddy. “The closer we get, the better we get, the more accurate we become... But this is a great example of sometimes where we’ve got to wait till the thing develops before we’re really confident where it’s going to be, because it could be anywhere. And so, how do we message that?”
Eddy’s wish is a central app with all area alerts — including severe weather, Amber Alerts, active shooters and boil orders — would be displayed, and customized to areas based on existing geotagging technology. Several others agreed.
“Those daily types of notices that say ‘Hey, start thinking about this’ are a good idea,” Berry said.
Matt Bain, the district director for Sen. Josh Hawley, pointed out the technology for mass alerts already exists.
“It could be using that same system to give a push (notification),” he said.
Eddy and Wielgos hoped the offices of Hawley and Rep. Jason Smith, who was also represented, could draw attention to the idea alongside NWS and local groups.
“I think we push forward as a group and it carries more weight,” Eddy said.
Another forecasting recommendation came from Stratemeyer, who asked if adding local community names to the regional Paducah tagline might make predictions feel more immediate.
“Because to Poplar Bluff, Kentucky sounds... far away,” he noted.
Eddy said this was a conversation being held across several regions and sounded like a possibility.
Overall, Eddy was pleased with the IWT discussions and the unique perspectives they offered.
“It’s been a good discussion,” he said. “These are very critical. We’re all in one room, I don’t get to do that very often.”
Severe Weather Response Team Director Craig Meador said everyone made “fantastic” points and he was glad to see everyone engaged.
“What I like the most is the cooperation between the national level, all the way down to the local level,” he said.
This partnership stems from years as NWS’s “eyes on the ground” in Butler and the surrounding counties.
“Over here, we’re on the end of their radar... and over here, they’ve got us,” he said. “When we call, they listen.”
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