74 /

. 4p 6/2- 

D Senate He arin

GOVERNMENT

Storage

Before the Committee on Appropriations

1974

I t 1 u— • « — - •

KA NS AS STATfc U N lV rifiS iY Y

Nat ur al Di saste r M on ito rin g, 

Warn ing Disse m in atio n, 

and

Com m un ity Pr ep ared ne ss

CONGRESS, SECOND SESSION

Fiscal Year •975

SPECIAL HEARING

N a tu ra l D is a s te r M o n it o rin g , W a rn in g 

D is s e m in a ti o n , an d C o m m u n ity 

P re p a re d n e s s

H E A R IN G

BEF O R E T H E

SUBCOMMITTEE ON DEPARTMENTS OF STATE, 

JUSTICE, AND COMMERCE, THE JUDICIARY, 

AND RELATED AGENCIES

OF T H E

COMMITTEE ON APPROPRIATION S 

UNITED STATES SENATE

NINETY -TH IRD CONG RESS 

SE CO ND SE SS IO N

Printed fo r the use of the Committee on Appropriations

29-545 O

U.S . G O V ER N M EN T P R IN T IN G O FFIC E 

W A SH IN G TO N : 1974
SU BC OM MIT TE E OF T H E COM MIT TE E ON A PP RO PR IA TIO NS

JO H N O. PA ST ORE, Rh ode Is la nd , C hairm an

JO H N L. M cC LE LL A N , A rk a n sa s 

M IK E M A N S FIE L D , M o n ta n a 

E R N E S T F. H O LL IN G S, S o u th C a ro li n a 

W A R R E N G. M AG NUSO N, W ash in g to n 

TH O M A S F . EA G L ETO N , M is so uri

RO MAN L. H R U SK A , N ebra sk a 

HIR A M L. FO NG, H a w a ii 

ED W A R D W. B R O O K E, M assa c h u se tt s 

N O R R IS COTT ON, New H a m p sh ir e 

M IL TON It. YO UN G. N o rt h D akota 

ex offic io

Ex Off ic io Mem ber s on Dip lo m ati c and Consu la r Ite m s

J . W. F U L B R IG H T , A rk a n sa s G EO R G E I). A IK E N , V erm ont

JO H N SPA R K M A N , A la bam a

(I I)
DEPARTMENTS OF STATE. JUSTICE, AND COMMERCE, 

THE JUDICIARY, AND RELATED AGENCIES APPROPRIATIONS FOR FISCAL YEAR 1975

W E D N E SD A Y , F E B R U A R Y 20 , 19 74

U.S. S en ate ,

S ub co mmitte e of t h e C om m it te e on A pp ro pr ia ti ons,

D.G.

The subcom mittee me t a t 10 a.m., in room 1114, E vere tt M cK inley 

Dirks en Office B uildi ng , li o n . Th om as F. Eag le to n, pres iding.

P re se nt: S en at or s E ag le to n an d Fo ng .

D EPA R TM EN T OF CO MM ER CE

Nat iona l O ce anic an d A tm os ph er ic A dm in istr ati on

STATEMENTS OF:

JOHN W. TOWNSEND, JR.. ASSOCIATE ADMINISTRATOR 

GEORGE P. CRESSMAN, DIRECTOR, NATIONAL WEATHER 

SERVICE

ACCOMPANIED BY:

DAVID S. NATHAN, DIRECTOR, OFFICE OF BUDGET AND PROGRAM ANALYSIS

GERALD PETERSON, DIRECTOR, METEOROLOGICAL AND HYDROGRAPHIC OFFICE

GEORGE N. BRANCATO, METEOROLOGIST IN CHARGE, ST. 

LOUIS, MO., OFFICE, NATIONAL WEA THER SERVICE

ROBERT E. BECK, DIRECTOR, OFFICE OF PROGRAMS AND 

BUDGET

PAUL E. CLEMENTS, BUDGET OFFICER

JOSEPH A. STRAHL, ASSISTANT CHIEF, OPERATIONS AND 

FIELD SERVICES DIVISION, NATIONAL WEA THER SERVICE

O PEN IN G ST A TEM EN T OF SE NA TO R EA GL ET ON

Sen at or E agleton. Go od mor ning , ladies an d gentlem en. T his 

m or ni ng the Su bc om mittee fo r the Dep ar tm en ts o f Sta te , Ju st ic e, a nd 

Comm erc e, the Judic ia ry an d re lated agen cie s will ho ld an ov er sigh t 

hea ri ng on the pr og ra m s of the Na tio na l Oc eanic an d Atm os ph eric 

A dm in is trat io n an d the fa ci lities of the Nationa l W ea th er Service , 

with re ga rd to na tu ra l dis as te r mon ito rin g, w ar ni ng dissem ination, 

an d co mmun ity pr ep ar ed ne ss .

On th e ev en ing of No ve mbe r 24, 1973, tw o to rn ad oe s st ru ck in th e 

so ut he as t co rn er o f Miss ou ri, the so- cal led Bo otheel area . Thi s na tu ra l 

dis as te r resulte d in two de at hs an d ex tens ive pro pert y dama ge.

(1)
2

In response to my subsequent inquiry. I was informed by the National Weather Service that there had been a partial breakdown in 

the warning system serving the Bootheel area.

T also contacted Senator John O. Pastore, chairman of the subcommittee. and requested that the subcommittee hold an oversight 

hearing on not only what occurred in the Bootheel area and what steps 

have been taken to prevent a recurrence, but also how the total severe 

storm warning system is now operating and what needs to be done to 

maximize the effectiveness of the system.

Senator Pastore was in complete accord with my suggestion and 

asked me to preside at this hearing.

Our principal witnesses are Dr. John W. Townsend, Associate Ad ­

ministrator of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration: and Dr. George P. Cressman, Director of the National Weather 

Service.

PREPARED STATEM ENT OF SENATOR SYMIN GTON

Before these gentlemen proceed, we have a statement and some supportin g information from my distinguished colleague. Senator Stua rt 

Symington, that will be made a p art of the record a t this juncture.

["The information follows:]
On November 24, 1973 a torna do struck the Boot heel are a of S outheas t 

Missouri killing two re sid ent s of Dunkli n County. Thre e other persons 

we re kill ed in Shann on Coun ty the same day. Thr ough the inves tiga tive 

efforts of the D ail y Du nklin De mocrat in K en ne tt , M is so ur i, it became 

apparent that these and f utu re tragedies mi gh t be avo ided through more 

effici ent mana gem ent o f the Nat ional Storm Warning S ystem.

The respons ibi lit y for o bserving and re por tin g storm activity in 

Sou the ast Mis souri is di vi ce d uni que ly b etween three section s of the 

Natio nal Wea the r S er vi ce ’s internal radar report ing and weathe r coo rdi nation 

system. Rela y cente rs for the tran smis sion of war nings between those s ections 

are located in St. Louis, Memphis, Ten nessee, and L ouisville, Kentucky.

These stations mus t rel y o n radio and televi sio n s tat ions in all three 

states to broadcast storm warni ngs to the public.

On Nove mber 24 sane of th ese broadc ast s tations we re no t no tif ied i n 

time to wa rn cit izens of th e impen ding danger. Mec hanical delays in the 

rad ar warni ng s yst em and t he lack of personn el at the relay ce nters p revent ed 

the dis semination of wa rnin gs to some of the stations ser ving the Boothee l 

area. At the sug ges tio n o f Jac k St aple ton, Jr., pub lisher o f the 

Daily H m k l i n De mo cr at , I asked Dr. George Cressman , Direc tor of the 

Nat ion al Wea the r Servic e, to explain the cause of the dela ys in the 

we ather war nin g system on Nov embe r 24 a nd wh at steps w er e being taken to 

remedy this. In his reply, Dr. Cres sman stated:

"Our pri mary means for distri but ing wea ther inf orm ation to the 

news m ed ia is the N OA A Weather Wire Ser vic e (NWWS). Due to 

tariff regulation s and the need to limit cir cuit traffic , the 

NWW S is compose d o f intras tat e circuits. Mis sou ri and all o f 

its surroun ding s tate s hav e NWWS.

"The pri mary rel ay o f war nings b etween NWW S circ uits is 

acco mpli shed by ou r int ern al RARE P (Radar Report) and Warning 

Coordination (RAWARC) net wor k, figur e enclo sed, con sisting 

of five circuits. Relays b etw een RAWA RC circuits are han dled 

by the canp uter ized RAWA RC Autanatic Mes sage Switchin g (RAMS) 

cen ter l ocate d in Wa shi ngt on, D.C. Tor nado war nings and other 

significan t wea ther mes sa ge s have a to p prio rity at RAMS. These 

top pri ori ty me ssa ges are relayed accor din g to the order in 

wh ic h they are recei ved. Depe nding upon the amount o f top prio rity 

traffic, the r elay of so me war nin g messa ges cou ld b e delayed.

A dela y of just a f ew mi nutes in rel ayi ng a to rna do w arnin g can, 

of course, be critic al.
4

"On November 24, 197 3, a tornado caused two dea ths in the Misso uri

Bootheel 1 1/2 miles ea st of Cla rks ton , Dunklin County, at 10:25 p.ra. This torna do was covered by a watch bull et in issu ed 

at 5:50 p.m ., v ali d from 6 p.m. to 1 a.m. Sunday. A severe 

thunderstorm warning was issu ed by the Weather Serv ice Fore cast 

Offi ce (WSFO) a t St. Louis fo r Dunklin County at 9:15 p.m ., followed by a torn ado warning a t 9:45 p.m. These warnings were rela yed to the RAWARC cir cu it s ser vin g Tennessee and Kentucky.

The St ate Relay Cente r (SRC) at Memphis en ter ed the warnings on the Tennessee NWWS, but the Lo uis vil le SRC did not en te r the se warnings on the Kentucky NWWS as requ ire d. In add ition to iss uin g 

the warn ings, WSFO St . Louis noti fi ed the Civ il Defense of 

Dunklin County where community emergency proce dures were tak en, 

including tra ck in g the tornado by ca r. The Missouri Bootheel 

Commission was also no tifi ed .

"As wel l as we can dete rmin e, RANG rel aye d the 9:45 p.m. tornado 

warning to the RAWARC ci rc u it s servin g Kentucky and Tennessee between 10:10 p.m. and 10:15 p.m. Memphis SRC tra nsmi tte d i t on the Tennessee NWWS between 10:11 and 10:17 p.m. Our in ab il it y to determi ne ex ac tly when the warning was rec eiv ed and tra ns mi tte d 

at Memphis is due to the lac k of time to log a ll st at io n actio ns during c r itic a l, sho rtfu sed weather si tu ati o n s. We were unabl e to determine what Memphis rad io and te le vi si on st at io ns bro adc ast the se warnings, or when the bro adc asts were made. The Paducah te le vi si on 

st at io n was unable to bro adc ast them, because they were not 

tra nsmi tte d on the Kentucky NWWS."

In an e ff o rt to pre ven t futur e breakdowns in communications between 

st ate re la y cente rs and the weather service st ati o n s, Dr. Cressman has 

taken sev era l ste ps to improve warning service s fo r the Bootheel area .

Through the coo per atio n of the Defense Ci vi l Prepared ness Agency, 

a new in te rs ta te d ir e c t comnunication line has been in st al le d between 

the Weather Serv ice For eca st Off ice in St . Louis and the St ate Relay 

St ati on in Memphis. We had asked Dr. Cressman about the po ss ib il it y of 

es tabl ishi ng such a d ir ect lin e follo wing a sug ges tion in the 

Daily Dunklin Democrat. At the time of the tornad os , a di re ct lin e 

alre ady was in op era tio n between St . Louis and the Kentucky in tr ast ate 

warning system hea dqu arters in Lo uisv ill e.

Dr. Cressman al so noted th at the Fore cast Off ice in Lo uis vil le 

has been in st ru ct ed to transm it on it s st ate wire a ll warnings which are 

received through the region al warning system and which cover are as wi thi n 

100 miles of it s sta te bou nda ries. He assured us th at in fi sc al 1974 the 

National Weather Ser vic e would automate and speed up the exchanges between 

reg ion al c ir c u it s. Ce rta inl y we would hope th at the National Weather
5

Service w ill be granted su ff ic ie nt funding to improve its storm warning 

system in ord er to more ef fe ct iv el y serv e those citiz en s who may become 

endangered through weather conditions over which they have no co ntrol.

Each season seems to bring with i t new haza rds. The melting of 

winte r snows followed by spr ing rains could cr ea te a floo d po te nt ia l along 

the Mississipp i River even grea ter than la st year when record floo d leve ls 

le ft many M issourians homeless. I t is encouraging th at the National Weather 

Service has expanded its National Weather Service Warning System ale rt s to 

include flooding as we ll as tomadcs and othe r severe storm s.

This warning system is the la st line of defense ag ainst sudden 

dis ast er. The sa fety of our ci tize ns depends upon the speed with which 

we can transm it the news of impending storms or flooding to those most 

likely to be affe cted .

We should therefor e make every eff o rt to assure th at our warning 

system is the be st av ailabl e to allcw persons in storm areas su ff ic ie nt 

time to pr ot ec t them selv es, th eir fa m ili es , and th eir possessions .

As a pa rt of th is rec ord I would like to include an art ic le from 

the November 27, 1973 Daily Dunklin Democrat, our le tte r of December 4, 1973 

to the National Weather Service , and the December 27 reply from Dr. Cressman.

-0-0-0- -0- -0-0-0-
6

THE DAILY DUNKLIN DEMOCRAT, KENNETT, MISSOURI 

N ove m be r 2 7 , 19 73

C o m m u n ic a ti o n s Gap L e a v e s SeMo i n V oi d T o r 

W e a th e r W arn in g s

By DAIL Y DEMOCRAT

St al l Newsma n

Despite an extensive 

s t o r m warning system 

that links Civil Defense, 

p o l i c e and electronic 

media, two D u n k lin 

Countians are dead as a 

resu lt of a . tornado Saturday night that went unreported on several Memphis television stations.

A Daily Democrat investiga ­

tion of the procedures involved 

in the Issuance of severe storm 

warnings by the N a t i o n a l 

Weather Sendee reve als e serious communications void 

exists between the agency’s St. 

Louis and Memphis stations, a 

void -

 tha t prevents direct com ­

munication between the two 

units. 3 ' . '

The National Weather Serv ice 

station at Lam bert Airport in 

St. Louis has the direct responsibility for issuing severe 

sto rm warnings throughout all 

of Missouri, and tha t inclu des 

the Bootheel. The Memphis station, The Daily Dem ocra t 

check shows, has no direct 

responsibility for issuing sto rm 

warnings to the Bootheel, despite the fact that its area does 

include counties in No rth east 

Ar kansas and western Tennessee. The Bootheel area ' is a 

void on the Memphis station’s 

we ather map. » > ‘

“ We cannot give storm, w arnings for Southeast Missouri,’*

was the explanation offered by 

Jack Cox, assistant dir ector of 

the Memphis station. Cax didn’t mean the station wouldn’t 

give storm warnings for r

 Southeast Missouri, only th at his 

agen cy’s organizational . chart 

place s the Bootheel in the area 

serve d by the St. Louis weather 

station.

The Memphis station has direc t responsibility for storm 

warnings in 10 counties in 

Northeast Arkansas, 21 counties 

in western Tennessee and five 

counties in Northwest Mississippi.

The Daily Democrat check of 

Satu rday night’s sto rm warnings by the St. Louis office 

■ shows numerous messages were 

. rela yed to agencies throughout 

Southeast Missouri but no direct communication was made 

with the Memphis office of the 

National W e a t h e r Service, 

which in turn services the 

Memphis television stations.

According to William Waldheuser, supervising forecaster 

of the St. Louis weather bureau, 

calls were made to Civil Defense units, the Missouri Highway Patrol, a voluntee r storm 

watch service organized by the 

Bootheel Planning Commission 

at Malden, and rad io station? 

at Pop lar Bluff, Kennett, Malden and Caruthersville. Several of the stations did not answer the Weather Serv ice calls 

Saturday .. night, Waldheuser 

said, prob ably because they had 

. gone off the air. Calls were an-
7

swered at KBOA In Ken nett and 

at Pop lar Bluff,- the S t Louis 

official said. . - ?

By 9:50 p.m. Sat urd ay, the 

po ss ib ility of a tornado in the 

Bootheel was plac ed, on the 

Weather Service’s * tele type, a 

sta te comm unica tions link called the Missouri-'Weath er Wire.

Asked how Bootheel residents

could be assure d of receiving 

sev ere weather bull etins on 

Memphis TV stat ions, Waldheuse r suggested the installatio n of 

a dire ct St. Louis-to-Mem phis 

telephone line, linki ng the two 

weathe r statio ns. Called NA WAS ‘ 

(Nation al’ Warning Sys tem ) the 

line would enable th e St. Louis 

wea ther station to notify the 

Memphis stat ion of possible se1

 r er e J eforms or tornadoes in 

the Bootheel. This would enable 

the Memphis we ath er station to 

al er t Sout heas t Missouri’o s 

through direct bro adc asts over 

Mem phis television statio ns, 

ju st as is now done with warn ­

ing s for Northe ast Arkansas and 

western Ten ness ee.

Waldheuser said the NAWAS 

line would be a direct connection, alwa ys open for instan t 

comm unication between the two 

stat ions.

Asked how such a line migh t 

be installe d, he said auth ority 

would have to be mad e by the 

N a t i o n a l Weather Serv ice’s 

ove rall supe rvis ing agency, the 

U.S. Depar tment of Commerce.

29-545 O - 74 -- 2
December 4, 1373

Dr. Oeorge Creiamn

Rational Oceanic and Atmospheric

Adm inistration

Department of Commerce

l4 th and Co nstitution

Washington, D.C.

Dear Dr. Cresmman:

Twc re side nt s of Timkl In County were k il le d In Tornadoes vbich

struck Southeast Missouri November 24.

Based upon a preliminary in ve st ig at io n by the Daily Dunklin

Democrat in Kennett, storm warning informa tion was not dir ec tly

av ai la bl e to a ll o f the bro* le ast st ati ons which ser ve the

"bootheel" area o f our Sta te .

As a resu lt , persons watching te le vis io n programs from Memphis,

Tennessee or Paducah, Kentucky did not hear advis ory warnings

which were sen t cut by the St. Louis o ff ic e of the Nat iona l

Weather Se rvice .

Sugg ested in the a r ti c le ia the esta blishm ent of a di re ct 8t„

Louis to Memphis teleph one li n e to lin k the two weather st ati ons.

Clearly the na tte r requ ire s urgent at te ntion . We would appreci ate your comments and sugg es tion s for a temporary so lu tion to

■ problem, in the event a storm occurs in the immediate future

and any proposed long-ra nge ayste a which can overcome thia

coaasunicatlon warning gap.

Si nc er ely,

Stua rt Symington
U.S. DEPART MEN T OF COMMERCE

National Oceanic and Atm ospheric A dm inistration

Rockville, Md 20 85 2

Wx2

H on or ab le S tu a rt Sy mi ngton 

U nited S ta te s Sen at e 

W as hi ng to n, D. C. 2051 0

De ar S en ato r Sy mi ng ton :

T his i s in re sp onse to you r l e t t e r of December 4 , 19 73 , co nce rn in g 

th e d is se m in a ti o n of st orm w ar nin gs to b ro a d c a st s t a ti o n s se rv in g 

th e B ooth ee l a re a of M is so u ri . We’v e re vi ew ed th i s c a r e f u lly . Our 

re vie w showed th a t th e w ar nin g a c ti o n s ta k en by our S t. Lou is o f f ic e 

we re ti m e ly and th e s a f e ty a u th o r itie s in th e c o u n ti e s a ffe c te d to ok 

e f f e c tiv e a c ti o n s . A bre ak do wn in p a r t o f our d is tr i b u ti o n p ro ced u re s, 

ho wev er , pre vente d d is se m in a ti o n to some of th e m ed ia s ta tio n s se rv in g 

th e B ooth ee l a re a .

Our pr im ar y means fo r d i s tr i b u ti n g w eath er in fo rm a ti o n to th e news 

med ia i s th e NOAA W ea ther Wire S erv ic e (NWWS). Due to t a r i f f re gula tio n s and th e ne ed to li m i t c i r c u it t r a f f i c , th e NWWS is composed 

of in t r a s t a t e c i r c u i t s . M is so u ri and a l l o f i t s su rr o u n d in g s t a te s 

ha ve NWWS.

The pri m ar y re la y of w arn in gs be tw ee n NWWS c i r c u i t s i s ac co m plish ed 

by our in te r n a l RAREP (R ad ar R ep or t) and Warn ing C o o rd in ati o n (RAWARC) 

net w ork , fig u re e n c lo se d , c o n s is ti n g o f fiv e c i r c u i t s . Relay s betw ee n 

RAWARC c ir c u it s a re handle d by th e com pute ri ze d RAWARC A ut om at ic Me ssage 

Sw itchin g (RAMS) c e n te r lo c a te d in W as hi ng to n, D.C. To rnado w ar ni ngs 

and o th e r s ig n if ic a n t w eath er message s ha ve a to p p r i o r i t y a t RAMS.

Th ese to p p r i o r it y m es sa ge s a re re la y e d acco rd in g to th e o rd e r in 

which th ey a re re c e iv e d . De pe nd ing upo n th e amo unt o f to p p r i o r it y 

t r a f f i c , th e re la y o f some w ar ni ng mes sa ge s could be d ela y ed . A d ela y 

o f j u s t a few m in ut es in re la y in g a to rn ad o w ar ni ng can, of co u rs e , 

be c r i t i c a l .

On November 24 , 19 73 , a to rn ad o ca us ed two d eath s in th e M is so uri 

B oo th ee l 1 1/ 2 m il es e a s t o f C la rk sto n , D un klin Cou nt y, a t 10 :25 p.m . 

Thi s to rn ad o was co ve re d by a watc h b u ll e ti n is su e d a t 5:5 0 p .m ., 

v a li d from 6 p.m . to 1 a. m . Su nday. A sev ere th unders to rm w ar ni ng 

was is su ed by th e W ea ther S e rv ic e F o re cast O ff ic e (WSFO) a t S t. Lou is 

fo r Dun klin County a t 9:1 5 p .m ., fo llow ed by a to rn ado w ar ni ng a t 

9: 45 p.m . Th ese w ar ni ng s were re la y e d to th e RAWARC c ir c u it s se rv in g 

Ten ne ss ee and Ken tuck y. The S ta te Relay C ente r (SRC) a t Memphis e n te re d 

th e w ar ni ng s on th e T en nes se e NWWS, but th e L o u is v ill e SRC d id no t
10

e n te r th e s e w ar ni ng s on th e Ke ntu cky NWWS as re q u ir e d . In a d d it io n 

to is s u in g th e w ar nin gs, WSFO S t. Lou is n o tif ie d th e C iv il Defen se 

o f D un kl in Co unty wh ere com munity em erg ency p ro cedure s we re ta k en , 

in c lu d in g tr a c k in g th e to rn ad o by c a r. The M is so uri B oo th ee l Com mission 

was a ls o n o tifie d .

As w e ll as we can d e te rm in e , RAMS re la y e d th e 9:45 p.m . to rn ad o wa rnin g to th e RAWARC c i r c u i t s se rv in g Ke ntu cky and T en nes se e betw ee n 

10 :1 0 and 10 :15 p.m. Memphis SRC tr a n sm it te d i t on th e Ten ne ss ee 

NWWS betw ee n 10 :11 and 10 :1 7 p.m . Our i n a b i li ty to det erm in e e x a c tl y 

when th e w ar ning was re c e iv e d and tr a n sm it te d a t Memphis is due to 

th e la c k o f tim e to lo g a l l s ta tio n a c ti o n s duri ng c r i t i c a l , s h o rtfu se d w eath er s i tu a tio n s . We were unable to dete rm in e wh at Memphis 

ra d io and te le v is io n s t a ti o n s b ro a d c a st th e se w arn in g s, o r when th e 

b ro a d c a sts were made. The Pa du cah te le v is io n s ta tio n was unab le to 

b ro a d c a st the m, bec au se th e y we re not tr a n sm it te d on th e Ke ntu cky NWWS.

We ha ve ta ken a number o f s te p s to im prov e th e w ar ni ng se rv ic e s fo r 

th e B ooth eel a re a . The D ef en se C iv il P re p are d n ess Agency (DCPA) ha s 

be en re q u e ste d to fu rn is h WSFO S t. Lou is w ith an i n t e r s t a t e N ati o n al 

Warn ing Sy ste m (NAWAS) dr op on T en n ess ee's NAWAS. (T his i s th e d ir e c t 

S t. L ouis to Memphis te le p h o n e lin e d is c u sse d in your l e t t e r and th e 

D ail y D un kl in Democrat e d i t o r i a l . ) We b e li e v e ou r re q u e s t w ill be 

g ra n te d . They a lr e a d y ha ve a dr op on K entu cky's NAWAS. WSFO L o u is v ill e 

ha s be en in s tr u c te d to tr a n s m it on NWWS a l l w ar ni ng s wh ich a re re c e iv e d 

on RAWARC and wh ich a re f o r a re a s w it h in 100 m il es of i t s s t a te b o u n d ari es 

We p la n in FY 1974 to au to m at e and sp ee d up th e RAWARC c i r c u i t s . We 

a re a ls o tr y in g to fi n d way s to a ssu re f a s te r re la y of to rn ad o w ar nin gs 

on RAWARC c i r c u i t s .

I a ss u re you we’ l l do our b e s t to pro vid e th e b e st w ar nin g se rv ic e s 

p o s s ib le . The ste p s o u tl in e d above sh ould h elp to im prov e th e w ar ni ng 

se rv ic e s fo r th e B ooth ee l a re a .

S in c e re ly ,

Ge org e P. C re ssm aik ^ - ^

e c to r , N ati o n al W ea th er S erv ic e

E nclo su re s

12

INTRODUCTION O F ASSOCIATES

Se nator E agleton. 1 )r. To wn sen d, yo n may proceed.

I)r. T ownsend. 1 would like to introd uce the people accompan ying 

me. At my fa r left is Mr. Peterson , next to him we have Mr. George 

Branc ato . On my imm ediate left is I)r. George Pressma n, th e Director 

of the Na tional Weat her Serv ice. On my imm ediate righ t is Mr. Pau l 

Clemen ts, b udget officer, and next t o him is Mr. Robert Beck, Dir ector, 

Office of Pr og rams and Bud get.

NATU RAL disaster wa rn ing and preparedness fu nc tion s

Mr. Ch airm an a nd m embers of the committee, 1 am pleased th at we 

have this op po rtu nity to te sti fy to da y on N OA A prog ram s fo r n atu ral 

disaste r warning and pre pared ness. I will give an overview of pe rti ­

nent NO AA activities , the n, with your permission . Dr. Geo rge Cressman , Direc tor of the Nationa l W ea ther Service, will discuss the to rnadoes which caused two de ath s and conside rable dam age in the 

adjacent portio ns o f Mis souri. Ar kansas and Ken tucky on November 24, 1973.

Na tur al dis ast ers conti nue to plague t his Nation. How ever, a record 

numb er of 1,107 torn ado es in 1973 caused only 87 dea ths, well below 

the avera ge of 113. Ou r warning system and com munity pre pared ness 

prog ram s contr ibu ted signif ica ntl y to this reduced dea th toll.

The natio nal responsibility fo r severe storm and Hood wa rning s lies 

with the Nationa l Oceanic and Atmospheric Ad ministratio n 

(N OAA). Ot he r agencies o f t he Federa l Government m ake m ajo r contributions to the ope ration of the system .

NOA A also supp orts na tura l disaste r pre par edn ess pl an ning in coopera tion with the Defense Civil Prepare dness Agency and prov ides 

assistance to State and com mu nity programs.

Ou r extensiv e fac ilities are good and our systems are efficient but 

they are str aine d to the breaking p oin t by wid esp rea d major di sasters 

which ove rload the system and by phen omena such as to rnadoes which 

req uir e fas t reactio n times.

Th e form er Office of Em erg ency P rep are dn ess identified man y needs 

in its Ja nuar y 1972 Report to Congress on Disas ter Prepare dness 

which have been reaffirmed by survey s of subsequent disasters. The 

most urgent needs are fo r more efficient wa rning dissem ination and 

be tte r assista nce to community prep are dness plannin g.

We view th e wa rning sys tem as bein g composed o f th ree equ ally impo rtan t and interd ependent elem ents. These elem ents ar e: obse rving, 

wa rning prepa ratio n, an d warning dissemination .

GEOSTATIONARY OI’ERATIONA I. EN VIRO NM EN TA L SATELLITE SYSTEM (GOES)

Th e fir st of these, obs erv ing , requires a multip lic ity of equ ipm ents 

and network s th at detect, mea sure, and trac k specific haz ardous 

phenom ena.

We conti nu all y exploit ou r expa nd ing technology. For exam ple, th e 

geostat ion ary o peration al env ironm ent al satel lite system is expected to 

be o pe ratio na l lat er th is year . The GO ES syste m off'ere rad ica lly new 

and impro ved methods of id en tif yi ng poten tia l locations of severe 

weath er and tor na do -produ cin g thu nders tor ms .
13

Satellite data must be supplemented for effective use in warnings 

on severe local storms. To do this we plan to fill gaps in the present radar network, modernize it. and develop more efficient applications 

of radar data.

AAre plan to extend the network of river and rainfall stations to a 

total of about 10,000 stations, one-half of which should lx1

 automated. 

About 15 percent of the present network of 5,500 stations is now 

automated. Aircraft provide anoth er important source of specialized information. Planned improvements to the XOAA aircraft fleet are vital to 

Project STORMF1 RY which has shown potential in decreasing the 

maximum wind speeds in hurricanes. The XOAA aircraft can also 

collect data for studies of severe local storms and tornadoes.

GOES SYSTEM

Senator Eagleton. May 1 break in there? Let's backtrack a bit 

to where you were talk ing about GOES, which is the new satellite 

you expect to have on line later this year. Is that the one that will 

coordinate 10.000 rainfall and river stations?

Dr. Townsend. Xo: the GOES system is used primarily for producing pictures of the full disc of the Earth with a resolution of about 

1 mile. This is considerably better than the pictures you see on TV, 

which come from a research satellite called ATS.

The reason I hesitated initially was that the GOES satellite does 

have the ability to automatically relay remote station data back to 

a central location.

The central locat ion can interrogate out or the remote station can continuously provide information through the satellite. In that sense. 

GOES is useful in the collection of (lata from river and rainfall 

stations.

AVo do plan to automate a number of those systems through GOES, 

but only where they cannot be connected up to local power or telephone 

lines.

Senator Eagleton. Then what you plan to have is 10,000 rainfall 

and river stations as an optimum. You don't have that now. You only 

have 5,500; is that correct ?

I)r. Townsend. That is correct.

Senator Eagleton. You want to have them automated and now 

only 15 percent are automated, is that right?

Dr. Townsend. Right.

WA RN I NG I’REI’ARATION

The second element of the warning system, warning preparation, 

depends on rapid centralized analysis and computer processing of 

data. A more powerful fourth-generation computer system being in­ stalled at Suitland. Md., will permit improved operational forecasts 

as well as expanded research and development.

The President's fiscal year 1975 budget includes funds for implementation of the first operational phase of the automation of field 

operations and services (AEOS) which will provide for minicomputers and TA’-type displays at key forecast offices and river forecast 

centers.
14

Th e autom ated fea tures of AFO S will imp rove the accuracy and 

tim elin ess of wa rning messages and gre atl y expan d the cap acity oi 

the wa rning system to efficiently han dle the excessive workloads g en ­

erated by widespread ma jo r disasters.

DIS SEMINA TIO N

Dissem ination is the th ir d elem ent in the wa rning system . None of 

the special purpose dis sem ina tion syste ms now in use is sufficient in 

itself. The y sup pleme nt one anoth er to reach the greates t num ber of 

people.

NO AA ’s rada r repo rt an d wa rning coo rdination circuit, and the 

na tio nal wa rning system network of the Defense Civ il Pre pared ness 

Agency are used for i nterna l office-to-office communications.

Th e N OAA W eat her W ire Service, the na tional wa rning system, and 

local pub lic service teletype writ er circuits are used to provide in fo rma tio n to the mass news med ia and Governmen t officials.

Th e prim ary means of d ire ct pub lic contact is the broa dca st by commercial radio and T V sta tio ns of w arn ing s p repa red bv NOA A. Ho wever. NOAA also tra ns mits warnings directly to the public by V H F / 

FM con tinu ous we ath er radio tran smi ssio ns, mu ltip le access recorded 

teleph one announcem ent system s and a few local civil defense sire n 

systems. The V H F/F M rad io and telephone wa rning dissemination 

system s are plan ned for exp ansion and imp rovement.

W arning s m ust be accurat e and time ly, but pub lic response depends 

on ade qua te com mun ity pre pared ness. This is the final lin k in the chain 

of Fe de ral-S tate com munity pro gra ms to mi tig ate the impa ct of 

na tu ra l disasters.

NO AA prov ides risk assessment inf orm ation on atm osp heric ph enom ena that cause disaste rs and has a co nti nuing pro gra m for the 

pr ep aration of storm evacu ation charts for the Gul f of Mexico and 

Atla ntic coastlines. NO AA 's pre par edn ess assistance pro gra ms are 

ca rri ed out in coo rdination with the Defense Civil Prepare dness 

Agency.

FEDERAL PLA N FOR NA TCRA L DISASTER WA RNING AND PREPAREDNESS

In Ju ne 1973, NOAA pub lish ed a “F ed era l Pl an fo r Na tural Di sas ter W arning and Pr ep ared ne ss” which was prepare d with the assistance of several othe r agencies. The pla n pre sen ts a coordin ated response to the needs t ha t are know n to exist in our pro gra ms to detect, 

predict , warn , and p repa re for na tural disa sters.

1 have copies of the plan if members of th is com mittee desire them . 

We are now prep aring a supplem ent to the pla n to reflect the Pr es ide nt ’s fiscal year 1975 b udget, which c ontinues to recognize the i mp ortan ce of disaster wa rning a nd prepar edn ess pro gra ms.
15

XOAA BU DG ET A M O U N TS FOR NE ED ED DISA ST ER W ARNIN G

1 have made references to past budget increases of XOAA that 

were directed to improving our natural disaster warning system and 

community preparedness efforts. I have also described planned improvements in many elements of our systems which will require fu rthe r budget increases. The total amounts are summarized as follows:

F is cal ye ar i Millions

1972— A p p ro p ri a te d _____________________________________________$145, 089

1973— A p p ro p ri a te d _____________________________________________ 170,1 57

1974— A p p ro p ri a te d _____________________________________________ 202, 619

1975— Req ue sted _______________________________________________ 226, 263

Recent budget increases show a 50 percent increase.

CO NCL USION

In conclusion, I would like briefly to summarize my testimony by 

making the following points.

First, the United States has an extensive and efficient natural disaster warning and preparedness system, but identified needs have yet 

to be fully satisfied. Each year disasters continue to take a toll in lives 

and property damage tha t is of deep concern to us all.

Second, advances in technology and continuing operations require 

a continuing investment to maintain and extend the capabilities of the 

system.

Last, we have developed balanced programs to satisfy demands on 

XOAA warning systems and services. These functions have been given 

highest priority in recent Presidential budgets and favorable consideration by the Congress. We hope this trend will continue so long as we 

can identify worthwhile means of improving our performance.

Mr. Chairman, that completes my verbal testimony. I have a more 

detailed statement I would like to submit for the record. I will be glad 

to answer any questions now, or a fter I)r. Cressman presents his testimony.

PR EP AR ED STA T E M E N T AN D CO PY OF “ FE DE RA L P L A N ’’

Senator Eagleton. Doctor, we would be pleased to have a copy of 

your “ Federal Plan for Natural Disaster Warnin g and Preparedness." 

It will be made a part of the record. We will also include your full 

statement in the record.

[ The statement follows:]

[A copy of “A Federal Plan for National Disaster Warning and 

Preparedness" has been forwarded to Senator Eagleton and is available in the committee files.]

2 9 -5 4 5 O - 74 - - 3
16

Mr. Chairman and M embers of the subco mmittee, I am ple ased that 

we have this opportunity to testify today on NOAA programs for 

natural disaster warning and preparedness. Our testimony will be 

in two parts— first, I will give an overview of NOAA activities 

covering the broad areas of disaster monitoring, warning preparation, 

warning dissemination, and community preparedness; then, with your 

permission, Dr. George Cressman, Director of the National Weather 

Service, will discuss the situation of November 24, 1973, in which 

tornadoes caused two deaths and considerable damage in portions of 

Missouri, Tennessee, and Kentucky.

Natural disasters continue to plague this nation. For example,

1972 produced record floods and 1973 produced a record-setting total 

of 1,107 tornadoes. This is considerably higher than the annual 

average of 681 and the previous one-year record of 929 which occurred 

in 1967. I think it is highly significant that although there was a 

record number of tornadoes in 1973, they caused only 87 deaths, well 

below the average of 113. Our warning system and community preparedness 

programs made a significant contribution to this reduced death toll.

The year 1973 also saw prolonged floods of record on the Mississippi 

River. Here again the system worked very well.

As you know, the national responsibility for severe storm and 

flood warnings lies with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration 

(NOAA). The national natural disaster warning system is operated by 

NOAA ’s National Weather Service, but other parts of NOAA and other

agencies of the Federal Government provide key facilities and make major 

contributions to the system. The Departments of Commerce, Interior, 

Agriculture, Defense, Housing and Urban Development, and Transportation, 

as well as NASA and the National Science Foundation are integral to this 

fully coordinated national system. NOAA also supports natural disaster 

preparedness planning in cooperation with the Defense Civil Preparedness 

Agency and provides assistance to state and local programs.
17

To carry out natural disaster warning responsibilities, NQAA 

operates extensive facilities and systems. Our facilities are good and 

our systems are efficient but they are strained to the breaking point 

in two types of situations. First, widespread major disasters simply 

overload and overwhelm the capacity of the system. This was the case

in some areas in the devastating floods following Hurricane Agnes in

1972. The second situation involves highly destructive phenomena such 

as tornadoes which occur rapidly and on a very small scale placing

enormous demands upon the reaction time of our system.

The former Office of Emergency Preparedness identified many needs 

in its January 1972 "P.eport to Congress on Disaster Preparedness.”

The findings of that landmark report have been reaffirmed by post-disaster 

surveys of subsequent disasters such as the floods of Rapid City and 

Hurricane Agnes. We learned long ago that experience is a great proving 

ground and teacher so each major disaster is surveyed to evaluate 

the effectiveness of all elements of our systems involved in detection, 

prediction, and warning dissemination. Particular attention is given 

to determining if system elements functioned adequately, and if they 

did not, why, and what is needed to prevent recurrence of the deficiency. 

Requirements identified by these surveys are frequently beyond the 

existing capability and resources of NOAA and therefore evolve into 

requests for budget increases. As I review for you the NOAA programs 

directed toward our major objective to reduce the economic and social 

disruption of natural disasters, I shall also describe the considerable 

success we have achieved in recent years in our budget requests needed 

to attain this objective. Even with this success, many improvements 

remain to be made. The most urgent of these needs are to achieve more 

efficient warning dissemination and to provide better assistance to

community preparedness planning.

We view the warning system as being composed of three equally

important and interdependent elements. These elements are:
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o O bs er vi ng

o Warn ing p r e p a r a tio n , and

o Warn ing d is se m in a ti o n

The f i r s t o f th e s e , o b se rv in g , must d e te c t, m ea su re , and tr a c k 

s p e c if ic haz ard ous phenom ena and, a t th e same ti m e, i t mus t p ro v id e 

d a ta to su p p o rt b o th f o r e c a s ts and v u ln e r a b ility assessm en ts o f th ese 

phen om en a. O bse rv in g r e q u ir e s a m u lt i p li c it y of eq ui pm en t and n e twor ks th a t comp lem ent on e a n o th e r, some of wh ich p ro v id e h ig h ly 

s p e c ia liz e d in fo rm a ti o n .

We c o n ti n u a ll y d evelo p improv ed way s to e x p lo it our ex pa nd in g 

te ch n o lo g y . Fo r ex am ple , our pla nned im pr ov em en ts in c lu d e one of th e 

mo re o u ts ta n d in g te c h n o lo g ic a l dev el opm en ts in re c e n t y e a rs , th e 

G e o sta ti o n a ry O p e ra ti o n a l E nvir onm enta l S a t e l l i t e (GOES). NASA w ill 

so on la u n ch th e f i r s t o p e r a tio n a l p ro to ty p e s a t e l l i t e and a two 

s p a c e c ra ft sy stem i s ex p ecte d to be o p e ra tio n a l l a t e r t h i s y e a r. The 

GOES sy stem o f f e r s r a d ic a l l y new and im prov ed m etho ds o f fo re c a s tin g

b o th h u rric a n e s and se v e re lo c a l st orm s b ecause we ca n ob se rv e th e ir

de ve lo pm en t alm ost c o n ti n u o u s ly . Fo r ex am ple , NOAA s c i e n t i s t s , 

w ork in g w it h d a ta fro m NASA's Adv anced Tec hn ol og y S a t e l l i t e , ha ve 

le a rn e d th a t c e r ta in uniq ue cl oud fo rm ati o n s se en in th e s a t e l l i t e 

p ic tu r e s perm it i d e n t i f i c a t i o n of p o te n tia l lo c a tio n s of sev ere 

w e a th e r. NOAA and NASA s c i e n t i s t s wor ki ng to g e th e r ha ve dete rm in ed 

th e d e ta ile d c h a r a c t e r i s t i c f e a tu r e s o f c e r ta in to rn ad o -p ro d u cin g

th u n d ers to rm s, whi ch th e o p e r a tio n a l g e o s ta tio n a ry s a t e l l i t e s w ill 

e n a b le us to o bse rv e r o u tin e ly . O th er s tu d ie s ha ve c o n tr ib u te d to 

im pr ov ed fo re c a s ts o f h u rric a n e win ds and r a i n f a l l , fo g , c l e a r - a i r 

tu rb u le n c e , b liz z a r d s , c o a s ta l g a le s , and f la s h flo o d s .

The r e la ti v e ly b ro a d -s c a le s a t e l l i t e d a ta m us t be su pp le m en te d 

to p ro v id e th e d e t a i l s re q u ir e d fo r e f f e c tiv e w arn in gs on sev ere lo c a l 

sto rm s. To do t h is we a re fo ll o w in g a c a r e f u lly c o n sid ere d p la n to 

f i l l ga ps in th e p re se n t ra d a r netw ork , m oder niz e i t by re p la c in g worn
19

o u t an d o b so le te equip m ent, and c o n ti n u e to devel op more e f f i c i e n t 

a p p lic a tio n s o f ra d a r d a ta su ch as in te g r a tio n w it h th e in fo rm a ti o n from 

s a t e l l i t e s and th e net w ork o f r i v e r and r a i n f a l l s t a t i o n s . We p la n tc 

im pr ov e r e l i a b i l i t y o f r i v e r and r a i n f a l l s t a ti o n s th ro u g h auto m ati on 

and by in c re a s in g th e numb er o f s ta tio n s u n t i l th e netw ork i s co m ple te .

A t o t a l of about 10,0 00 s t a ti o n s i s needed, o n e -h a lf o f whi ch sh ould 

be au to m ate d. A ppro xim at el y 15 p e rc e n t o f th e p re s e n t net w ork of 

5,5 00 s t a ti o n s i s now au to m ate d .

F la sh flo o d s p re s e n t a s p e c ia l pr ob le m in both f o r e c a s tin g and 

d e te c tio n in th a t th ey dev elo p o ver v ery sm all a re a s in extr em ely 

sh o rt p e rio d s o f ti m e. R e la tiv e ly new and e f f e c tiv e au to m a ti c f la s h 

flo o d ala rm d e v ic es a re b e in g te s te d in a num ber o f lo c a tio n s .

A ir c r a f t p ro v id e a n o th e r im p o rt an t so u rc e o f s p e c ia liz e d 

in fo rm a ti o n . A e ria l re c o n n a is sa n c e by DOD a i r c r a f t i s use d e x te n s iv e ly 

to c o l l e c t d e ta ile d d a ta , su ch a s win d fo rc e and c e n tr a l p re s s u r e , on 

se v e re w in te r st orm s and t r o p ic a l d is tu rb a n c e s . NOAA a i r c r a f t a re us ed 

p r im a r ily in w eat her m o d if ic a tio n re s e a rc h . Pla nned im pr ov em en ts 

in c lu d e m o d ern iz ati o n o f th e NOAA a i r c r a f t f l e e t by phas ed re pla cem ent 

o f o b s o le te a i r c r a f t and im pr ov ed in s tru m e n ta tio n . The se im pr ov em en ts 

a re v i t a l to P ro je c t STORMFURY whi ch has shown p o te n tia l in d e c re a sin g 

th e maximum win d sp eeds in h u r r ic a n e s . R ese arc h to b e tt e r u n d ers ta n d

se v e re lo c a l st orm s i s now un d er st u d y and we p la n to in c re a s e th e NOAA 

e f f o r t s in f u tu re y e a r s . E v e n tu a ll y , NOAA a i r c r a f t w i l l a s s i s t in th is 

st u d y in a ma nner s im ila r to th a t wh ich has bee n so e f f e c ti v e in th e 

F lo rid a ex p eri m en ts on in c re a s e d r a i n f a l l . The kn ow ledg e g ain ed w ill

a ls o a s s i s t us to b e tt e r u n d e rsta n d se v e re lo c a l st orm s and sh ould

c o n tr ib u te to more a c c u ra te f o r e c a s ts and w arn in gs o f to rn a d o e s.

The se co nd el em en t o f th e w ar nin g sy st em , w ar nin g p r e p a r a tio n , 

mus t de pe nd on c e n tr a liz e d a n a ly s is and p ro c e ss in g o f hu ge vo lu mes of

p ow erf ul fo u rth -g e n e ra tio n co m pute r sy stem i s n e a rin g co m p le ti o n 

a t S u itla n d , M ar yla nd, fo r j o i n t u se by th e N a ti o n a l M e te o ro lo g ic a l
20

Cente r and th e N ati o n al E nvir onm enta l S a t e l l i t e S e rv ic e . T his in cre ased 

c a p a b ility w i l l perm it im prov ed o p e r a tio n a l f o r e c a s ts as w e ll as 

ex pa nd ed re s e a rc h and dev el opm en t.

Im pr ov em en ts in te c h n iq u es an d f a c i l i t i e s o f our f i e l d f o r e c a s t 

o f f ic e s ha ve n o t kept pa ce w it h em er gin g te chnolo gy as ha ve our n a ti o n a l 

a n a ly s is an d f o re c a s tin g c e n te r s . However, we ha ve a pr og ra m to c o rre c t 

t h i s . The Aut om atio n of F ie ld O p e ra ti o n s and S e rv ic e s (AFOS) Sy ste m is 

now In p ro to ty p e de ve lo pm en t s ta g e . The P r e s id e n t's FY75 budget in clu d e s 

fu nds f o r im ple m enta ti on o f th e f i r s t o p e ra tio n a l ph as e of AFOS wh ich 

w ill p ro v id e fo r m in i- com pute rs an d TV -ty pe d is p la y s a t ke y fo r e c a s t

o f f ic e s an d r i v e r f o r e c a s t c e n te r s in th e f i e l d . Th es e a re to be

in te rc o n n e c te d w it h ea ch o th e r , w it h n a ti o n a l c e n te r s and w it h f ie ld 

s e rv ic e o f f i c e s by hig h sp ee d co m m un ic at io ns lin k s . The auto m at ed 

f e a tu r e s of AFOS w ill im prov e th e accura cy and tim e li n e s s of w ar ni ng 

m es sa ges and g r e a tly expand th e c a p a b it y o f th e w ar ni ng sy st em to 

e f f i c i e n t l y h andle th e e x c e ssiv e w ork lo ad s g e n era te d by w id esp re ad m aj or

d i s a s t e r s .

D is sem in ati o n i s th e t h ir d ele m en t in th e w ar nin g sy ste m . Fo r 

maximum e f fe c tiv e n e s s , a c c u ra te w arn in gs of a l l ty p es of p o te n tia l 

n a tu r a l d i s a s t e r s must re ac h a l l who ne ed th e in fo rm a ti o n w it h adeq uat e 

le a d ti m e fo r ma kin g d e c is io n s an d ta k in g p r o te c tiv e a c tio n s . M u lt ip le 

w ar nin g d is se m in a ti o n sy st em s c u r r e n tly in use a ls o serv e a s a means to 

d is se m in a te g e n e ra l w eath er in fo rm a ti o n and f o r e c a s ts . None of th e 

s p e c ia l purp ose sy st em s now in u se i s s u f f i c ie n t in i t s e l f . They 

su pple m en t one a n o th e r to make w arn in gs a v a ila b le to th e g r e a t e s t number 

of p e o p le we ca n re a c h . T e le ty p e w rit e r n etw o rk s, su ch a s NOAA’s Ra dar 

R ep ort and Warn ing C o o rd in ati o n C ir c u it, and th e N a ti o n a l Warn ing System 

te le p h o n e p a r ty - lin e ne tw or k o f th e Def en se C iv il P re p a re d n e ss Agency 

a re use d fo r in te r n a l o f f ic e to o f f ic e co m m unic at io ns. The NOAA W eathe r 

Wire S e rv ic e , th e N a ti o n a l W arning Sys tem and lo c a l p u b li c se rv ic e 

te le ty p e w r ite r c i r c u i t s a re u se d to p ro v id e in fo rm a ti o n to th e ma ss news 

med ia an d go ve rnmen t o f f i c i a l s . The N ati o n al W arn ing Sy stem i s a ls o
21

e s p e c ia lly u s e fu l f o r o b ta in in g fe ed back fro m v o lu n te e r o b se rv er s p o tte r 

netw ork s and fro m p o lic e an d o th e r lo c a l a u th o r i t ie s in a re a s w ar ne d.

The pri m ary me ans o f d i r e c t p u b li c c o n ta c t i s th e b ro a d c a st by 

co m m er ci al ra d io and TV s t a t i o n s of w arn in gs p re p are d by NOAA. However, 

NOAA a ls o tra n s m its w arn in g s d i r e c tl y to th e p u b lic by VHF/FM co n ti n u o u s 

w eath er ra d io tra n s m is s io n s , m u lt ip le a c c e ss re co rd ed te le p h o n e an no un ce ­

ment sy st em s and a few l o c a l c i v i l d e fe n se s ir e n sy ste m s. The VHF/FM 

ra d io and te le p h o n e w arn in g d is se m in a ti o n sy st em s a re pla nned fo r 

ex p an sio n and im pr ov em en t.

A no th er sy st em , th e D e cis io n In fo rm ati o n D is tr ib u tio n Sy stem , i s 

b e in g te s te d by th e D efe nse C iv il P re p a re d n e ss Ag en cy . I f f e a s ib le , 

i t w ill be use d f o r b o th a tta c k w ar nin gs and fo r w arn in g s o f n a tu r a l 

d i s a s t e r s . In th e lo ng te rm , NOAA in c o n ju n c ti o n w it h NASA i s st u d y in g 

th e f e a s i b i l i t y of a D is a s te r Warn ing S a t e l l i t e Sy stem th a t m ig ht be 

a v a ila b le by th e 1980's f o r both th e d is se m in a ti o n o f n a tu r a l d i s a s te r 

w arn in gs and th e c o lle c tio n o f d a ta and fe ed back in fo rm a ti o n b e fo re and

d u rin g n a tu r a l d i s a s t e r s .

W arning s mus t be a c c u ra te and ti m e ly , b u t p u b lic re sp o n se de pe nd s 

on ad eq u ate comm unity p re p a re d n e s s. T h is i s th e f i n a l lin k in th e ch ain 

o f F ed era l- S ta te -c o m m u n it y pr og ra m s to m itig a te th e im pac t o f n a tu r a l

d i s a s t e r s .

NOAA r o u tin e ly p ro v id e s r i s k ass ess m en t in fo rm a ti o n on th e fr equency 

o f o c cu rr e n ce s and i n t e n s i t y o f atm o sp h eri c phe nome na th a t cau se d i s a s t e r s . 

In a d d itio n , th e NOAA N a ti o n a l Ocean Sur ve y has a c o n ti n u in g pr og ram f o r 

th e p re p a ra ti o n o f st orm e v ac u ati o n c h a r ts f o r th e G ulf o f Mexico and 

A tla n tic c o a s tlin e s . NOAA's p re p are d n ess a s s is ta n c e pr og ra m s a re

c a r r ie d o u t p rim a rily th ro u g h th e f i e l d o f f i c e s of th e N a ti o n a l W eather 

S e rv ic e . A re c e n t j o i n t ag re em en t be tw ee n th e D ef en se C iv il P re p are d n ess 

Agenc y and NOAA p ro v id e s f o r f u l l c o o rd in a ti o n o f p re p a re d n e ss p la n n in g 

a s s is ta n c e to com m unit ie s. The pr og ram i s giv en em phas is s e a so n a ll y 

f o r d i f f e r e n t ty p es o f st o rm s in a re a s whe re th ey m ost fre q u e n tl y o ccur
22

u sin g a p p ro p ria te pam phle ts an d v e rb a l p r e s e n ta tio n s . H u rr ic an e 

p re p a re d n e ss s p e c ia li s ts ha ve bee n assig n ed to H u rr ic an e Warn ing 

O ffic e s to a s s i s t co m m un itie s in o rg a n iz in g t h e i r p re p are d n ess e f f o r t s .

We p la n to a ssig n a d d itio n a l comm unity p re p are d n ess s p e c i a l i s t s to 

W ea th er S erv ic e F o re c a st O ffic e s in th e fu tu r e to perf orm s e v e ra l ta s k s ,

in c lu d in g :

o im pr ov in g f la s h flo o d w ar nin g sy st em s;

o d ev elo pin g to rn ad o an d se v e re st orm s p o tte r netw o rk s; and 

o comm unity p re p are d n ess p la n n in g a s s is ta n c e .

The P r e s id e n t's FY 197 3 and 1974 b u dgets re co g n iz ed th e need fo r 

in te ra g e n c y a c tio n and c o o rd in a ti o n of pr og ram s co nce rn ed w it h d is a s te r 

w arn in gs and comm unity p re p a re d n e s s. In co ns on an ce w it h th a t g u id ance, 

NOAA p u b li sh ed in Ju ne 1973 , a F e d e ra l Pla n fo r N a tu ra l D is a s te r Wa rning 

and P re p are d n ess whi ch was p re p are d w it h th e a s s is ta n c e of se v e ra l 

o th e r a g e n c ie s. The P la n was conce iv ed as a j o i n t e f f o r t of th e ag en c ie s 

in v o lv e d to p re se n t a c o o rd in a te d re sp o n se to th e need s th a t a re known 

to e x is t in ou r pr og ra m s to d e te c t , p r e d ic t, w ar n, and p re p a re fo r 

n a tu r a l d i s a s t e r s . C op ie s of th e Pla n a re a v a ila b le f o r mem bers of 

t h i s su bc om m itte e and ha ve been fu rn is h e d to a num ber o f o th e r

Members o f C ongre ss . The P r e s id e n t’s FY 75 budget c o n ti n u e s to 

re c o g n iz e th e im port ance o f d i s a s t e r w ar nin g and p re p are d n ess pro gra m s.

We a re now p re p a rin g a su pple m en t to th e Pla n to r e f l e c t re c e n t a c tio n s .

I ha ve made r e fe re n c e s to p a s t budget in c re a s e s o f NOAA th a t 

wer e d ir e c te d to Im pr ov in g our n a tu r a l d i s a s t e r w ar nin g sy st em and 

comm unity p re p are d n ess e f f o r t s . I ha ve a ls o d e sc ri b e d pla nned 

im pr ov em en ts in many ele m en ts of our sy st em s which w ill re q u ir e 

f u r th e r budget in c r e a s e s . The t o t a l am ou nt s, p a s t and p la n n e d , wh ich 

we r e f e r to as th e " D is a s te r Pa ck ag e" a re summari zed a s fo ll o w s

FY 197 2 - A ppro p ri ate d 

FY 197 3 - A ppro p ri ate d 

FY 1974 - A p p ro p ri ate d 

FY 197 5 - Req ue st ed

$145,0 89,0 00

170,1 57,0 00

202,6 19,0 00

226,2 63,0 00
23

In co n clu sio n I wo uld l ik e to b r i e f l y summarize my te sti m o n y 

by making th e fo ll o w in g p o in ts :

F i r s t , The U nit ed S ta te s has an e x te n siv e and e f f i c i e n t n a tu r a l

d i s a s t e r w arn in g and p re p are d n ess sy st em , b u t id e n tif ie d

nee ds ha ve y e t to be f u lly s a t i s f i e d . Ea ch y ear d i s a s t e r s

co n ti n u e to ta k e a t o l l in l iv e s and p ro p e rty damage th a t

i s o f de ep co n cern to us a l l .

Sec ond, Ad va nces in te ch n o lo g y and c o n ti n u in g o p e ra tio n s re n d er

many of th e e le m en ts of th e w ar nin g sy st em — o b se rv in g ,

w ar ni ng p r e p a r a tio n , and w ar nin g d is s e m in a tio n —o b so le te

fro m tim e to ti m e and n e c e s s ita te re p la ce m en t. C onti nuin g

in v estm en t i s n e c e ssa ry to m a in ta in and ex te n d th e c a p a b il i ti e s

of th e sy st em .

L a s t, We ha ve d ev elo ped b a la n ce d , ti m e-p has ed pr ogra m s to s a t is f y

unme t dem and s on NOAA sy st em s an d s e r v ic e s . The se giv e

a p p ro p ria te a tt e n ti o n to our mos t u rg e n t n eeds fo r more

e f f i c i e n t w arn in g d is se m in a ti o n and to p ro v id e b e tt e r

a s s is ta n c e to comm unity p re p a re d n e ss p la n n in g . The

en v ir o n m en ta l m o n it o rin g , p r e d ic tio n , and w ar nin g fu n c ti o n s

ha ve bee n g iv en h ig h e s t p r i o r i t y in r e c e n t P r e s id e n tia l

b u dgets and fa v o ra b le c o n s id e ra ti o n by th e C ongre ss . T his

i s evid ence d by th e in c re a s e o f $67,2 98,0 00 ap pr oved by

th e C on gr es s f o r 19 72 , 19 73 , and 1974 f o r t h i s pr og ram and

by th e in c r e a s e o f $23,6 44,0 00 re q u e ste d by th e P re sid e n t

fo r 19 75 . We e x p ec t t h is tr e n d to c o n ti n u e so lo ng as we

ca n id e n tif y w o rt h w h il e me ans o f im pro vin g our perf orm ance .

Mr. Cha irm an , th a t com p le te s my p o r tio n o f th e NOAA te sti m o n y . 

I w i l l be g la d to an sw er an y q u e sti o n s now , o r a f t e r D r. Cressm an 

p r e s e n ts h is te sti m o n y .

29 -5 4 5 O - 74 - - 4
24

KEY E LE M E N T S OP W ARNIN G SY ST EM

Senator E agleton. Befor e going to Dr. Cressman; in your prepared statement. Dr. Townsen d, you mentioned the three key elements in the war ning system : One, observing: two. warning preparation, and three, warning dissemination.

W EA KES T L IN K IN W ARNIN G SY ST EM

O f those three interconnected links in the chain, is any one o f the 

three the weakest?

Dr. T ownsend. Yes, sir. I would say warning dissemination is the 

weakest by the very nature of the problem. Rea ching all of the people 

at any hour of the day or night in all parts of the country is a fo rmidable problem.

In my statement. I said quite apart from N O A A ’s technical job. 

each community can pla y a vital role f or itse lf in pre par ing for natural disasters. I would say that kind of work is probably even weaker 

than the dissemination system. It depends on where you are in the 

country.

If you are out in the so-called tornado alley, you find the communities are quite prepared. Th ey are used to the thre at of tornadoes and 

the y work hard at ge tti ng ready. Likewise, alo ng the gu lf coast, 

where hurricanes are relat ive ly common, you find the cities and communities rela tive ly well prepa red.

Unfortun ately, where severe weather is less of a threat, you find 

less community interest.

To summarize, I would say the weakest link is comm unity preparedness. The weakest techn ical problem is dissemination.

vi if/ fm transmissions

Senator E agleton. In y our statement you mentioned V H F and EM 

continuous transmissions. As a practical matter, do you rely mostly 

on commercial broa dcasting to alert the citize nry ?

Dr. T ownsend. Yes, sir.

Senator E agleton. The key question is, then, to observe the phenomena. and as quickly as possible disseminate that information as expeditiou sly as possible thro ugh commercial networks?

Dr. T ownsend. Ye s, sir. the commercial networks giv e you the h igh ­

est p robability of con tacting the m ajority of the people.

Senator E agleton. W ith respect to the tornado in Missouri in No ­

vember of 1973. what problems did N O A A come up against with dis ­

semination of that info rmation ?

Dr. T ownsend. The preparedness system in the State of Missouri 

worked quite well. The problem was a number of the people in the 

Bootheel app arently listened to a distant TA" station. Our problem 

was getting to this T V station. Dr. Cressman will discuss it at this 

point.

Senator E agleton. I wi ll yield at this time. We welcome Senator 

Fong.
25

SEVERE STORM MO DIF ICA TIO N

Senator F ong. W ha t has NO AA done to am eliora te the force of 

torn adoes?

Dr. Townsend. We have no p lan s to m odera te tornad oes at th e present time. We have research prog rams inv olv ing the severe conv ective 

process, the th un de rstorm —which, in some cases, when it is lar ge and 

violent, prod uces a tornado. We are tryin g to un derst and th at con ­

vective problem , hut we ha ve no prog ram s to mo dify a to rnado as yet. 

We have att em pted to mo dify hu rricanes and have heen successful in 

reduci ng the w ind fields on two or thre e occasions.

I say ap pa rently successful because we have a physical model th at 

leads ns lo believe th at we can un derst and tin* sto rm and we can sim ulate a storm seedin g in th at model. We went out and tried it ex pe rime nta lly, and abo ut wha t we expected occ urred. We are op tim istic 

there.

In terms of the tornad o, my guess would he th at we are well away 

from any ab ility to mo dify or change the t orna do -produ cin g th un de rstorm.

Senator F ong. Is N OA A working on a process?

I)r. Townsend. Sir, within the Federal Gover nment , there are pro ­

gra ms addressed at mo dif yin g severe storms to some exte nt. For ex ­

ample. the National Science Fo un da tio n, with the cooperatio n of a 

number of agencies, ha s a program th at is l>eing run in no rth we st Colorad o to att em pt to mod ify hail from severe thu nders tor ms .

Aga in, the manner in which this is done and the physical model fo r 

it do not indicate, at leas t to me. th at one could change a tornad o in 

that kind of a fashion.

Senator F ong. Wo uld the responsi bility lie in N OAA or the Na tional 

Science Foundat ion or somewhere else ?

Dr. Townsend. T he re spo nsibility is sh are d. The Science Fou nd ation 

and N OAA p lay the m ain role.

Se nator F ong. T ha nk you.

Senator E agleton. Th an k you. S enato r Fon g.

Dr. Cressman ?

statement of di:, cressman

Dr. Cressman. Mr. Ch airma n and mem bers o f the committee, I am 

here tod ay to testify con cerning the tornadoes which struck the Bootheel area of Missouri on the 24th of Novemb er 1973.

Betw een 10: 25 and 10: 2,0 p.m . No vemb er 24. two tor nad oes st ruck in 

the Bootheel area of Missouri. Altho ugh the wa rnings issued were 

tim ely a nd acc ura te, two lives were lost. We are not sure everyone go t 

the word. A serious problem in ma kin g a war ning system 100 perc ent 

effective is to reach all citiz ens in the are a reg ard les s of w hat they may 

lx?, doing. In pa rtic ul ar , people may be asleep in lied or listen ing to 

rad io or television sta tio ns a hundred or m ore miles away. Th is prob ­

lem has aris en in ot he r instances in different State s du ring the last 

year.

As we review the events of November 24. we will go over the par ti cul ar aspec ts of the difficulty as it affected th e wa rning s f or Bootheel. 

inte rna l and external systems

To fully app recia te the events of t ha t eve ning, it is necessary to hav e 

some bac kgroun d of the co mm unication fac ilitie s used by the National 

W eather Serv ice to ha nd le wa rning messages. Th ey a re essent ially of
26

two kin ds: in ternal system s to t rans mit messages to o ther NW S offices, 

an d exter nal systems to dissem inate the wa rning s to the pub lic via 

rad io and T V and to law enforcement and civil d efense autho rities who 

in t urn can a ctivat e th ei r ow n a ler t systems,

| See figure 1. page 27,J

RADAR REPORT AND WAR NING COORDINATION TELETYPEWR ITE R NET WORK 

(RAWARC)

I)r. Cressman. The Radar Report and W arning Coordination Telety pe writer Netwo rk (R AW ARC) is an internal system, a nd is shown 

on th e firs t c hart. I t is a lan dline tel ety pe wr ite r n etw ork consisting of 

five c ircuits whi ch ter minates at both Ka nsas City and Su itlan d, Md. 

Th e Com municatio ns Ce nter at the Na tional Sev ere Sto rms Forec ast 

Ce nte r (N SS FC ) at Kan sa s City is the mo nitor sta tio n. Su itlan d per ­

form s the com puter relay fun ctions between RA WAR C circ uits. The 

traffic on RAWARC is basically unscheduled and is handled according 

to a pr iority system. Th e only regu larly schedu led ope ration on 

RAWARC is an hourly collection of radar reports which are relayed by S uitla nd as re quired.

Th e pr iorit y system ha s two categorie s—severe w eathe r i nfo rm ation 

(wa tches, tornado wa rning s, and so for th ) and rou tin e weath er (zone. 

St ate forecasts, and tempe rature bu lle tin s). The RA WAR C consists 

of a c ombinatio n of 75 an d 100 wpm circuits. Kentu cky , Tennessee, a nd 

Missouri a re each on diffe ren t circuits.

| See figure 2. page 28. j

NOAA WE AT HE R WIRE SERVICE (N W W S)

I)r. Cressman. N OA A W ea ther Wire Service (N W W S) is an ex ternal system. Th is is the tel etyp ew rit er system op erated by the NW S 

which makes a rou nd-the-c loc k weath er service available to mass news 

dissem ination media an d othe r subscribers. NW WS cu rre ntl y covers 

30 State s, e ith er wholly or pa rti ally. Plan s call f or completely cov ering 

the contiguous Un ite d St ates as funds become ava ilab le. Th e NW S 

pays fo r th e line ch arg es to a ce ntra l loca tion in a us er area an d th e user 

pay s for the equipm ent and line cha rge from the centr al location.

Due to tar iff restricti on s a nd the need to l im it a nd select the material 

tra ns mitted , the cir cuits are ope rated on a State-by -State basis. In ­

form ati on can be rel ayed between circuits as req uir ed by means of an 

overlay circuit. Ea ch W ea th er Serv ice office (W SO ) can enter ma ter ial 

on the cir cuit and one office, usu ally the W eather Serv ice fore cast of ­

fice for the Sta te, serves as a S tate rela y ce nte r (S R C ).

| See figure 3. page 29.]
27

IN TERNAL RA RE P AN D W ARNIN G

CO O RDIN ATIO N SYSTEM

F ig . 1

ALL STATIONS ARE WSO’S UNLESS INDICATED OTHERWISE

NHC NATIONAL HURRICANE CENTER

NSSFC NATIONAL SEVERE STORM FORECAST CENTER

WSFO WEATHER SERVICE FORECAST OFFICE

WSMO WEATHER SERVICE METEOROLOGICAL OBSERVATORY

WSO WEATHER SERVICE OFFICE

WSRFC WEATHER SERVICE RIVER FORECAST CENTER

29

F ig . 3

N A TIO N A L W EATHER SERVIC E

NATIO NAL W ARNIN G S Y S T E M LOCATIO NS

falls / M I L W A U K E E !

LINCOLN

SPRINGFIELD

HITA

SIOUX CITY WATERLOO T O L E £ r ' Z

1,01 ® OUBUQUe\ I CHICAGO SOU TH _B EN ---------

J CLEVELANt

, MOLINE * ‘'X M A N S F IE L D *

PEORIA I I d AYTON

INDIANAPOLIS •

CINCINNAT

^ \ ^ c o * n g t o n S - '- '- ^ '< 

E V A N W " - ' ^ 4 L J ^ S ' '

n -HL u N T „

\CAIRO

v

LEXINGTON

• SPRINGFIELD

. - MONETT

4 —

FT. SMITH

_____ I -----

na sh vi ll ^

KNOXVILLE

) \ * • *

th <-4 * ♦ r '

* X m .LL .NGTON C H A T T A M J O G A ^

LITTLE ROCk S ^ E M P H IS — * . a T H E N S —-• f I I HUNTSVILLE '

— s j

LEGEND:

• INTRASTATE LOCATION

INTERSTATE CONNECTION • ARROW

TERMINATES IN THE STATE ON

WHOSE NAWAS CIRCUIT THE OFFICE

LOCATED AT THE ARROWS ORIGIN

IS CONNECTED.
30

NA TIONAL W A R N IN G SY ST EM (N AW AS)

Dr. Chessman. National Warnin g System—NAWAS—is an external system. This is the Defense Civil Preparedness Agency—DCPA— 

operated hotline interstate telephone system which connects DCPA 

warning points within each State and between States. Most WSO's 

are connected with this system. Such circuits are operated on a Stateby-State basis. Some WSO ’s have interstate connections with adjacent States.

At the present time, the NWS has 218 intrastate and 67 interstate 

connections on this system, all funded by the DCPA. The system is 

very useful in disseminating NWS warnings and collecting severe 

weather information from Civil Defense and law enforcement agencies.

The NWS utilizes these circuits and works with the Missouri State 

Highway Patrol, civil defense, other law enforcement agencies, Missouri Bootheel Commission, and mass news disseminators, and has 

developed a very effective warning system for the Missouri Bootheel. 

'Phe Missouri Bootheel Commission is an organization of civic and 

business leaders residing in the area whose purpose is to promote the 

welfare and prosperity of the Bootheel in any possible manner. Periodic meetings are held with all of the above organizations to improve 

the warning system for the Bootheel. Procedures in this system call 

for disseminating the warnings via NAWAS, NWWS, telephone, and 

law enforcement radio networks. Various agencies and individuals 

continually monitor these systems.

| See figure 4. page 31.]
FLOW DIAGRAM FOR r WARNING S

Nove mber /3

WSFO St. I n il 0 45 m Tir.iH.

Waranj fir 3 Canties m Missaan leethtel WSFO Memphis 9 42 PM Ternado Waraint fir 7 Canties ia Northeast Arkansas

9 50 PM

= 3 =

9 48 PM

=E=

9 48 PM

RTR

Misuari Radu and Talevism Missouri Bootheel

Planmi Commission

RAWARC 23472

Z T ~

WSFO Memphis

Z~T~

]—

I 10 00 PM I

R R

I RAWARC 23470 I

r r

Relay by

Rational Moteoroloiical Contir Suitland, Maryland

Broadcast ta Public

9 50 PM

I

I Arkansas NWWS I

I— —

TOW A rots * * * * • • * * . . TORWAOOES

Clarhton, Missaan 10 25PM

Oadley. Missouri ,0 30PM

RAWARC RADAR REPORT ANO WARNIWC COORDMATION SYSTEM

NWWS NOAA WEATHER WIRE SERVICE

WSFO WEATHER SIRVCE FORECAST OEFCE

. . . . laterrapttd flew
32

WARNING S ISSUED TO BOO THEEL AREA----TORNADO WATCH

Dr. Cressman. On Novem ber 24, 1973, th e reside nts o f th e Bootheel 

were alerted to'th e approa ch of severe s torm s by a series of messages. 

Th e National Severe Storms Fo recast Cente r in Ka nsas City, Mo., 

issued a tornad o watch fo r th e Bootheel and su rro un ding areas at 

5:50 p.m., valid f rom 6 p.m. Novemb er 24 to 1 a.m. Novemb er 25. This 

wa tch w as distr ibu ted by all affected S tate rela y cen ters on th e ap pr opr iate c ircuits, tog eth er with the redefin ing state me nt. The rede fining 

sta teme nt names the affected counties. All o f the countie s l ater affected 

by the tornad oes were nam ed in thi s rede fining statem ent .

Th e w atc h alerted all co ncer ned NW S offices to co ntinuo usly m onitor 

the situa tio n. Based on ra dar da ta, W SF O St. Lou is issued a severe 

thun de rstorm wa rning fo r Du nklin, Pem isco t, and New Ma drid 

Cou nties at 9:15 p.m. Th is wa rning , valid from 9:15 p.m. to 11 p.m., 

was giv en distr ibu tio n in the Missouri Bootheel on all ap prop ria te 

circuits.

| See figure 5, page 33.]
SEVERE WEATHER IN M l' 1URI BOOTHEEL AREA

November 24-2 5, 1973

— I

ST. LOUIS

/ \ . .

, . _ 7

J

h DL-- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- --- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -10_30

C H A R L E S T O W 'C ^ 'P A D U C A H

D U D LEY-^

1 0 : 3 0 P .M ^ " *B O A Z _______________

Funnel cloud 25/1:31A .M .

CO

cc

-- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- - ^ ^ R IS C O -•■—

^7 CLA RKTON -.

M A R M A D U K E */ 10 25 P.M . \ O NASHVILLE

\i

o

LITTLE ROCK

M EM P H IS '

1

s '

___r._. y * -

T o rn ad o W a tc h Is s u e d 5 :5 0 P M ,

V a li d 6 : 0 0 P M N o v e m b e r 2 4 to

1 :0 0 A M N o v e m b e r 2 5 . 1973

o

BIR MIN GHAM

\

LEGEND

• Tornado Location

■ ■ Tornado Path

O Weath er Service

Forecast Office
34

TORNADO WAR NING FOR BOOTHEEL AREA

Dr. Cressman. At 9 :45 p.m.. St. Louis, af te r rece iving a re po rt from 

AVSFO Memphis th at a ra dar hook echo was located n ear M arm adu ke, 

Ark. (Greene Cou nt y) . issu ed a to rnado wa rning , v ali d 9 :45 to 11 p.m. 

fo r Du nklin. Pem iscot an d New Madrid Cou nties in the Bootheel. A 

hook echo looks like a figur e 6. a nd is one r ad ar in dic ation of a tor nado. 

At the same time. Me mphis issued a torna do w arning for the counties 

of Cla v and Gree ne in north east Ark ans as. Bo th of these warnings 

were entered on the ap pr op riat e RA WAR C cir cu its so the relay to 

othe r RA WAR C cir cu its could he ini tiated . St. Louis and Mem phis 

entered their wa rning s on th eir St ate NW W S and oth er circuits. T 

un de rst an d th at the radio sta tio ns a t Ke nnett and Po pl ar Bluff. Mo., 

an d the TV and radio sta tion at Cape Gira rdeau broadcast the St. 

Louis wa rning s ho rtl y aft er it was received via the M issouri NW WS 

aro un d 9 :50 p.m.

In addition , the St. Louis W SF O called the police de pa rtm en t at 

Ma lden. Mo. (D un klin Co un ty), via comm ercial telephone. In tu rn 

the police departm ent conta cted Mr. W ilb ur Th ornton , civil defen se 

director of Du nk lin Co unty. Accor din g to the warning pla n fo r the 

Bootheel. contac ting Mr. Th ornto n fulf ills the re quireme nt for conta cting the Missouri Bootheel Comm ission. Mr. Thornton, in tu rn dis ­

trib ut ed the wa rning via citiz ens ban d rad io to othe r counties in the 

Bootheel.

The Civil Defense of Du nk lin County, on rec eiv ing th is wa rning, 

were able to follow the t orna do by a utom obile. St. Txniis conta cted the 

Missouri State H ighw ay P at ro l via NA WAS and gave them the wa rning. The patrol also sub scribes to N WWS. and fan s out the w arnin g to 

othe r Missouri patro l divisio ns and othe r cou nty law enforcem ent 

agencies. By 9:55 p.m.. St. Louis had entered the 9:45 p.m. tornad o 

wa rning on all teletype writ er circuits as well as the NA WAS and 

comm ercial telephone conta cts requ ired by the Bootheel wa rning pla n.

RAWARC CIR CU IT RELAY OE MESSAGES

The rela y of messages fro m one RA WAR C cir cuit to anoth er is a ccom plished at the NW S C om municatio n C enter located at the Natio nal 

Meteorolo gical Cente r (NMC ) at Su itlan d. Md. Th is relay function is 

autom ate d and is p erfo rm ed in a com puter which also handles a large 

numb er of oth er cir cu its which ca rry national an d int ern ational environme nta l data. Our best inf orma tio n shows t hat the t orn ado wa rning issued by St. L ouis at 9:45 p.m. was rela yed to the RA WAR C ci rcuit which serves Ke ntu cky at appro xim ate ly 10 p.m. It was also relayed to the RA WAR C circuit which serves Ar kansas a nd Tennessee, 

a slower speed cir cuit, between 10:10 and 10:15 p.m. The delay in the 

rel ay of messages betw een circui ts, although it was ap pa rently not a 

sign ific ant factor in t hi s instance, is a cause for some concern and will 

be ad dres sed a litt le la ter.

Our Mem phis office received the 9:45 p.m. St. Louis wa rning via 

RA WAR C between 10:10 and 10:15 pm. and relayed it to the Te nnessee NW WS between 10:11 and 10:17 pm. We are not able to say 

exactly when Memphis received and tra ns mitted this wa rning, since 

no time entries are mad e on the t elety pe wr ite r networks. Altho ugh all
35

warnings were probably not disseminated by radio or television stations in Memphis, the 9:45 p.m. tornado warning for the two northeast Arkansas counties was broadcast at least once by some of the 

Memphis stations.

BREAKDOWN IN WA RN ING DIS SEMINA TIO N PROCEDURES

A breakdown in the warning dissemination procedures occurred 

at our Louisville, Ky., forecast office. The tornado warning issued by 

St. Louis, and relayed about 10 p.m. to the RAWARC circuit serving 

Kentucky, should have been relayed manually to the Kentucky NOAA 

weather wire service, but wasn't. The purpose of the desired relay 

was to enable Bootheel residents listening to distant stations in Kentucky to hear the warnings. However, this relay wasn't made, and 

the Paducah, Ky., television station didn't receive the warning. At 

Louisville there were two men on duty, the forecaster and the weather 

observer. Each was in a separate room working on his assigned duties. 

The teletypewriter machines are in a third room, located between 

the forecasting and observing rooms: the men on duty failed to hear 

the bells which signal that an important warning message is coming 

in on the teletypewriter. In retrospect we can see tha t it is not always 

practical to expect a busy man to hear a small bell in another room. 

The remedy is relatively inexpensive—a remote bell or light at the 

forecaster’s desk, and has been ordered.

I See Chart 4. page 31.]

TORNADO DAMAGE AND I jOSS OF LI FE

I)r. P ressman. The tornado associated with the radar hook echo 

moved out of Arkansas and skipped intermittently across much of 

the Bootheel. There were several damage areas along a line from 

Marmaduke. Ark., to Clarkton, Mo., across Risco. Mo. to near Charleston, Mo. in Mississippi County, then into Kentucky. Xo damage was 

reported from Kentucky. Two persons, a man and his wife, were killed 

near Clarkton, Mo., as the tornado moved across the area at 10:25 p.m. 

Six people were injured along the tornado's path. Damage was estimated at $150,000 to $200,000.

One home was destroyed near Gideon. Mo., but the family was in 

the cellar and escaped injury. Apparently they had heard the tornado 

warning broadcast by the radio and television stations in the Bootheel 

and had taken the necessary safety precautions. Another small tornado struck Dudley in Stoddard County at 10:30 p.m. causing no 

deaths or injuries and only minor property damage. Stoddard County 

was not included in the warned area, though the county was named in 

the watch area about 4y2 hours earlier.

From what we have lieen able to find out. radio and TV broadcast 

coverage of the warning for the Bootheel area was quite good. One 

radio station and the TV station at Cape Girardeau covered it. So did 

a Kennett. Mo., radio station before 10 p.m. A Popular Bluff. Mo., radio 

station also carried the warnings. The staff at the Sikeston radio station could not recall whether they broadcast the warning.

We in the Xational Weather Service continuously try to improve 

our service within our capabilities. This is especially true after natural 

disasters.

f Sec Ch art 5. page 33.]
36

IMPROV EM EN TS TO WA RN ING SYST EM

Dr. Chessman. We ask ourselves how we could have improved our 

service. Since the November 24. 1973. tornadoes in the Bootheel. we 

have done the following:

1. At Louisville we have reissued the warning relay instructions to 

each employee. The main point here is the immediate relay onto the 

NOAA weather wire of any warnings for the seven neighboring 

States.

2. We have ordered a speedup to 100 words per minute of the 

remaining three RAWARC circuits, where the speed is now 75 words 

per minute. These serve the Midwest and the West. This should be done 

by April 1. 1974, and will provide increased capacity and faster 

dissemination.

3. We have requested DCPA to install telephone connections on the 

Tennessee NA WAS system at our St. Louis office and the Memphis 

radar site. That is at Millington, Tenn. This will permit the radar 

man to talk directly to St. Louis.

Now let’s discuss what we plan to do.

(а) We have ordered remote alerting devices to be attached to 

RAWARC teleprinters in offices where the communication facilities 

are not in the forecaster’s area. The alerting devices will provide a 

visible or audible indication at the forecaster’s desk that a warning 

message is being transm itted on RAWARC. The first of these remote 

alerting devices has been ordered for Louisville. The cost for the first 

year will be approximately $300 per station.

(б) The automatic relay of warning information between 

RAWARC circuits takes too long. We are going to rewrite the computer program that does the relay to exercise a b etter priority scheme 

so tornado warnings will be relayed faster. Together with the speedup 

of RAWARC circuits this will do the job.

FISCAL YEAR 1 9 75 BUDGET REQUESTS

(c) The NOAA Weather Wire Service will be expanded to additional States as funds become available. As a result of our fiscal year 

1974 budget request, the following States will be provided service: 

Arizona, Montana. Nebraska. New Hampshire. New York, Vermont, 

Virginia, and the northern parts of Michigan and Wisconsin. In fiscal 

year 1975 we have requested funds to expand the NWWS to the following States: California. Connecticut, Northern Idaho, Maine, Massachusetts, Minnesota, North Dakota, Rhode Island, South Dakota, 

and Washington.

Senator Eagletov. I take it the NOAA Weather Wire Sendee is 

operable in all parts of Missouri ?

Dr. Chessman. Yes. sir.

CO MMUN ITY PRE PAREDN ESS PROGRAM

(d) We will shortly establish a separate staff in the National 

Weather Service to concentrate on our Community Preparedness P rogram. These people, working with others at our forecast offices, will 

work with civil groups to establish or improve emergency warning 

plans.
37

Dr. Townsend men tioned one o f o ur m ajo r efforts t ow ard improving 

ou r service du ring the nex t few years : the A uto ma tio n of F ie ld O pe rations and Service s (A FO S). T his will provide, among o ther i mp rov ements, hig h-spee d autom atic rel ay and distr ibu tio n of wa rning s both 

internally and to radio, T V and press inte rests v ia the NO A A W eather 

W ire circ uits.

Th e Pr esiden t's fiscal ye ar 1975 budget requ ests ad ditio na l fun ds 

to su pp or t the w arnin g service. In pa rti cu la r I draw to yo ur a tte nti on 

the fo llowing item s:

1. AFO S, which Dr. Townsend and I have both men tioned.

2. Rad ar , which will pro vid e local use r ad ars at 25 lo cations aro und 

the country plus filling a ga p in ou r prim ary we ath er ra dar network 

over south ern New York.

3. Comm unity Prepare dness , which will pro vid e some addit ion al 

staff at foreca st offices to work with civil groups to establ ish emergenc y 

wa rning pl ans for variou s com munities.

4. NO AA Weather Wire, whi ch will provide cove rage fo r nine and 

a ha lf St at es : Maine. Massachu setts, ( ’onnec ticu t. Rhode Island. Minnesota. No rth and South Dakota. Wash ing ton . Ca lif ornia, and no rthern Idah o.

ST AT ES IN CL UDED IX W EATH ER W IR E SE RV ICE

Se na tor F agleton. You read off the State s th at will be br ou gh t into 

the system in fiscal 1974 and an othe r gro up of States in 1975. Wo uld 

the g roup of S tat es on pa ra gr ap h four, page 10, be all of them?

Dr. Cressman. No, sir. Tt is t he same as the list fo r fiscal 1975.

Se na tor F agletox. After th at is done, will the re stil l be several 

State s not covered ?

Dr. Cressman. I hope to clean them up in 1976.

Se na tor F agletox. Then it is clea rly a matter of d ollars. If you h ad 

more money, you could br ing m ore State s into th e sy stem ?

Dr. Cressman. We have to have people and dollars. They go hand in 

han d.

At the pre sen t time, the manual opera tions of t he NOAA Weather 

W ire Service require a good nu mber o f people. Our minim um is three 

people for each relay station. T ha t requires time.

ST AT E PR IO RI TY EOR NO AA W EATH ER W IR E SERV ICE

Se na tor F agletox. W ha t determi nes the pr io rity bv which State s 

are brought into th e system ?

Dr. Cressmax. Wherev er a St ate is subject to bad weath er, we 

have given it a hig h pr iorit y fo r the NO AA W ea ther W ire Service.

As yo u can see on the ch art wi th the 1975 budget, we will have the 

vast tornad o areas of the United St ates covered bv the NO AA system.

Tt so ha pp en s th at the Gul f Coast and South eas t States are also 

included in t hi s group of Sta tes.

5. Sa tel lite, which will provide equipm ent fo r disp laying in form ation from the GOFS satel lite at some 24 foreca st offices th at don’t 

have t his e quipment.

6. Flash Flo od W arni ng prog ram to pro vid e some people and 

equip me nt to e xpand ou r Hood warning pro gra m.
38

In the meantime, we will pursue the near time improvements, in ­

cluding the reprograming of about $15,000 to install warning message 

alerting devices at the forecaster’s desks.

This concludes my statement. I will be glad to answer questions.

FLASH FLOOD WA RNING PROGRAM

Senator E agleton. Let's take up item 6, the Flash Flood W arning 

program. It is my understanding that record floods are projected for 

the Nation this year; is that correct?

Dr. Cressman. That is a little premature, Senator. If I may give 

you a lit tle sum mary of this sit ua tio n. I will he gla d to do so now.

Senator E agleton. Please proceed.

LOWER MISSOURI AND CENTRAL AND LOWER M IS SI SS IPPI FLOODS

Dr. Cressman. The flood situation along the lower Missouri, and 

the central and lower Mississippi River has improved during the past 

few weeks.

Senator E agleton. You say it has improved in the last 2 weeks?

Dr. Cressman. Yes, the situation has improved very rapidly during 

the past 2 weeks. Only scattered light rain has fallen since early February on the lower Missouri and Mississippi Rivers southward to 

Vicksburg.

We predict slowly falling water levels from Vicksburg to New 

Orleans.

Senator Eagleton. You say stages have fallen on the lower Missouri first?

Dr. Cressman. Yes.

Senator Eagleton. What would be the parameters of what you 

describe to be the lower Missouri ?

Dr. Cressman. I have here information concerning the Missouri 

River from Kansas City to St. Charles, which is near St. Louis.

Senator Eagleton. That is pa rt of the lower Missouri?

Dr. Cressman. Yes, sir.

Senator Eagleton. The stages are now below flood level?

Dr. Cressman. Yes, they are. They are also 4 or 5 feet below the 

levels at this time last year.

Senator E agleton. They are below the stages at this time last year?

Dr. Cressman. Yes, sir. They are well below flood stage.

MIDDLE MIS SI SS IP PI FLOODS

Senator Eagleton. Now let us take up the situation in the Middle 

Mississippi River. First, describe that area for us.

Dr. Cressman. Going from New Madrid. The present levels are at or 

below the stages at this time last year. From Quincy, Ill., to New 

Madrid, the stages are running again as much as 5 feet below the 

stages at this time last year. They are well below flood stages. The 

recent crest has passed through that area.

Senator Eagleton. From Quincy. Ill., through New Madrid, Mo., 

which is the southern extremity of Missouri, the stages are well below 

flood level?
39

Dr. Cressman. Yes, sir. The only exception is th e area from B urlin gto n, Iow a, to Qu inc y, Ill., which is still below flood level.

I f we the n go down the Mis sissippi, say fro m Mem phis, Tenn., 

to New Orleans, we are now dea ling wi th h igh stages in the a rea fro m 

Vicksburg, Miss., to New Orleans.

Se nator E agleton. W ou ld the hig h stages be high er th an t hi s tim e 

last year?

Dr. Chessman. Yes, sir. The y are 5 to 7 f eet high er th an th ey were 

last year. The sta ge now is at about its maxim um aro und Baton 

Rouge, bu t fa rt her up the Mis sissippi, the rive r has fallen, so it is a 

coup le of feet below its stag e at this tim e las t ye ar and about 8 feet 

below flood stag e.

Th e w ate r has moved dow n the M ississip pi and is now down to abo ut 

the m outh of the Mis sissippi and is moving out.

CA USE S OF VA RI AT IO NS IN RIVE R LEVE LS

Se nator E agleton. Since I am not a we ath er foreca ster or an expe rt, can you ex pla in to me as a layma n, wha t phenomena ha s occurre d th at causes, fo r instance , the riv er level from Bu rli ng ton to 

Quinc y to be eq uiv ale nt to wha t it was a ye ar ago at this tim e, yet 

from Q uinc y to New M ad rid , it is 5 feet below what it was?

Dr. Chessman. I th in k, I would describe th at easiest by sayin g it 

was not hig h a t th is t im e last year.

You will recall we ha d extensive rainfall up un til the begin nin g of 

Fe brua ry. Since th at tim e, it has almost sto pped rai nin g. As a res ult, 

the r ive r has an o pp or tu ni ty to le t the water go down.

Se nator E agleton. Ye t, the stages down ne ar Vicksbu rg are quite 

hi gh ; are th ey n ot?

Dr. Cressman. Yes, sir. Th at is the wa ter whi ch was rainfall muc h 

ea rli er and is now on i ts way out the river.

We have also looked at the snow situatio n because the me lting snow 

cove r in the up pe r reache s of these riv ers c ould contr ibu te to flooding 

at a later time.

So far, the snow cov er in the up pe r areas of the Mississ ippi and 

Missouri is about normal. We would have to have large rainfall to 

cause serious flooding.

We are exp ect ing more in th at are a, say in the Mis sissippi Ba sin , 

in the next day or so. How ever, it will req uire more than 1 or 2 days 

to give us a flood level.

long-range weather forecasts

Se nator E agleton. Can you give us yo ur long-rang e foreca st? 

Based on what you hav e told us so fa r. rainfall has been almo st no nexistent since the first pa rt of Fe brua ry. The snow cove r is ave rage, 

and thu s, I tak e it, not overly worrisom e. W ha t do you pro jec t fo r 

us into the sp rin g?

Dr. Cressman. Our skill at lon g-rang e forec astin g is not rea lly 

useful in th at respect. How ever. I will say th at in order to pro duce 

floods like we had las t year, we wou ld need much above normal ra in ­

fal l. But th at is an improvem ent from the situatio n at the begin nin g
40

of February 1974 when, at that time, it looked as though normal 

rains would produce flooding.

Senator Eagleton. Had we had this hearing a month ago, your 

general projection at that time, based on what had occurred up until 

a month ago would have been that we were headed for some serious 

floods, equivalent to or even greater than those we had last year?

Dr. Cressman. Yes, sir.

Senator Eagleton. Then, because of the sharp decline in rainfall 

since February 1, it is your opinion that if we experience normal 

rains from here on out we will be without any amount of flooding?

Dr. Cressman. It depends how the rains fall, of course, but we 

would have no big troubles. The picture is much better now than it 

was a few weeks ago.

ACCURACY IN FORECASTS OF RA INFALL

Senator Eagleton. You say long-range forecasting is a vague art. 

How far in advance can you predict rainfall with some degree of 

rational accuracy ?

Dr. Cressman. I thin k the best way I could pu t this is to say that 

we can forecast rainfall up until 4 to 5 days in advance. Afte r that, 

we have very little skill in forecasting rainfall. Our skill at forecasting 

temperature extends far the r into the future, but rainfall is more 

difficult.

Senator Eagleton. To summarize further—you said the accumulation of snow up north does not trouble you because it is within normal 

ranges?

Dr. Cressman. Tha t is right. With one possible exception; tha t is, 

the Red River of the north. We have an accumulation of 2 to 4 inches. 

We are going to have to watch it closely. It is not a sign of trouble, 

vet, but it is something for us to watch.

Senator Eagleton. With that one exception then, if the rainfall 

is normal, we will get through the spring without significant flooding.

Dr. Cressman. Yes, sir.

Senator Eagleton. If the rainfall is abnormally high, will we have 

problems?

Dr. Cressman. Yes, sir.

Senator Eagleton. If we have abnormally high rainfall, where will 

the flood warning devices be placed, what are the costs involved, and 

how many will be needed ?

Dr. Cressman. I thin k it would be wise if I distinguished between 

flash floods and a slow rising flood. A flash flood is a flood that occurs 

over a limited area over a short period of time where the water level 

comes up very rapidly, within a few hours. The water comes out of the 

streams and does damage to houses and roads. That is a flash flood.

When we discuss the Missouri and Mississippi Rivers, we are dealing with the long-range, slow rising floods.

FL A SH FLOOD W A R N IN G SY ST EM

Senator Eagleton. Isn ’t there occasional flash flooding in the tri butaries leading to the Mississippi ?

Dr. Cressman. Yes. sir. You can have that happen within 12 hours 

or 24 hours. We are seldom, if ever, free from that in the Missouri area.
41

Se na tor E agletox. W ha t wa rning mechanis ms do we utilize to alert, 

us to flash flooding?

Dr. Cressmax. We have a va rie ty of ways of ge tti ng a t th at. First 

of all. we star t out wi th the central foreca sts which origi na te from the 

National Meteorolog ical Ce nte r in Su itlan d. Md.. which are mad e for 

the entire cou ntry. On e of these foreca sts is a forec ast of how much 

precipita tio n will fall withi n a cert ain amoun t of time. At th e same time. we. h ave availabl e from ou r rive r forecast, system, 

a system describing how much rainfall is needed within specific period s 

to prod uce flooding. Tn ou r weather cen ters, they take the inform ation t ellin g how muc h 

rainfall is needed fo r flooding toge ther with the evidence fro m the 

National Meteorological Cente r as to how mu ch precipita tio n is expected. and this allo ws the m to evalu ate the da ng er o f flash flooding.

Closer into t he even t, a v aluable tool is rada r. I t gives very good inform ati on on how mu ch rai n falls. It also shows wh eth er or not ra in ­

fall will stay in one area or move across an area. In a dditio n to th at , we have rep orts, actu al rain gages from o ur own 

pers onnel, the FA A. an d ordina ry citizens who coopera te in ta ki ng 

these measurem ents and te lep honin g them into our offices. Based upon the ra in fa ll rep ort s from all these sources, our foreca st 

offices then issue flash flood warnings as a pp ropr iate.

FL ASH FLOOD ALARM SYSTEM

An oth er device I sho uld m ention is th e flash flood ala rm system. Th e 

flash flood ala rm system is a sim ple device which consists of a float 

which is placed, say, in a stream or creek or riv er subje ct to flash flood­ ing. Wh en the riv er rise s t he float reaches a preset point, and reaches 

con tact, this causes a loud, disagreeable noise in the office where the 

gag e is connected, in dica tin g that the creek or rive r has reache d the 

dang er stage.

These* flash flood a larm s have been secure d in small volum e up to now. 

We have installed them in a few places in the Ap palac hia ns, mainly . 

The experience with thes e ha s been very good.

Senator E agletox. Are flash flood wa rnings diss eminated in about 

the same ma nner as torn ad o wa rnings, both by yo ur own wire service 

and by co mmercial communication ?

Dr. Cressmax. Exac tly , yes.

Senator E agletox. I have one final question on the possibility of 

flooding thi s year. To day is Fe bruary 20. W ha t is the dat e af te r which 

we can stop w orr yin g about sprin g flooding?

Dr. Cressmax. We a re going to wo rry about it u ntil the snow is gone. 

1 'p in th e Dak otas. I th in k we have to wo rry ab out it unt il the first pa rt 

of Apri l.

Se na tor E agletox. I f we have avera ge rainfall between now and the 

first p ar t of April, we will g et by ?

Dr. Cressmax. Yes. sir.

TORiXADO WA RX IXGS TO XE IGH BO RIX G STATES

Se na tor E agletox. Dr . Cressman. in connection with the Bootheel, 

you indicated th at the Louisville fore cast office has been instr ucted to 

imm ediatel y relay any wa rning s for th e ne igh bo rin g State s in o rder to
42

pre clu de the events of las t Novem ber from ha pp en ing again . Hav e 

sim ila r instr uctio ns been giv en to other we ath er service offices servicing multis tate areas ?

Dr. Chessman. Yes, sir. We have rei ter ate d them in th e case of 

Lou isville. I t is one th ing t o m ake instru ctions and a no ther to get them 

followed. Tha t is why we hav e ask ed th at the remote wa rning device 

be placed at the fore cas ter's desk, so the re is no possibility of overlooking an event such as this.

DIS SE M IN ATIO N OF W ARNIN G S ON RADIO AN D TV

Se na tor E agleton. Yo ur lette r, in response to a previo us inq uiry 

of mine , and your testimo ny sta te th at a brea kdo wn in pa rt of you r 

distr ibution centers pre vente d dissem ination of the tornad o wa rning 

to tho B ooth eel area.

Does th at include the tw o men who were in ad jac ent rooms a nd did 

not hear the b uzzer ?

Dr. Cressman. T ha t is correc t. If t hat had worked, we would have 

been able to get th at warning to the Paducah TV sta tion.

Se na tor E agleton. Th en the majo r breakd own occ urred when the 

Pa du ca h sta tio n, which is widely hea rd, did not get the wa rning and 

hence, d id no t broad cas t it?

Dr. Cressman. Th at is correc t.

Se na tor E agleton. Do y ou constan tly tr y to up da te yo ur inform atio n so as to know what com mercial rad io and TV sta tio ns are tuned 

in a certain area?

Dr. Cressman. We have per son nel who hav e a gr ea t dea l of knowledge in th is area. We do try to keep up to da te on who is wa tch ing 

wha t. It is not easy. In some State s, for example, some of the citizens 

at ni gh t are listen ing to radio sta tio ns some ways away .

WAR NI NG S ON CABLE TV

Se na tor E agleton. W ha t ab ou t t he expa nsion of cab le television? I 

was in Jefferson City, Mo., recently and a TV wa tch er told me that 

most people in Jefferson City watch cable TV ra th er t ha n eit her the 

local TV sta tio n or the ad jace nt one in Columb ia. If th at practic e is 

wid esp read, how do we dissem ina te dis aster warning s to cable TV 

view ers ?

Dr. Cressman. W e have one method which is in fa irly wide use at 

the present time. We have a new device which is connected to the 

NO AA weather wa tch device.

We will displa y the m on th e cable TV. Th ere have been a larg e 

numb er of thes e bou ght. I am not sure how man y. I belie ve it is in 

the or de r of 100.

Se na tor E agleton. T he refore, if I am in Jefferson Ci ty and I ha ppen to be watch ing a St. Louis sta tio n via cable som eth ing will flash 

on the screen tellin g ab out the to rnado?

Dr. Cressman. Th is is ge neral ly directed to a we ath er channel. If 

you do n’t tune to the we ath er cha nne l, you wo n't see t ha t. W e a re also 

ex perim entin g with cable tele vision in an othe r sense. We have run 

an ex perim ent where we have a device called a carou sel which relays 

maps a nd forec asts to the va rio us TV sta tions. W e ha ve lea rne d a g rea t 

deal fro m this and we have lea rne d where we can serve such a n area.
43

The cable TV systems are beginning very well. This is a good possibility for the future. As long as the cable T V is watched by the 

citizens. When they start to connect, then this offers a good opportunity to us. We are watching that very carefully.

FA TA LIT IE S IN CL AR KT ON

Senator Eagleton. Regarding the two people that were killed in 

Clarkton, am I correct tha t they were victims of a direct hit?

Dr. Chessman. Yes, sir. I wouldn’t want to see a more direct hit. 

I understand that not even any lumber from the house was even in 

the vicinity of the house.

Senator E agleton. So even if that family had been watching a TV 

station which carried the warning and gone to the basement, the 

chances of their survival were meager.

Dr. Cressman. I have a problem here. sir. in that I am not sure that 

house had a basement. The report I had seen from Mr. Thornton, who 

is head of Civil Defense, said the area was stripped down to the 

foundation of the house. T don’t know if this means there was a basement. or not.

Senator Eagleton. T should know but I don’t. Assuming it had a 

basement, if they had gotten to it, would they have had a chance to 

survive ?

Dr. Cressman. T hat is problematic. I f the debris was removed, they 

might have had a better chance than if rhe debris had fallen in. A 

regular tornado cellar, of course, would be the only wav you could 

guarantee survival in a situation like that.

This is generally a small underground structure that is lined or 

some other strong structure separate from the house so it wouldn’t 

he subject to debris from the house. T don’t think you could give those 

poor people much chance.

W ARNIN G D IS SE M IN A T IO N IN KANSA S CIT Y TORN AD O BELT

Senator Eagleton. Over the past several years our office received 

some complaints about the adequacy of warning dissemination in 

the Kansas City tornado belt. I think you are aware of some of those 

complaints.

Has anything been done to correct those deficiencies?

Dr. Cressman. We have placed an order now for the Nebraska 

weather wire system, which should help. One problem we had in 

Kansas was residents of Kansas listening to stations in Nebraska. We 

don’t have, as yet. in Nebraska a weather wire system. They listen 

to stations in Nebraska and there is no way for those stations to get 

word out.

Senator Eagleton. I s a weather wire for Nebraska on one of your 

priority lists for fiscal 1974. or fiscal 1975 ?

Dr. Cressman. I th ink it is due this year, fiscal 1974.

Senator Eagleton. You say Nebraska is?

Dr. Cressman. It is due this year, and I believe the order has already been placed. I am not positive of th at, but it should be bv now.
44

TORNADO WAR NI NG IN SALIN A, KA NS.

Tha t particular tornado situation was one in which the warnings 

were extremely effective in Kansas, and we are convinced that a large 

number of lives were saved by the warning service there. This was a 

warning of tornadoes that struck Salina and other nearby towns. This 

was a situation where we got some complaints that there was no warning of the Nebraska stations.

Senator Kagleton. Maybe you could point out on the map where 

Salina. Kans., is. Is it north of Topeka ?

Dr. Cressman. It is west of Topeka, approximately 90-100 miles.

Senator Kagleton. So the warning was adequate there for those 

who listen to Kansas broadcasts but some were listening to Nebraska 

stations and hence didn’t receive it.

Dr. Chessman. Right.

REMOVE ALERTIN G DEVICES

Senator Kagleton. ITow many remote alerting devices similar to 

those, to lx>i installed in Louisville will go nationwide?

Dr. Chessman. I can't give an exact number. I would judge it is 

approximately 40 to 45.

Senator Kagleton. Can you give me a rough estimate o f cost?

Dr. Chessman. T believe T had this in the testimony. T believe it 

was $15,000.

Senator Kagleton. Each?

Dr. Chessman. No. sir. T mentioned we were presuming about $300 

to install a warning message alerting device.

NWS EX TE NS IO N TO ALL STATES

Senator Kagleton. Dr. Townsend, since the electronics media is the 

primary means of informing the public of impending national disasters, why isn't NWS service in each radio and TV station in the 

country ?

Dr. Townsend. Well. sir. the system we are using now is available 

when we have the weather wire in the State. To provide connections 

for all of the TV and radio stations in that State, they have to share 

some of the expense.

Senator Kagleton. As I understand it. if a TV or radio station 

requests the weather wire service, they must assume the cost of the 

equipment and its operating cost.

Dr. Townsend. That is correct.

Senator Kagleton. I think in your testimony you may have mentioned how many stations curre ntly subscribe to the service. Did you?

Dr. Townsend. 1 don't believe I did mention that number: no, sir. 

We can provide that for the record, sir.

[The information follows:]
45

L is t of N ati o n al

NOAA W eathe r Wire S erv ic e

W ea ther S e rv ic e and No n-Weathe r S e rv ic e Dr ops by S ta te

As of 1/3 0/7 4

W ea th er S erv ic e

Drop 8

No n-Weather 

S erv ic e Dr op s T o ta l Dr ops

Alab am a............................ 5 68 73

A la sk a.............................. • • • • • • • • •

A riz o n a............................ • • • • • • • • •

A rk an sa s......................... 4 60 64

C a lif o r n ia ..................... • • • • • • • • •

C o lo ra d o ......................... 6 22 28

C o n n e c ti c u t.................. • • • • • • • • •

D ela w are ......................... 1 1 2

♦ F lo ri d a 14 150 164

G eo rg ia ........................... 9 1»3 52

H aw ai i.............................. . . . • • •

♦Id aho................................ 7 16 23

I l l i n o i s ......................... 7 118 125

In d ia n a ............................ 5 85 90

Io wa................................... 4 61 65

K ansa s.............................. 6 95 101

K en tu ck y......................... 3 42 45

L o u is ia n a ....................... 7 78 85

M ai ne ................................ • • •

♦M ar yl an d......................... 4 3 7

M a ssa c h u se tt s.............. . . . * • • • . . .

M ic hig an......................... 11 110 121

M in n eso ta ....................... • • • • • • • • •

M is s is s ip p i.................. 4 75 79

M is s o u ri......................... 6 93 99

M on ta na ............................ . . .

N ebra sk a......................... . . .

Nev ad a.............................. . . . . . .

New H am psh ire.............. • • • • • • • • •

New J e r s e y ..................... 4 15 19

New M ex ic o..................... . . .

New Y or k......................... 1 1

Nor th C a ro li n a ........... 6 40 4*6

Nor th D akota ................ • • •

O hi o................................... 9 - 82 91

Ok lah om a......................... 3 90 93

Ore go n.............................. 10 34 44

P e n n sy lv a n ia ................ 8 58 66

Rhode I s la n d ................ • • •

So uth C a ro li n a ........... 4 88 92

So uth D akota ................ . . .

T en n ess ee....................... 8 54 62

T ex as................................ 24 334 358

U ta h.................................. • • •

Vermon t............................ . . .

♦ V ir g in ia ......................... 5 11 16

W as hin gt on..................... • • • • • • • • •

♦West V ir g in ia .............. 5 30 35

♦W is co nsi n....................... 5 55 60

Wyoming............................ 4 16 20

* P a r tia l Cov erage

199 2, 02 7 2, 22 6
46

BROADCAST STATION S RECEIVING FORECAST SERVICES

Se na tor E ageeton. B ut it wou ld pro bab ly be a small per cen tage of 

the. to tal numb er o f s tat ion s in the co untry, w ouldn 't it ?

Dr . Townsend. Of those St ates th at have a we ath er wire service it 

is a reason ably good percen tag e. I t w ouldn ’t be a small perc enta ge.

Se na tor E ageeton. But is NO A A, as a matter of national public 

policy in ord er to more effectively warn people, consider ing un derta ki ng th e total cost o f dis semi natin g disaste r warning in for ma tio n to 

every st ati on in th e co untry ?

Dr. Townsend. Yes, sir. We have considered it and rejected that. 

We have considered it at least twice since T have been wi th NOAA a nd 

its predecessor. Th is is about 6 years. There are two prob lems. One is 

the very large cost. Two, th ere is a question of red undancy in a city 

like Washin gto n where you have a grea t numb er o f r adio statio ns. The 

question is do you need to p ut it in all of them , even the v ery small ones.

It is a policy decision, sir , and was felt, that as par t of the res ponsib ility th at any pub lic com municatio ns media has, th at they ought 

to conside r, very str ongly , su pp or tin g some share of t hi s cost.

As you know, when the FC C issues a sta tio n license, it is issued in 

the public inte rest and the sta tio n is to pro vid e public service. W ar ning service is a brow nie po int, if you will excuse the expression, for 

anv station licensed.

FISC A I, YEAR 1 9 75 BIT)GET REQUEST

Se na tor E ageeton. In vo ur state me nt, Dr. Tow nsend, you indicated 

that disaste r wa rning and dissem ination systems h ave been given the 

hig hest pr io rity in recent Pr esiden tia l budgets ; vet, when you look 

at the de tails of fiscal ye ar 1975 you find th at the fu nd ing an d m anpowe r 

in th e follow ing 2 years rem ain s the same, between 1974 a nd the new 

bud get of 1975.

The two th at rem ain the sam e: hurrican e warning and dissem ination. 44 positions. $1.1 million: tornad o and severe sto rm warnin gs, 31 

positions. $500,000.

Are. we really lieefing up our system of disse mi natin g wa rning informa tion if the fu nd ing level fo r those two a reas rem ain constan t ?

Dr . Townsend. We will have to do some che cking on which items 

you have in mind , I believe t he tw o you described are probably the research efforts in these are as and t hey are n ot b eing augme nte d in e ith er 

fiscal year.

On the oth er hand, as we poi nted out. we h ave mad e a very sizable 

investment in local use ra da rs, in network rada rs, in the weath er wire 

serv ice itself which we discusse d, and in our rem oti ng devices which 

remo te a ra da r scope pictu re to a s tation th at doesn't have rad ar.

We have made sizable investments in com puters. We have two bran d 

new IB M 360-195's which were just installe d.

Se na tor E ageeton. Doctor, let 's pass this que stio n for a moment. 

Maylx* your budget man can ans wer it.

It is my inf orma tio n thes e are two line items in the hurricane and 

tornad o wa rning servic es pa rt of you r bu dg et: hu rri cane wa rning 

pr ep aration and d issem ina tion, 44 positions. $1.1 millio n : torn ado and 

severe storm wa rnings pr ep aration. 31 positions. $500,000.
47

Perhaps he could flip thro ugh and t ry to find the answer so we may 

continue.

Dr. T ownsend. It sounds as if you have the two national centers 

here.

Senator Eagleton. W ha t I am saying is I don't think they are research items.

I)r. T ownsend. O K, he does have it.

NATIO NAL SEVERE STORM AND HU RR ICAN E CEN TERS

Yes, it looks like these numbers— and we will check it for the 

record— are the start’s at the two principal spec ialty centers. As Dr. 

Cressm an described, the central hub of all the fore casting activities 

is in Su itlan d.

There are two specialty offices in this system : One in Kansas City— 

the Natio nal Severe Storm Forecast Cen ter; they are responsible for 

the entire country ; the ot her is in Miami, Fla ., the National Hurricane 

Center— they have the respo nsibility for the hurricane forecasting for 

all over the country, at least until the storm begins to move up the coast. 

Then the responsibility for the minute-to-minute forecast is passed 

along the system.

We have set up special ty centers because o f the par ticular problems 

with these severe thun dersto rms, tornadoes, and hurricanes.

Sen ator E agleton. I won't belabor the point. I still have some difficulty if the 1975 budget is identical to 1974 for hurricane dissemination. When one considers inflation, it doesn't seem to me we have enhanced the service much.

COST INCREA SES IN BUDGET REQUEST

Dr. T ownsend. Th is budget does consider inflation. There are adjustments to base that take care of the sala ry increases and the items 

that we can identifv as hav ing increased, such as the cost, of telecommunications and thin gs of this nature. Those are taken care of 

elsewhere in the budget.

There is no attrition. Th at is correct. We do not have augmentation 

of either Miami or Kan sas Ci ty in either one of these budgets. We 

have felt that the more important parts of this system to consider 

were these tilin gs we have been discussing. Fo r examp le, dissemination 

is under public weather.

Senator E agleton. Dr. Townsend, you indicated in vour prepared 

statement that the disaster warning, dissemination, and community 

preparedness function is to be increased by $23.5 million in the fiscal 

year 1975 budget. However. I understand that warning dissem ination. the admitted weak link in the system we discussed earlie r, will 

be increased by only $2 million. W hy isn't this entire area get tin g a 

bit more emphasis with in the NOA A budget ?

Dr. T ownsend. Sir . we do feel we are giving this area a very high 

prior ity and emphasis. In all of these systems there is a rate at which 

you can install. It takes engineer ing work. It takes plan ning work.

In the case of weather wire it takes a good deal of work with the 

local telephone companies, the people that provide the telecomm unications with the radio stations, and with the T V stations. We simply do
48

not h ave th e man pow er to p ut all of these pro gra ms in a t t he same time 

throug ho ut th e entire country.

W ha t we have done is to tr y to develop cri ter ia to deal with the 

are as most exposed first. By most exposed T mean subject to severe 

weath er o f any typ e and where th ere is a significant population density 

and economic investme nt.

We rank area s in te rms o f t hese c rit eria and then we have pu t in the 

systems as fa st as we are able to do it in tech nic ally soun d fashion and 

within the constraint s th at any Federal bu dget is lim ited to. You do 

have to have priority. But believe me, this a rea is a very high priorit y 

are a with us.

FISC AL YEAR 1973 FU ND S IMP OUNDED BY OMB

Se na tor E agleton. In the pas t 5 yea rs have any d isa ste r wa rning or 

dissem ination fun ds been im pounded bv OM B ?

I)r . Townsend. Yes. sir. We ha d a situatio n a little ove r a year 

ago where money that was ap prop ria ted in fiscal ye ar 1973 was 

impou nded.

Se na tor E agleton. How mu ch was th at ?

Dr. T ownsend. Abo ut $10 millio n, sir. It was $10,072,000 t hat was 

impou nde d in the various categ ories th at go to make up th is general 

are a of di saste r prev ention w arning and so for th.

Se na tor E agleton. So in fiscal year 1973 $10 million of wa rning 

money—we will call it—was imp oun ded out of the tot al agg reg ate 

amoun t?

Dr. T ownsend. The increase th at year was abou t $26 million, sir, 

$26,679,000, and about $10 millio n was im pounded.

Se na tor E agleton. Have any funds been imp ounded in '74?

Dr. T ownsend. No, sir.

IMPOUN DED F I NDS AVAILABLE IN FISC AL YEAR 19 7 4

I sho uld make one other point clear. In essence, we g ot th at money 

back. If you will notice th e de tai ls of our 1975 budget you will see th at 

the re was abo ut $30 million carried over from fiscal ye ar 1973 into 

fiscal ye ar 1974. So th at I th in k you could sum it up by say ing that 

some program s took about a yea r's delay .

Se na tor E agleton. Gentle men, I want to th an k you fo r your testi ­

mony. You have been fran k and can did with the s ubcomm ittee both in 

thi s p res entat ion and in ea rli er interv iew s with us.

I believe both N OAA and th e National W eather Service do an excellen t job. I recognize th at no warning system, however sop histica ted, 

can ever eliminate the loss of lives and injuries. We must sha re in 

ma kin g the system com pletely opera tional rapidly eno ugh to preven t 

unn ecessary loss of lives, unn ecessary injur ies and unn ecessary pr op ­

erty dam age.
49

Therefore, the subcommittee very much appreciates your testimony. 

I am encouraged, I might say. with Dr. Chessman's testimony that the Hood situation along the Missouri and Mississippi Rivers today, Feb­ ruary 20, is considerably improved over what it was a month ago. I still presume, though, Doctor, we have to be cautious since we can predict rainfall more than 4 to 5 days in advance. We can't be overconfident, can we ?

Dr. Chessman. That is correct.

CON CLU SI ON OF H EARIN G

Senator E agleton. Thank you very much, gentlemen.

That will conclude this morning's hearing. [Whereupon, at 11:25 a.m., Wednesday, February 20, the subcommittee hearing was concluded.]

IN D E X

Page

Bootlieel are a—tornado watch, warnings issued to-------------------------------32, 34

Area map o n ________________________________________________ 33

Clarkton, fatalities in________________________________________ 43

Damage and loss of life in______________________________________ 35

Budget re qu es ts _________________________________________________ 36, 46

Cres.sman, Dr. George P., sta tem ent_________________________________ 25

Letter ______________________________________________________ 9

“Daily Dunklin Democrat,” the, article from-------------------------------------- 6

Eagleton, Hon. Thomas F., U.S. Senator from Missouri, opening sta tem ent. 1

Fla sh flood warning program :

Alarm system for____________________________________________ 41

Lower Missouri and cen tral and lower Mississippi floods---------------- 38

Middle Mississippi floods______________________________________ 38

River levels, causes of variation s in_____________________________ 39

System of___________________________________________________ 40

Weather forecasting, accuracy and long-range____________________ 39

Impounded fund s________________________________________________ 48

Inter nal RAREP and warning coordination system____________________ 25

C h art ______________________________________________________ 27

Map on_____________________________________________________ 11

Inter nal and external warning systems---------------------------------------------- 25

Improvements in_____________________________________________ 30

Natio nal warning system (NAWAS)------------------------------------------------- 30

C h art ______________________________________________________ 31

Natio nal Weather Serv ice:

Drops, cha rt on______________________________________________ 45

State s, extension to__________________________________________ 44

Na tur al disaster warning and preparedness, functions of----------------------12, 24

Community program __________________________________________ 30

Di sse mina tio n_______________________________________________ 14

Breakdown of proced ures in ________________________________ 35

Federal plan for _____________________________________________ 14

Geostationary operation al environmental satellite system (GO ES)— 12

NOAA budget amounts for_____________________________________ 15

Warning pre paration _________________________________________ 13

Ra dar report and warning coordination tele typ ewrite r network

(RAWARC) __________________________________________________ 26

C h a rt ______________________________________________________ 28

Circuit relay of messages______________________________________ 34

Severe storm, modification of_____________________________________ 25

Symington, lion. Stuart, U.S. Senator from Missouri, prep ared s tatement— 3

Letter from__________________________________________________ 8

Tornado warning syste m:

Cable TV____________________________________________________ 42

Kansas City tornado belt, effect in--------------------------------------------- 43

Neighboring State s___________________________________________ 41

Radio and TV_______________________________________________ 42

Townsend, Dr. John W., J r., prepared statem ent______________________ 16

VH F/F M transmissions__________________________________________ 24

Weathe r Wire Service (W WS)____________________________________ 26

Chart _____________________________________________________ 29

States included in______________ 37

(I)

O