[sbe-eas] NWS forgetting the lessons of Hurricane Harvey (Houston 2017)

[Sean Donelan]

As of 3pm, NWS has already issued 53 tornado warnings.

During Hurricane Harvey in 2017, the NWS issued so many tornado warnings 
for minor EF0 or less, people turned off their cell phones because it kept 
disturbing them.

Later when the dam/levee was breached, flooding an unexpected area of 
Houston, people didn't get the warning because they had disabled alerts 
or turned off phones.

https://www.weather.gov/media/publications/assessments/harvey6-18.pdf

"The high False Alarm Ratio, short Average Lead Time, and great frequency 
of spatial repetition resulted in concerns about the effectiveness of the 
TORs issued during Hurricane Harvey.  Responses from EMs and the public 
reflect a mixed picture however.  While some EMs stated that “warning 
saturation” caused them to tune out the messages (and in some cases, turn 
off their notifications), other respondents (among both EMs and the 
public) did perceive a value to the TORs, despite their frequency.  They 
felt the incessant warnings woke people up and motivated them to maintain 
a higher level of overall weather situational awareness."
[...]

"In addition to the large number of TORs, WFOs also issued 134 FFWs during 
Hurricane Harvey.  The vast majority of these FFWs were issued by WFOs 
Houston and Lake Charles, and many coincided with TORs in effect for the 
same areas.  Again, both positive and negative public response impacts 
emerged from partner feedback regarding these multiple warnings.  A strong 
perception did exist, however, that the FFWs resulted in lives saved – a 
conclusion bolstered by the relatively low fatality total for Hurricane 
Harvey."