Impacts of Technology and Situation Awareness on Decision Making: Operational Observations from National Weather Service Warning Forecasters During the Historic May 3 1999 Tornado Outbreak

The primary mission of the National Weather Service (NWS) is the protection of life and property through the issuances of timely and accurate forecasts and warnings. This mission was never so tested for the NWS Forecast Office in Norman, Oklahoma as it was on May 3, 1999 when 58 tornadoes taking 42 lives and injuring hundreds more occurred in the Norman area of warning responsibility. Despite these tragic results, the casualties could have been much higher had warnings been less timely or the public non-responsive. This paper will illuminate impacts of the recent infusion of technology into the forecast environment which produced significant benefits, yet important challenges for decision makers to overcome. In addition, how the concept of situation awareness (SA), while fairly new to the NWS warning environment, played a key role with regards to managing the massive amounts of data available to decision makers prior to and during the outbreak will be discussed.