As an early spring thunderstorm moved through the North Platte River valley Thursday afternoon, tornado sirens were sounded for the 23,000 plus residents of Scottsbluff, Gering and Terrytown which created widespread confusion.
At about 3:10 p.m., the National Weather Service in Cheyenne began to receive reports of a weak land spout tornado near Huntley, Wyoming. Because of these sightings, a tornado warning was issued for the Lyman, Henry and Morrill areas of western Scotts Bluff county. That warning expired at 3:45 p.m.
Then, just after 4:10 p.m., tornado sirens were sounded in Mitchell, Scottsbluff, Gering and Terrytown with little to no explanation to the public as to why.
At 4:16 p.m., KNEB was told by Region 22 Emergency Management Director Tim Newman that the sirens were supposed to be sounded for Mitchell only and not Scottsbluff and Gering. He further indicated that there was “nothing severe in the area to his knowledge.”
KNEB also reached out to the National Weather Service who said they had not received any reports of severe weather or tornadoes since the first reports an hour prior.
Based off of that information, KNEB put out that the message that the sirens were sounded in Scottsbluff by accident and there was no immediate severe weather threat.
After following up on the reasoning and the mistake, both Newman and Scotts Bluff County Sheriff Mark Overman confirmed that two Scotts Bluff County Sheriff’s Deputies reported seeing a funnel cloud and brief tornado along with strong winds and dust from their position on Highway 92 south of Mitchell.
That information was relayed to dispatch, and a Scotts Bluff County Communications Center Supervisor made the decision to activate the sirens.
The official siren policy of Region 22 Emergency Management says the sirens are to be sounded if a tornado is sighted and the storm path includes the area with a siren.
However, according to the National Weather Service, those reports were never received by their office.
In addition, no official Code Red or any communication with the public or media came out from the Communications Center, which meant the reports of the brief tornado and funnel cloud were not communicated until well after the storm passed.
Neither Newman nor Overman were aware of the spotting until after the storm had moved on.
Because of this disjointed communication the sirens caused widespread confusion and panic from people seeking information as to why the sirens were being sounded with no tornado warning being issued.
The official Facebook page of Region 22 Emergency Management posted this statement about 7 p.m.:
“We are glad to partner with our local media, and we have strong internal policies about when to activate alarms.
“There are times officials are working from incomplete and sometimes inaccurate information. But we all strive to make timely decisions to keep the public safe. We would rather err on the side of caution than to hold off and wind up being late with life-saving information.
“Miscommunication does happen. Despite that, we will always update with timely, and verified information. We are using this experience to continue bettering our procedures.
“We take your safety seriously, and we know all of our partners do too.“
