When the Correct Decision is NOT to Warn

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I took this photo of a funnel cloud (tornado aloft) over southwest Wichita a little while ago.

I'm proud to say that neither the National Weather Service nor our team from AccuWeather Enterprise Solutions issued tornado warnings.

Why?

This type of "cold air funnel" occurs under a low pressure system aloft and is rarely reaches the ground. When it does reach the ground it might knock your trash can over. If it reached the ground it would almost certainly be an F-0 intensity tornado.

So, there is no reason to shut down part of a city. Meteorologists, correctly, knew the threat was minor. The Wichita NWS issued a number of special weather statements to keep people informed and the local media passed the information along.

A nice job was done by all.  Sometimes the right decision is not to warn.

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