Five years ago today, April 27, 2011, Tennessee and four other Southern states were ground zero for the largest tornado outbreak in American history. The Super Outbreak of 2011 produced a record number of tornadoes on a single day. In East Tennessee, 53 tornadoes killed 32 people and injured more than 300 others.
But the severe weather was forecast days in advance, and tornado warnings were issued up to twenty minutes ahead of dangerous storms. Television stations stayed on the air for hours that day, broadcasting warnings. So what explains the death and injury toll?
Andrew Pritchett, a senior meteorologist at the National Weather Service office in Morristown, says many people didn't have safe shelter areas, and others ignored warnings altogether. Five years after the Super Outbreak, Pritchett speaks with WUOT All Things Considered host Brandon Hollingsworth about what we learned when the skies cleared.
