The Severe Storms Prediction Center in Norman, Oklahoma is the target of some heavy criticism from a Kansas Congresswoman.
It’s on the list along with the National Weather Service and the Trump Administration following April 13 tornadoes that struck Kansas and Oklahoma.
While Oklahoma was also battered by heavy supercells with large hail, tornado warnings and straight-line damaging winds, it was the tornadoes that hit northeast Kansas that concerned U.S. Rep. Sharice Davids. She fired off a letter to the National Weather Service, Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick and Dr. Neil Jacobs, Administration of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.
She wanted to know why the NWS failed to conduct morning weather balloon releases the morning of the storms.
“While I am grateful there were no fatalities, that outcome should not obscure a more serious reality: Kansans were put at risk by
failures in forecasting and warning systems that are meant to protect them. In a state like Kansas, timely and accurate weather data is not optional — it is lifesaving,” wrote the Democrat Representative.
It was her second letter to the NWS. She wrote a year ago and raised concerns about staffing shortages and operational disruptions she blamed on the Trump administration’s budget cuts.
” After ten months, my office has received no response. Now, we are seeing the consequences,” stated the congresswoman in her most recent letter of inquiry.
She contended weather balloon launches which are used in forecasting severe weather, were not conducted the day of the storms. Davids further charges that the Storm Prediction Center headquartered in Norman identified no tornado threat in northeast Kansas.
” When forecasting accuracy suffers, warning times shrink. And when warning times shrink, families are put in danger. The fact that Kansans avoided catastrophic loss in this instance does not excuse these breakdowns — it underscores how close we came, and what could happen if these failures continue,” added the congresswoman.
Writing that her constituents deserve clear answers and immediate action to make sure it doesn’t happen again, Rep. Davids asked for a response to several questions within 30 days.
• Did stations in and around Kansas not launch morning weather balloons on April 13,
2026? If so, what was the reason for these missing launches?
• Did this lack of weather balloon launches contribute to a delayed tornado watch in
northeast Kansas? If not, what do you attribute this delay to?
• Is the NWS implementing permanent changes to twice-a-day weather balloon launches?
If so, how are you justifying this change in schedule?
• How often does the NWS launch supplemental midday weather balloons? Does the NWS
have the resources and partnerships with relevant university programs to increase these
supplemental launches?
• What current staff vacancies exist at the following NWS Weather Forecast Offices:
Pleasant Hill, Topeka, Wichita, Springfield, Dodge City, Goodland, and Hastings?
• What is the current staffing level of the overall NWS? How many meteorology and forecasting positions is the Service looking to fill? How does the number of meteorologists and forecasters at the NWS compare today to April 20, 2024?
When she was elected to the House in 2018 and sworn into the 116th Congress, Rep. Davids became one of the first two Native American women to serve in Congress.
- Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure
- Subcommittee on Aviation
- Subcommittee on Highways and Transit
- Committee on Agriculture
- Subcommittee on General Farm Commodities, Risk Management, and Credit – Ranking Member
- Subcommittee on Conservation, Research, and Biotechnology
- House Steering and Policy Committee
She is also co-chair of the Congressional Native American Caucus as well as a member of the Climate Solutions Caucus and numerous other caucuses.