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Gov. Whitmer (Official photo)
Gov. Gretchen Whitmer's office on Sunday called for a federal probe into why no tornado watch was issued before a deadly tornadic storm struck southwest Michigan, killing four people and wounding a number of others, the Detroit News reports.
Whitmer's office questioned whether the absence of an alert was the result of the Trump administration's funding cutbacks at the National Weather Service.
“The National Weather Service exists to monitor conditions and inform Americans of severe weather in their communities. The fact that the (National Weather) Service did not issue a tornado watch is troubling, especially with the loss of life in Michigan," Whitmer spokeswoman Stacey LaRouche said in a statement, according to The News. "While tornadoes can be hard to predict, the federal government should investigate whether the failure to issue a watch was related to federal cuts.”
The News reports:
On Saturday, federal weather officials told The News that no tornado watch was issued ahead of the tornadic storm that struck the state Friday afternoon.
Bill Bunting, deputy director of the National Weather Service’s Storm Prediction Center in Norman, Okla., said forecasters issued outlooks earlier in the day indicating the potential for severe storms and tornadoes in southwest Michigan. But a tornado watch was not issued because the conditions that produced the tornadoes were highly localized and difficult to detect in advance.
