Emergency communication system
161 people were killed and at least 990 injured when an EF5 multiple-vortex tornado hit Joplin, Missouri. Because Joplin is located in a tornado-heavy area of the country, many people considered the tornado sirens routine and ignored them. Instead, many residents waited until they received confirmation from another, non-routine, source, such as seeing the tornado, a radio or TV report, or hearing a second siren. In the aftermath, an assessment team recommended that emergency warnings take risk perception into account to convey a sense of urgency. NOAA Officials are considering ways to change the warning system to distinguish smaller tornadoes from more deadly ones.
Tornadoes of 1982
Along the southern edge of the storm, an early season tornado outbreak took place across the Gulf Coast. The first tornado was an F3 that killed one person and injured 17 others in Newton County, Mississippi, becoming the first killer January tornado since 1978. Sixty structures were damaged or destroyed by the tornado, leaving $2 million in losses. Four F2 tornadoes touched down across Alabama during the course of the outbreak. In Clanton, Alabama, two of these tornadoes struck the town an hour apart, forcing rescuers to seek shelter before the arrival of the second. Overall, 11 tornadoes touched down, leaving one person dead, 34 injured and $4.3 million in losses.
In the Contiguous United States, only one tornado touched down during the month of February, marking a record low value that would not be matched until 2010. However, two additional tornadoes took place in Honolulu, Hawaii, both of which were rated F2. Nearly 24 homes sustained damage from one of these tornadoes.