Opinion

The National Weather Service has played a vital role in forecasting weather in the United States for well over a century, starting from its beginnings as the Weather Bureau of the United States in 1870.

With all the technology weather forecasters have to detect and warn people about major weather events, many people rely on the NWS to get the weather right and to warn people with enough lead time to ensure their safety.

That’s why reports that the warning system the NWS employs failed to warn people in the Washington metropolitan area of severe thunderstorms that ripped through the area on Thursday was so disconcerting.

The Washington Post reported that the NWS issued a severe thunderstorm warning for golf ball-sized hail and winds over 60 mph at 4:12 p.m. EDT, but the warning never made it to the public through NWS websites, text message alerts, mobile alerts and other methods. Online radar imagery through smart phones and Web browsers was also unavailable, making it difficult to track the storm.

From my office in suburban Maryland, I saw people looking outside and seeing another thunderstorm as it happened. I heard people react with surprise after this unexpected event 

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