Spann advocates for weather preparedness at Chamber luncheon

The February luncheon of the Vestavia Hills Chamber of Commerce gave leaders the chance to encourage guests to shop local – in this case for their last minute Valentine's Day gifts.

"Gentlemen," Chair Roger Steur said, also noting the ladies in the room, "It's Valentines Day."

He paused for the laughter, then reiterated, "It's Valentine's Day."

After reminding them that many merchants and restaurants have the ability to fulfill those last-minute shopping needs, chamber leaders introduced Birmingham's most recognizable meteorologist: James Spann.

Spann has been a meteorologist since 1979, and in that time, he has given a lot of forecasts and followed a lot of storm systems.

Yet, he said at the February Vestavia Hills Chamber of Commerce luncheon, every person has one or two days in his or her career that truly define it.

For Spann, one of those days was April 27, 2011.

The infamous date saw 218 tornadoes across the Southeast, including the multi-vortex EF-4 that carved a path through Tuscaloosa, and Spann said that the devastation and loss of life from the event still weighs heavily on him.

Events of that size have happened in the past, Spann said, but added that it doesn't really matter, because any major storm can be deadly.

"All it takes is one, and if that one comes down your street, it becomes your April 27th," he said.

And despite the amount of information and advanced warning, more than 50 people were killed, a figure Spann said is far greater than an event of that size should generate.

"We've got a problem," he said.

A major problem he said the industry needs to address is the lack of storm coverage in rural areas.

"We gotta fix that," Spann said.

Spann attributed the significant loss of life and number of injuries in recent major storm systems to three major causes: reliance on sirens, not wearing helmets and fatigue from false alarms.

The tornado sirens in the state of Alabama are technology from World War I, Spann said, and were only originally designed to reach people outside. People waiting to get to a safe place until they heard a siren are in extreme danger, because the sound of a storm or being inside largely drowns out the sound. 

"The 'Siren Mentality' killed more people April 27 than anything else," he said.

What people should do instead, Spann reiterated multiple times, is have access to a weather radio in their homes and businesses, as well as find a reliable weather app–and not the one that just comes with a smart phone. Otherwise, Spann said to make sure that smartphones are set to receive emergency notifications like tornado warnings, flash flood warnings and Amber Alerts.

"If nothing else, don't turn that off," he said.

Finally, Spann said that the major thing is for people to take storms seriously. He said he recognizes that many times the media can build up a storm system just for nothing to happen, but that it only takes one event for everything to change.

And that is something he really wants to make right.

"There's been too much loss of life on my watch," he said.