Uploaded July 2023 | Updated September 2026, 3 weeks ago
In 1979, Doppler Radar was a new and exciting technology that would eventually become the next generation (NEXRAD) of National Weather Service radar in the decades to follow. This program from the Fall of 1979 hosted by then WLS-TV weather broadcaster John Coleman, who would go on to help create The Weather Channel only two years later, presents a host of possibilities for tornado detection and warning. The tornado events featured are primarily those that effected the Chicago/Northern Illinois viewing area WLS served, but also contains interviews with then Alan Pearson of the former National Severe Storms Forecast Center in Kansas City, Chicago, Illinois National Weather Service (then) meteorologist in charge, Ray Waldman and Don Burgess at the National Severe Storms Laboratory in Norman, Oklahoma.
The major tornado event still on the minds of many from the year this was first broadcast was April 10, 1979 in the Red River Valley region of North Texas and Southern Oklahoma which substantially impacted countless lives. That event along with the capabilities of Doppler Radar verses conventional radar, along with an op-ed piece at the end by John Coleman makes this relatively forgotten television special timeless in the history of tornado forecasting, detection and broadcast television.
Film errors regarding historical tornado events mentioned transpire a few times, in part due to limited film and videotape of actual tornadoes at the time of which the producers of this special took creative liberties with to fill voice over voids; or perhaps they did not know or care? This was quite frequent in the production of many programs from the 1970's. Segments from "The Day of the Killer Tornadoes" from 1975 is also frequently incorporated, again due to the limited amount of public stock or documentary film footage on tornadoes in 1979.
© WLS-TV Chicago, 1979.
This was recorded off air from the original broadcast in 1979 and contains only sections of the main program with commercials omitted.
In 1979, Doppler Radar was a new and exciting technology that would eventually become the next generation (NEXRAD) of National Weather Service radar in the decades to follow. This program from the Fall of 1979 hosted by then WLS-TV weather broadcaster John Coleman, who would go on to help create The Weather Channel only two years later, presents a host of possibilities for tornado detection and warning. The tornado events featured are primarily those that effected the Chicago/Northern Illinois viewing area WLS served, but also contains interviews with then Alan Pearson of the former National Severe Storms Forecast Center in Kansas City, Chicago, Illinois National Weather Service (then) meteorologist in charge, Ray Waldman and Don Burgess at the National Severe Storms Laboratory in Norman, Oklahoma.
The major tornado event still on the minds of many from the year this was first broadcast was April 10, 1979 in the Red River Valley region of North Texas and Southern Oklahoma which substantially impacted countless lives. That event along with the capabilities of Doppler Radar verses conventional radar, along with an op-ed piece at the end by John Coleman makes this relatively forgotten television special timeless in the history of tornado forecasting, detection and broadcast television.
Film errors regarding historical tornado events mentioned transpire a few times, in part due to limited film and videotape of actual tornadoes at the time of which the producers of this special took creative liberties with to fill voice over voids; or perhaps they did not know or care? This was quite frequent in the production of many programs from the 1970's. Segments from "The Day of the Killer Tornadoes" from 1975 is also frequently incorporated, again due to the limited amount of public stock or documentary film footage on tornadoes in 1979.
© WLS-TV Chicago, 1979.
This was recorded off air from the original broadcast in 1979 and contains only sections of the main program with commercials omitted.
