Obstacles hider improvements to Wireless Emergency Alert system

On May 10, the Denver metro area’s most intense severe weather day in five years triggered a tornado threat impacting more than half a million people. It offered a refresher on the necessity – and limitations – of our nation’s most critical emergency alert system.

The National Weather Service in Boulder issued more tornado warnings on that day than it did in all of 2022. With each warning came an AMBER Alert-style message to phones, telling people to take shelter.

Mo Kirk and her husband were at home in Littleton as the storms rolled in. Her husband’s phone blasted the alert. As the couple raced to the basement, they noticed her phone stayed quiet.

“My…