Dallas station apologizes for not interrupting Cowboys game for tornado warning

Dallas’ NBC affiliate has issued an apology for not interrupting programming during a severe weather outbreak Sunday, Oct. 20, 2019.

• In the statement, the station notes it made a “mistake” by not immediately interrupting the Dallas Cowboys game it was airing at the time.
• The National Weather Service issued a tornado warning for Dallas County, but the station delayed breaking into programming six minutes.
• For its part, the station notes that its weather team was tracking the storm and live streaming coverage on its website, as well as inserting information over the game.
• However, it goes on to admit that “seconds matter” and that it should have broken into programming earlier.

Here’s the full text of the statement:

During Sunday night’s Dallas Cowboys game, we made a mistake by not immediately interrupting the football game with a Tornado Warning.

Although our meteorologists were tracking thunderstorms across the area when the National Weather Service issued a Tornado Warning for Dallas County, we delayed breaking into programming for six minutes.

Our meteorologists were also streaming live weather coverage throughout the evening on our site, NBCDFW.com. We also alerted the football audience to our weather livestream throughout the game.

When it comes to dealing with severe weather, we know that seconds matter. We should have broken into football programming sooner. We apologize and want you to know that we’re doing everything in our power to make sure this does not happen again.

We look forward to regaining the trust of anyone we may have disappointed.