DETROIT (WWJ) - When it comes down to the Detroit Lions vs severe weather, sorry football fans — the Federal Communications Commission says weather always wins.
As TV viewers tucked in to watch the Detroit Lions preseason opener against the New York Giants at 7 p.m. on Friday evening, a line of strong and potentially dangerous storms began brewing across Genesee, Washtenaw and Oakland Counties.
When that severe weather fired up several tornado warnings, FOX2 Meteorologist Stephanie Mead came over the Lions broadcast to warn viewers in the path of the storms to take cover.
The first warning came in for the cities of Perry, Morrice and Byron, between Lansing and Flint, around 8 p.m. Other tornado warnings prompted residents in Fenton, Lake Fenton and Lindon to take cover before sirens sounded in Oakland County around 8:45 p.m.
"Take shelter now," Mead said repeatedly as other Metro Detroit cities such as Rochester Hils, Oxford, Holly, Flint and more came under the tornado warning. "Get to your safe space."
While the game was still shown, fans took to social media to unleash their fury over the roughly 45 minutes of split-screen time where Mead talked and the audio from the Lions broadcast was muted.
"Sports comes before weather, we can see what's going on outside we don't need y'all for that," X user Mr. G posted online.
"Congrats! The entire state of Michigan probably hates you now cause you don't know how to stop talking! Good Job!" user Kyoshi wrote.
"Just wanted to stop by and let you know you and your trash network ruined my night," a user going by the name DimeCard posted.
Another poster "skip" wrote: "World record for destroying a game,"
FOX 2 sports reporter Jennifer Hammond also took to social media to explain why Mead was on-air, citing licensing guidelines with the Federal Communications Commission.
"One of the stipulations of a broadcast license from the FCC is that TV station exist to serve public interest," Hammond wrote. "Meaning, news stations have to preempt programming to cover ongoing tornado warnings within their markets or they risk losing their broadcast license."
FOX 2 Sports also released a statement to help quell the mounting uproar on social media, calling the decision to air the tornado coverage "a tough situation."
'We are obligated to be on the air and inform if there are tornado warnings in effect. We have no choice," the station said. "We are doing our best to provide the latest essential weather information while still showing the Lions game."
But whatever the reason, fans weren't having it.
"Awful! A scroll at bottom is perfectly fine. Hiding behind we are obligated is a joke, you just want to showcase yourselves," Kevin McVay wrote in response to FOX 2 Sports. "You realize we all have weather apps."
"I’m [sic] have never in my 62 years ever seen a weather alert warning with a live weather person on the screen for 40 minutes. Never. I don’t believe you," X user Chuck DeBene wrote. "I’m sure there are some requirements, but what we just saw isn’t it. And why weren’t the other local stations doing the same thing."
Within the online maelstrom, a number of other fans expressed understanding and came to Mead's defense over the storm coverage saying that making sure people remain safe and informed should be prioritized over football.
"There is no question about it . . . protection of the public overrides a Lions game anytime," Michael Beaton posted to X.
"It’s pre season," user John Newton wrote. "Anybody who is mad about keeping people alive, come on."
"We all understand there are obligations to the public good," X user Keith Chick added. "What we are saying is that there is a way to strike a better balance, particularly when the the information ends up being hyper repetitive. The net effect turns to people hitting mute and maybe missing important info."
WWJ sports reporter, 97.1 the Ticket host and NWS trained weather spotter Jeff Lesson said there were "at least two funnel clouds with tornadic activity and at least one confirmed touchdown w possibly more."
The National Weather Service confirmed an EF-1 twister struck the City of Perry on Friday evening, reaching peak winds of 95 mph and causing trees to fall across roads and homes while several downtown businesses sustained structure damage.
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"Perry got smoked," storm chaser Christopher Tobias told WWJ's Cassandra Llamas-Fossen while surveying the destruction on Saturday.
No one was reported injured or killed in the outbreak.
The call to provide potentially life-saving warnings and alerts in a timely manner has been thrown into sharp relief over the last few days after survivors of a raging wildfire that destroyed historic Lāhainā on the Hawaiian island of Maui claim they received little to no warnings.
The death toll has now climbed to 80, making the Lāhainā fire the deadliest natural disaster in Hawai'i's history, Hawaii News Now reported.
The tragedy of the Maui wildfires was not lost on some Lions fans on Friday night.
"Those people in Hawaii had no warning. I know this is different but its [sic] in the news and on our minds," Michael Jaskolski wrote in response to Hammond on X.