TV station under fire for tornado warning during Georgia-Alabama game: ‘We won’t apologize’

Read the original at New York Post ↗
New York Post · collected 2026-10-13 · by Bridget Reilly

Quick Summary

WSB-TV in Atlanta faced backlash from viewers after interrupting the Georgia-Alabama college football game on Saturday night to broadcast a tornado warning affecting Butts and Jasper counties. The station’s meteorologist, Ashley Kramlich, apologized for the disruption but defended her decision as necessary for public safety. Despite fan frustrations over missed portions of the game, Kramlich emphasized that the split-screen setup allowed viewers to watch while receiving critical weather information. She also stated on social media that the station would not apologize for prioritizing public safety.
Written locally by qwen2.5:14b on 2026-10-13, using this article's own text rather than the other coverage of the same event (that is the story summary below).

AI analysis runs on qwen2.5:14b, locally

Story summary

WSB-TV in Atlanta faced criticism after interrupting the Georgia-Alabama college football game on Saturday night with tornado warning coverage for Butts and Jasper counties. During the second quarter, meteorologist Ashley Kramlich appeared on screen to warn viewers of a "life-threatening situation," despite many fans being upset at the interruption. While some were frustrated, Kramlich defended her decision, stating that safety must come first during severe weather events. The station received backlash online with comments like “half the Alabama/Georgia home television counties are currently taken over by WSB-TV tornado warning coverage,” but Kramlich stood firm and said they would not apologize for prioritizing public safety.

Written for “Tornado Warning Controversy” on 2026-10-13, grounded in this article and the 0 other(s) covering the same event.
Why this leaning score
This article does not take a side on a contested political question, so it has no leaning score. That is an answer rather than a gap: a match report or a rescue can be warmly or critically written without being left or right, and scoring it anyway is how approval of a subject gets recorded as a political position.
No political leaning scored for article 77027 · logged 2026-10-13

Story

📰 Tornado Warning Controversy
Environment · 1 article(s) covering the same event.

Compared with similar articles

Nothing to compare against. No article is close enough to this one for the pipeline to have linked or judged the pair.

Cite this article

Reilly, B. (2026, October 13). TV station under fire for tornado warning during Georgia-Alabama game: ‘We won’t apologize’. New York Post. https://nypost.com/2026/10/13/sports/tv-station-under-fire-for-tornado-warning-during-georgia-alabama-game/

Dated from the outlet's own feed. Check the original for its byline.

How this article was measured signals, leaning charts, publisher record, byline, topics and claims

Signals How these are calculated →

Claims extracted
22
sentences that state something as happening or true
Uncertain
9%
2 of 22 hedged ("reportedly", "may", "according to")
Leaning
not political
takes no side on a contested political question
Publisher signals
67/100
New York Post's corrections and hedging, across everything collected from it. Not a measure of accuracy.
Outlets on this story
1
Environment
Same framing elsewhere
1
articles that frame the event the way this one does
Analyzed 2026-10-13 · how these are computed

How this is being covered How these are calculated →

Article leaning vs. publisher reliability
Source leaning vs. consistency

Publisher

New York Post · 9785 article(s) · 30 correction(s) detected
Running correction rate · 30 correction(s)

Who wrote this

Bridget Reilly
54 article(s) here · 1 carrying a prediction
🔮 While fans could still see the action, many were left frustrated and unhappy.
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🔮 President Donald Trump praised Sophie Cunningham for her looks, which he suggested would boost a sports team’s attendance during a rally in Youngstown, Ohio on Monday night.
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🔮 With his move to Houston, Harrison will be reuniting with former Buckeyes teammate quarterback CJ Stroud.
🔮 Alabama travels to Tennessee next week, while the Bulldogs will host Auburn.
🔮 The 4-1 Jags will host the Texans in Week 6.
🔮 The Canadiens will take their hot dogs on ice.
🔮 Kelce, who owns a minority stake in the team as of May this year, was spotted in a suite on the broadcast among friends and fellow Guardians fans.
🔮 During Monday’s episode of the podcast with Brewers stars William Contreras and Jackson Chourio, the former asked Acuña in Spanish about the Braves’ coaches and seemed to point to how things have been in the first season without Snitker — though the catcher didn’t name the manager.
Also by Bridget Reilly
Nothing else under this byline is closely related to this article, so these are simply their most recent.
All 54 articles by Bridget Reilly →

Topics

Alabama Atlanta Butts Georgia WSB-TV

Subjects

Alabama ORG · 7× Georgia GPE · 7× Kramlich PERSON · 5× WSB-TV ORG · 2× Ashley Kramlich PERSON · 1× Atlanta GPE · 1× Butts GPE · 1× Chris Fowler PERSON · 1× Jasper GPE · 1× Kirk Herbstreit PERSON · 1×

Narrative

“Don’t worry, half the Alabama/Georgia home television counties (if not more) are currently taken over by a WSB-TV tornado warning coverage about a storm the meteorologist herself reports is not showing debris on radar,” another posted on Saturday.
framing: assertive · carried by 1 article(s) · first seen 2026-10-13
🔮 While fans could still see the action, many were left frustrated and unhappy.

Claims (22 extracted, 2 hedged)

An Atlanta television station is feeling some heat from college football fans after interrupting the Georgia-Alabama game on Saturday night over a tornado. asserted
station → feel → tornado
During the second quarter of the top-10 matchup, WSB-TV broke into the programming to provide information to those living in Butts and Jasper counties where a tornado warning was issued. asserted
warning → break → counties
As Alabama trailed by a field goal with 40 seconds left in the half, meteorologist Ashley Kramlich appeared in a split screen view with a radar behind her. asserted
Kramlich → trail → her
She apologized for interrupting the game, but she deemed the information to be for a “life-threatening situation.” asserted
information → apologize → situation
While fans could still see the action, many were left frustrated and unhappy. uncertain
many → see → action
So much so that Kramlich gave a statement while on screen on Sunday asserted
Kramlich → give → Sunday
“Trust me, that’s the last thing I wanted to do last night was to break into the game,” Kramlich said. asserted
Kramlich → trust → game
“I’m a football fan myself. asserted
I → ’m → ?
So, I understand the frustration when a game get interrupted but when a tornado warning is issued, your safety has to come first. asserted
safety → understand → frustration
“We have a responsibility to interrupt programming to bring you potentially life-saving information when severe weather threatens our communities. asserted
weather → have → communities
That’s why we stay on the air during life-threating weather and use a split screen so you can keep watching the game while still getting the information you need to protect your family. asserted
you → ’ → family
We really appreciate you for understanding.” asserted
We → appreciate → understanding
Kramlich shared the video of her statement on X and added, “We don’t make these decisions lightly, and we won’t apologize for putting lives first.” asserted
we → share → lives
Viewers heard Kramlich’s updates while watching the game rather than the booth audio from Chris Fowler and Kirk Herbstreit. asserted
Viewers → hear → Fowler
The tornado warning coverage went on for more than 16 minutes when the Crimson Tide scored a touchdown to take a 14-10 lead into halftime and during the on-field interviews with Georgia coach Kirby Smark and Alabama’s Kalen DeBoer. asserted
Tide → go → Smark
“The dumbest person you have ever heard in your entire life has taken over the Alabama Georgia game to explain how a tornado works,” an irate fan posted on X with a picture of the split screen, showing the game and the Kramlich’s weather report. asserted
fan → hear → game
“Don’t worry, half the Alabama/Georgia home television counties (if not more) are currently taken over by a WSB-TV tornado warning coverage about a storm the meteorologist herself reports is not showing debris on radar,” another posted on Saturday. asserted
another → worry → Saturday
A third said fans only needed warning, not “a 30 minute lecture on relative wind velocity and barometric pressure.” asserted
fans → say → velocity
It was hardly the only bizarre moment to come out of Georgia’s 20-17 win at Bryant-Denny Stadium. asserted
It → come → Stadium
As the Bulldogs left the field in victory, Alabama fans threw bottles and cans at them and onto the field in frustration after two calls by officials didn’t go in their favor to decide the game. asserted
calls → leave → game
An Alabama fan also slapped Georgia’s Raylen Wilson’s helmet repeatedly while yelling “Let’s go boy” twice. asserted
’s → slap → helmet
Georgia gave Alabama its first loss of the season and made a claim for the No.1 ranking. uncertain
Georgia → give → ranking
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