Per the source the photo was taken by Reverend Robert Alexander from the Methodist parsonage at Spring Hill, Kansas, in 1957, and that the photo came to the NWS via Tim Janicke of the Kansas City Star. A Rev. Robert Alexander died at the Methodist church in nearby Wellsville in 1971, aged 69,[1] who might plausibly have been the photographer.

The rationale for hosting it on the Commons has been:

• a belief when the NWS general website disclaimer states that information on there site is "in the public domain, unless specifically noted otherwise" it necessarily means noted with a formal copyright notice, and that the absence of a formal notice accompanying an image equates to an assertion by the NWS that the image is in the public domain.
• a set of terms and conditions used for a time by the NWS Sioux City office for public contributions

However:

1. There is nothing to connect this image with the Sioux City office (it was published by the Kansas City office)
2. A recent analysis of over 200 third-party images has found that whatever the NWS intends by "specifically noted otherwise" in their disclaimer, images that are known to be protected by copyright are routinely published on NWS websites without formal copyright notices, or sometimes without any attribution at all. Very many examples exist, spanning major media outlets, photographers who claim that they never relinquished their rights to their photos, and permissions granted to the NWS in public that did not include release into the public domain. Not a single one of these was published by the NWS with a formal copyright notice.

The most likely conclusion is that the NWS does not intend "specifically noted otherwise" to mean "specifically noted with a formal copyright notice". Alternatively, if that really is the intention of those words, the NWS has deviated from this intention so thoroughly as to render the disclaimer unreliable as an assertion of public domain status.

Copyright of images taken in the United States prior to March 1, 1989 depends on the circumstances of their first publication, rather than when they were actually taken. (see COM:HIRTLE).

This image might already have entered the public domain if it were first published before 1989 without meeting all the requirements for protection, but this cannot simply be assumed. Alternatively, for example, if it was first published in a book somewhere between 1957 and 1977 (and the formalities were correctly carried out), it will enter the public domain somewhere between 2053 and 2073. Or if the Rev Robert Alexander who died in 1971 was indeed the photographer and the photo was never published before 1989, then it will pass into the public domain in 2042, 70 years after his death.

I have searched The Kansas City Star's coverage of this tornado in the days following the event via newspapers.com but have been unable to find this photo. I tentatively conclude that they didn't have it at the time and the KCS connection must have come later.

Without details of its first publication, we cannot assess the copyright status of this per-1989 US image and therefore must delete it unless someone can provide this information.

Closing admins should familiarise themselves with the evidence and discussions at this RfC when closing this request.