After traffic was backed up extensively for weather at mdw when the weather broke the traffic became...

Narrative:

Due to afternoon thunderstorms in the mdw area all traffic was delayed approximately an hour and a half on a ground stop. When we arrived in mdw late at night traffic volume was understandably high yet only one person was working the tower. All tower functions were combined including local; ground control and clearance delivery. While this controller did a very commendable job; it was not working well given the huge traffic volume at that time due to the backup of delayed flights. The frequency was constantly clogged; ground traffic became a jumbled mess; and aircraft on final were not issued landing clearances in a timely manner because of the controller's workload. The entire scenario was a huge safety issue. The tower needs to be adequately staffed; especially when weather events cause a disruption to normal operations.

Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: After traffic was backed up extensively for weather at MDW when the weather broke the traffic became intense and the all Tower communications were being handled by a single harried Controller who; despite best efforts; could not handle all the tasks affectively and efficiently.

Narrative: Due to afternoon thunderstorms in the MDW area all traffic was delayed approximately an hour and a half on a ground stop. When we arrived in MDW late at night traffic volume was understandably high yet only one person was working the Tower. All Tower functions were combined including Local; Ground Control and Clearance Delivery. While this Controller did a very commendable job; it was not working well given the huge traffic volume at that time due to the backup of delayed flights. The frequency was constantly clogged; ground traffic became a jumbled mess; and aircraft on final were not issued landing clearances in a timely manner because of the Controller's workload. The entire scenario was a huge safety issue. The Tower needs to be adequately staffed; especially when weather events cause a disruption to normal operations.

Data retrieved from NASA's ASRS site and automatically converted to unabbreviated mixed upper/lowercase text. This report is for informational purposes with no guarantee of accuracy. See NASA's ASRS site for official report.

Attributes
ACN	1182069
Time
Date	201406
Local Time Of Day	1801-2400
Place
Locale Reference	MDW.Airport
State Reference	IL
Environment
Flight Conditions	Mixed
Aircraft 1
Make Model Name	B737 Undifferentiated or Other Model
Operating Under FAR Part	Part 121
Flight Phase	Taxi
Flight Plan	IFR
Person 1
Function	Captain
Qualification	Flight Crew Air Transport Pilot (ATP)
Experience	Flight Crew Last 90 Days 209
Events
Anomaly	ATC Issue All Types Inflight Event / Encounter Weather / Turbulence

After traffic was backed up extensively for weather at mdw when the weather broke the traffic became intense and the all tower communications were being handled by a single harried controller who; despite best efforts; could not handle all the tasks affectively and efficiently.