The quick version:
Keep an eye on the Outlooks the Severe Storm Prediction Center provides:
http://www.spc.noaa.gov/
Slight is enough to get storm chasers out.
Moderate is a big deal.
High makes storm chases pee their pants and something big is likely to go down--these don't even happen every year.
View your forecast via weather.gov and read any Short Term Forecasts, Hazardous Weather Outlooks, etc. You can tell a lot of where the worrisome area will hit by the radar signature alone if the storms are discrete cells. It's harder when it is an embedded cell. Google "Supercell" "hook echo" "Rear Flank Downdraft"
Know the difference between a tornado watch & a warning. Watch=good conditions for tornadoes in the specified time period but nothing imminent. Warning=Confirmed tornado on the ground in your area or conditions are such that one could form at any time. You better be in your hidey hole.
Hidey Holes:
Interior closet--Good
Interior Bathroom--Better
Basement/Storm Shelter--Best
Don't bother opening windows. That's a myth.
If you are in a car, the worst place you can be is under an overpass. The best place you can be is out of the car in a sturdy building. The next best is in a ditch on the ground. Definitely out of the car.
My plan (given enough warning time) is N strapped to one of us in the ergo while we hang out in the bathtub. With blankets and helmets. Helmets are a new recommendation that hasn't been given the full stamp of approval, but only because there have been no studies. It makes perfect sense to me. Flying debris is the main cause of injury in a tornado. Why wouldn't you want to protect your head?
http://www.uab.edu/news/latest/item/...-weather-looms
Keep an eye on the Outlooks the Severe Storm Prediction Center provides:
http://www.spc.noaa.gov/
Slight is enough to get storm chasers out.
Moderate is a big deal.
High makes storm chases pee their pants and something big is likely to go down--these don't even happen every year.
View your forecast via weather.gov and read any Short Term Forecasts, Hazardous Weather Outlooks, etc. You can tell a lot of where the worrisome area will hit by the radar signature alone if the storms are discrete cells. It's harder when it is an embedded cell. Google "Supercell" "hook echo" "Rear Flank Downdraft"
Know the difference between a tornado watch & a warning. Watch=good conditions for tornadoes in the specified time period but nothing imminent. Warning=Confirmed tornado on the ground in your area or conditions are such that one could form at any time. You better be in your hidey hole.
Hidey Holes:
Interior closet--Good
Interior Bathroom--Better
Basement/Storm Shelter--Best
Don't bother opening windows. That's a myth.
If you are in a car, the worst place you can be is under an overpass. The best place you can be is out of the car in a sturdy building. The next best is in a ditch on the ground. Definitely out of the car.
My plan (given enough warning time) is N strapped to one of us in the ergo while we hang out in the bathtub. With blankets and helmets. Helmets are a new recommendation that hasn't been given the full stamp of approval, but only because there have been no studies. It makes perfect sense to me. Flying debris is the main cause of injury in a tornado. Why wouldn't you want to protect your head?
http://www.uab.edu/news/latest/item/...-weather-looms
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