Weather Pulse Blog: Tornado Weather

It’s been such a deadly and disastrous past 36 hours. As the video continues to come into NBC Weather Plus it is just devastating. Today I have been watching video feed into the network and it is just heart wrenching to learn of the stories of survival and the heartbreak of death. It is hard to remember a time while forecasting of so many widespread tornados.

Whenever I see a tornado warning pop up on the map there is not a single time I do not think about the people who are facing horrific and life threatening conditions. At times we were tracking over 8 tornado warnings at a time. I must say while it is our job to stay calm my heartbeat was racing faster yesterday as tornado warnings seemed endless. While we are here to provide the latest warnings yesterday was a sad reminder that even with accurate forecasting - tornados are deadly, dangerous and unpredictable. Tornados in particular have little lead-time of a touchdown and you may only have minutes or seconds to act.

Little warning of a twister means having a plan and taking action is key but is not a 100% safety net. One of the best ways to get a fast warning is to have a weather radio. These devices are immediately triggered when radar detects storm rotation in your area. When rotation is detected a TORNADO WARNING will be issued as a tornado could be on the ground. If there is a threat of tornados a watch is issued.

After the latest round of tornados I am going to make sure that my family in the Southeast has a weather radio. Remember, this could give you the extra precious time to gather the family and find the safe spot in your home, work or storm shelter.

Here is a look back at the storm outlook for yesterday.

The white area is the HIGH RISK for severe weather. If you are ever in the High Risk area changing your plans to stay safe and having a weather radio could make a difference. Unfortunately in some cases yesterday even having warning still meant death as Mother Nature unleashed a wrath of weather.

Has a weather radio helped you before? Share your story with Weather Plus and comment.

Jeff Ranieri – Meteorologist

Comments

All this talk on the tv about making sure you have your weather radio with you wherever you go has made me think we need to get one. NOW is not a good time to go looking for one considering the forecast for weather today. :o/ After this is all said and done I want to look at getting our family one. Which radios do you recommend for ONLY the NOAA weather and emergencies? Are handheld ones better? I don't want a clock or radio on it. Any suggestions? Thanks in advance.
CJ in Plano

Posted by: Cathy Jennings | April 13, 2007 04:17 PM

CJ,

Any radio that displays weather alerts should be proper. Make sure on the box it gives the NOAA ALERTS and you should be fine. In my opinion I would have something separate from an alarm clock this way you know when it goes off , what the sound is and that it is in act different than the noise just your daily alarm makes.

These are available at most stores. Again make sure it displays/alerts you with NOAA emergencies.

I hope this helps - Jeff Ranieri

Posted by: Jeff Ranieri | April 13, 2007 07:50 PM

Thanks for the info! I also went to the NOAA site and looked at their "features to look for" when shopping for one. I picked out the Midland WR100 model for us and one for my daughter in NC. I'll feel better once mine are delivered. DFW seems to have had the same idea cause I couldn't find one at 4 places I stopped at before realizing that for the gas I'd save it's worth buying online and paying for shipping. :o)
Take care and stay warm. CJ

Posted by: Cathy Jennings | April 14, 2007 12:34 PM