Severe Weather Reminders

As severe weather season begins to wind up, here are some reminders on what to do if a warning is issued:

1. Have a way of getting the warning. This would include NOAA Weather Radio, a smartphone app, or, if available, through TV or Internet. Do not rely on the sirens, especially if you live in a place where there are no sirens! The sirens are meant to be a way of getting the warning out to people outside. 

 

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Seriously. Don't.

Get into a room with no windows, on the lowest floor of your home, business, or apartment. Put a helmet on if you have any, or get a pillow or mattress to protect yourself from flying debris. It may sound crazy, but it works. 

If you are in a mobile home, make sure you have a plan to get to a nearby shelter. Many mobile home parks in the Midwest and South have large shelters available to house the park's residents. If your park does not have a shelter, make sure there is a nearby business or site-built home nearby to take shelter in. Why do this? Mobile homes are death traps in tornadoes. They'll go flying all over the place if they're so much as in the same trailer park an EF1 is coming through. So if you fall under a Tornado Warning, please, for the love of God get out!

If you are in a car, get off the road and get inside a business as soon as possible. More than likely, they will let you in. If this is not possible, then, I don't know what to say, really. There are four things you could do.

1. Get out and get into a ditch or low lying area

2. Stay in your car, stop, and 

3. Get under an overpass

4. Drive faster, and hope there's a way you can drive in a different direction from the tornado's path

Options 1-3 do not provide much shelter, and there's no way to know if you can out-drive a tornado. If I had to recommend one of these the most, I'd say start driving. Those people who drive into tornadoes on TV, like Reed Timmer, built cars specifically to withstand an EF0-EF2 type tornado. Your car probably wasn't built to withstand any kind of tornado, and, like mobile homes, will go flying if they are anywhere near even a weak tornado. So, I'd start driving away from it as fast as possible.

Stay safe this year, everyone!

-Josh