Tornado safety
In the rare event you happen to find yourself in the line of an approaching tornado or supercell thunderstorm, go to proper shelter. Know where it is in advance. Don't wait until there is a need. Many...
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As an aside: every Spring, the National Weather Service offers FREE Storm Spotter training. Usually (around here, at least) it's offered in each county and is a 3-hour class. It will give you a good basic education regarding severe storms, and how to recognize a true tornado (as opposed to something called a Scud cloud). They also give you some basic radar-reading skills and introduce you to terms like CAPE, helicity, and shear. Once you know where to find the meteorologists' forecast discussions and can decipher the velocity radar images, you'll have a MUCH better attitude towards scary weather.
The NWS doesn't expect anyone to "chase" storms - all they want is for you to report what you are either seeing; or if you had to take cover, what you see for damage. They call this "Ground Truth": they know what the radar is showing. Confirmation from a trained Spotter lets them know that a warning is needed.
The NWS doesn't expect anyone to "chase" storms - all they want is for you to report what you are either seeing; or if you had to take cover, what you see for damage. They call this "Ground Truth": they know what the radar is showing. Confirmation from a trained Spotter lets them know that a warning is needed.
