SEVERE WEATHER PREPAREDNESS

Severe weather is a naturally occuring phenomina that while sometimes can be predicted, is capable of causing property damage, injury and death.
Personal preparedness is the key to surviving severe weather events. Most everyone knows to have a severe weather plan, where to shelter, etc.

This page is to help you learn another type of preparedness, receiving a personal weather briefing, and staying "weather aware".

During severe weather season (and even every day) you should get a weather briefing every morning. Does this mean you have to call the forecasters? No.

This is as easy as visiting a few websites. They are listed below, along with sites to help you be weather aware.

http://www.weather.gov/
This is one of the best sites to visit. Go to this site, and on the top left, enter your zipcode. The resulting page will be customized for your zipcode.
One this page you will find a lot of information. First, you will see the forecast for the next 3 - 7 days. And, just above the forecast, in a box with the title Hazardous Weather Conditions in red, you may see some links, such as a Hazardous Weather Outlook, Special Weather Statement, or other special infomation. There could also be watch or warning information there. You should bookmark or add this page to your favorites. You might consider making it your home page.

If you get a weather alert, but didn't hear exactly what it was, use your page to find out just what was sent out. It should appear there within a couple of minutes.

About halfway down that page, on the right, under Additional Resources, there are some images. Each one of those is a link. The radar link should take you to the nearest NWS radar to you. There you can see where storms may be. BUT, this important, that radar is as much as 5 minutes old! If you see a storm over your house on radar, you guessed it, it's already been there! Don't wait to see something on radar before you take cover if you have received a warning.

I mentioned what to do if you get a weather alert. You should have a S.A.M.E. Weather Alert Radio, programmed for your local area. You can usually get one on sale for $30 or so, and that's a cheap price to save you or your family's lives.

Also, if you have a mobile device, look into getting a weather app. Read the reviews to see how well they work. A good one is ReadyTN.
http://www.tnema.org/ReadyTN/
One the page linked above, there is a link to download the ReadyTN app. There is also a link for Family Preparedness.

Another way to get weather info is listen to local broadcast radio. BUT... make sure the radio station has live people at the station and is not computer controlled.
And, if they do have live people at the station, drop them a note and thank them!

Also, tune in to local TV stations. They will usually broadcast weather warnings. BUT, many "private" channels such as cable TV channels, and other non-network channels do not carry weather information.

This is by no means and exhaustive list of things you can do, but it's a start. There is no surefire way to get weather info, because all of it is technology driven. But, if you know several sources to use, you should be well on your way to being "weather aware".