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".