Tornado Spotting

With the onset of the servere weather season (i.e. Tornado Season) here in the US, I thought it would be a good idea to find out a bit more about the types of weather likely to occur & what to do when there is severe weather. A quick search on the internet lead me to the SKYWARN programme which monitors & sends out severe weather alerts & runs free training sessions to teach you how to spot severe weather & report it to increase the accuracy of weather reports.

The US has a network of Doppler radar stations that monitors weather conditions & uses a warning system of watches & warnings. There is a network of outdoor sirens that sound an alarm in the event of severe weather. Severe weather watches that mean you should keep an eye on the weather & be aware of the conditions & that severe weather may develop. If these change to a warning then it means that you should take action immediately. In the case of a tornado warning for your county, you are advised to move down to the basement of your property. Most of the local TV channels show the warnings & watches in effect & continually interupt programmes with weather bulletins. I have an internet connection set up that shows the current weather radar maps & weather alerts.

The training course I went on took place at the Queeny Park recreation centre & lasted a day. The morning session was mainly about how storms develop, their anatomy, & the characteristics that distinguish a severe weather event from 'normal' bad weather. The afternoon was more of the same really. So now I know what a 'supercell' is, how tornadoes are formed, & what do do in the event of severe weather.