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Weather-Ready Nation

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Tornado Infographics

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Tornado Infographics

 

A graphic of a bedroom is shown with text that reads: Be Prepared for Nighttime Tornadoes. In the graphic, necessary and potentially life-saving items are laid out. A NOAA Weather Radio and fully charged cell phone (with Wireless Emergency Alerts enabled) in the bedroom will ensure you are notified of any severe weather or possible tornadoes. Test the NOAA Weather Radio regularly and make sure it’s tuned to your local station. A flashlight and sturdy shoes should also be kept nearby in case you need to leave quickly. A safe place to shelter should be prepared in advance if you know storms are coming.
Graphic with a road extending toward the distant horizon where ominous and stormy clouds are building. Large text reads: Tornado Ahead? It’s critical to stay informed about possible severe weather when you travel. Keep Wireless Emergency Alerts enabled on your phone. Take immediate action and find shelter if there’s a tornado or threatening weather ahead! Overpasses are not safe shelter.
Image of a sign directing readers to a tornado shelter is shown with text outlining tornado safety guidelines for employers. Label shelter locations, only using small interior rooms or hallways on the lowest level (away from windows and doors). Ensure accountability and develop an emergency response plan with checklists to assign roles and account for everyone onsite. Have disaster supplies, keeping first aid kits, food, water, and more in all shelters. Train your staff to ensure everyone knows what to do during emergencies, and regularly practice sheltering exercises.
Storm Planning Timeline. If the forecast calls for severe weather in a few days, start preparing now: make sure that you have emergency supplies; know your safe places; have a family communications plan. The day before, forecast accuracy continues to improve: adjust plans; make sure your phone can receive WEAs; ensure your shelter is clean and accessible. The day of, remain vigilant and aware of any active Watches - a Warning may be issued at a moment's notice: remind your family of the communication plan; know how to evacuation and/or get to safety from wherever you are; whenever a Warning is issued, you may only have seconds to take action!
Helping Others: Tornadoes. Help others identify a safe place (often a basement or interior room away from windows). Practice (and time) tornado prep drills with them. Show them how to receive Tornado Watches and Warnings.
Severe Weather can escalate quickly. While the possibility of tornadoes can be forecast ahead of time, they can form in minutes, day or night. Will you be prepared? Set up a way to get weather warnings any time of day. When alerted to a tornado, quickly get to a storm shelter or basement. If underground shelter isn't available, get to an interior hall away from windows.
1. A Tornado Watch mean be prepared. A Tornado Watch is issued when a tornado is possible. Know your safe place, such as a storm shelter, basement, or interior hall away from windows, and be prepared to act if a Warning is issued. 2. A Tornado Warning means take action! A Tornado Warning is issued when a tornado is happening or about to happen. Immediately seek shelter in your safe place!
Your safe place from tornadoes: tornadoes can be extremely dangerous. Safe places are storm shelters and basements, but if not available, an interior room without windows can also be protective. If you receive a tornado warning, take shelter immediately!
What does Weather-Ready look like? Before tornadoes: People locating their safe place from tornadoes and who practice going there well before severe weather arrives.
Tornado Sheltering Guidelines: Seek the best available refuge area immediately when a Tornado Warning is issued. Your chance of surviving a tornado is excellent if you follow these guidelines. BEST OPTIONS: 1)Above or below ground Tornado Storm Shelter (NSSA/ICC 500 compliant). 2)Specifically-designed FEMA Safe Room. FEMA recommends either of these options. GOOD OPTIONS: 1)Interior room of a well-constructed home or building. 2)Basement. BAD OPTIONS: 1)Large open rooms like gymnasiums. 2)Manufactured housing. WORST OPTIONS: 1)Mobile homes. 2)Vehicles. 3)Underneath a highway overpass.
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TORNADO TERMINOLOGY 1) Tornado Watch: Weather conditions could lead to the formation of severe storms and tornadoes. Be prepared! Know your safe location. Be ready to act quickly if a Warning is issued or you suspect a tornado is approaching. 2) Tornado Warning: A tornado has been spotted or indicated by weather radar, meaning a tornado is occurring or expected soon. Take Action! There is imminent danger to life and property. Immediately seek refuge in the safest location possible. 3) Tornado Emergency: An exceeding rare situation with a severe threat to human life and catastrophic damage due to a confirmed violent tornado. Take Action! Immediately seek refuge in the safest location possible.
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TORNADOES AND ROAD SAFETY. 1) What To Do: Get off the road. The best option is to drive to a designated shelter, basement or safe room. The next best option is a small, windowless room or hallway on the lowest floor of a sturdy building. 2) What No To Do: Do not seek refuge in a vehicle, outside or under an overpass. A highway overpass does not provide safety from a tornado. Do not seek shelter under an overpass or a tree. This puts you at greater risk of being killed or seriously injured by flying debris from the powerful tornadic winds.
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TORNADOES AND ROAD SAFETY. 1) What To Do: Get off the road. The best option is to drive to a designated shelter, basement or safe room. The next best option is a small, windowless room or hallway on the lowest floor of a sturdy building. 2) What No To Do: Do not seek refuge in a vehicle, outside or under an overpass. A highway overpass does not provide safety from a tornado. Do not seek shelter under an overpass or a tree. This puts you at greater risk of being killed or seriously injured by flying debris from the powerful tornadic winds.
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TYPES OF TORNADOES -Supercell Tornadoes:Tornadoes that come from a supercell thunderstorm are the most common, and often the most dangerous. A rotating updraft is a key to the development of a supercell, and eventually a tornado. There are many ideas about how this rotation begins. One way a column of air can begin to rotate is from wind shear – when winds at two different levels above the ground blow at different speeds or in different directions. Once the updraft is rotating and being fed by warm, moist air flowing in at ground level, a tornado can form.Landspouts:Landspouts, narrow, rope-like condensation funnels that form while the thunderstorm cloud is still growing and there is no rotating updraft. The spinning motion originates near the ground.Waterspouts:Waterspouts, similar to landspouts, except they occur over water.Gustnadoes:Gustnadoes, whirls of dust or debris at or near the ground with no condensation funnel, which form along the gust front of a storm.Dust Devils:A well-developed dust whirl; usually of short duration, rendered visible by dust, sand, and debris picked up from the ground. Dust devils are best developed on a hot, calm afternoon with clear skies, when intense surface heating causes large temperature differences in the lowest couple hundred feet of the atmosphere.Fire Whirls:Much like dust devils, the extreme heat of fires create strong updrafts, near the ground that interact with circulations in the lower atmosphere. Fire whirls are usually about 1 to 3 feet wide and 50 to 100 feet tall.
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Enhanced Fujita Scale for Tornadoes - Six Damage Categories:EFO - Wind: 65-85 mph / Damage: minorEF1 - Wind: 86-110 mph / Damage: moderateEF2 - Wind: 111-135 mph / Damage: considerableEF3 - Wind: 136-165 mph / Damage: severeEF4 - Wind: 166-200 mph / Damage: devastatingEF5 - Wind: 200+ mph / Damage: incrediblespc.noaa.govweather.gov/tornado
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Know Where to Go When Sheltering from a Tornado:Quickly move to your basement and bring your emergency supply kit. If you have no basement, move to an interior room with no windows. Top floor rooms do not protect you. Exterior rooms and rooms with windows do not protect you. No place outside is safe from a tornado.
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What Weather-Ready Looks Like: Tornadoes
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