These days, with so many smart phones having a variety of weather apps, it’s easier than ever to receive timely weather warnings. However, in my travels, I have found that many folks don’t necessarily know what the warnings mean.
For instance, when I ask someone, “What does it mean when you hear that a Severe Thunderstorm Warning has been issued for your town?”, they often do not know. (By the way, it means that storm contains damaging wind and/or damaging hail). It does not have anything to do with rainfall rates or lightning frequency!
So, given that a “Severe Thunderstorm Warning” is often misunderstood, consider the myriad other warnings and advisories you may hear in summer … it can get quite confusing! So what I’d like to do in this week’s edition of “Weather Whys”, is to focus on just three warnings you should always be dialed into in summertime.
We’ve already gone over Severe Thunderstorm, but, surprisingly, on average, the most deadly summertime hazard is Flash Flooding. Incredibly, moving water need only be shin-deep to move a vehicle off the road and into a raging stream. In addition, the road itself may have been scoured away, so the water may be masking a deep cut in the road! An easy-to-remember reminder of the danger of flash floods is a phrase developed by the National Weather Service … “Turn Around, Don’t Drown!” So the Flash Flood Warning should always be taken very, very seriously.
The third warning I’d like to address is the one that always seems to garner the most attention … and that would be the Tornado Warning. Here in The County, we do indeed see tornados, and they have on rare occasion caused structural damage.
It is my opinion that the Tornado Warning gets the attention of people much more so than the Flash Flood Warning, but the latter is statistically more deadly, and the average person will come across a flash flood much more often than they might experience a tornado.
Finally please remember, all thunderstorms contain lightning and if you can hear thunder, you are in the lightning threat zone right then and there!
Ted Shapiro holds the Broadcast Seal of Approval from both the American Meteorological Society and the National Weather Association. An Alexandria, Va. native, he has been Chief Meteorologist at WAGM-TV since 2006. Email him at tshapiro@wagmtv.com.
