Tornado Talk: Twister of Knowledge You’ll Want This Season

MADISON, Wis. (CIVIC MEDIA) – It’s Severe Weather Awareness Week, the sirens will sound, giving us a time to practice taking shelter from spring storms that spark up.

Wisconsin averages about 23 tornadoes every year, and 45 of them tore through our state last year. This made it the third most active season, ever… and severe weather season is about to start. You need to have a plan now, so you’re prepared if you ever find yourself in the path of a destructive storm.

On Thursday at 1:45 p.m. and 6:45 p.m. sirens will sound. It’s a time to practice taking shelter. Tornadoes can tear through at anytime, day or night. Muscle memory will save you in stressful situations when you need to act fast. And while you’re at it, gather an emergency bag together. Include things like shoes, a change of clothes, meds, water, snacks, flashlight and battery bank. It’s nice to have all of that ready to go in an emergency and with one quick grab.

When it comes to understanding the threat of severe weather on a specific day, the Storm Prediction Centers outlooks can be tricky. Think of it as a 1 through 5 rating system, with 5 being the worst. While the names might sound non threatening with marginal and slight, it should perk your ears. Tornadoes have spun up and done damage during those lower level categories in our state, just last year.

If any of these outlooks are issued in Wisconsin, it’s coming from Meteorologists down in Oklahoma. They are pointing out that all the ingredients for severe weather is there and places areas into these risk and strength categories, depending on the weather setup.

Then it’s up to the local National Weather Service offices to issue watches and warnings as things start to materialize.

A watch means be prepared and ready to act quickly. It’s when you should keep an eye on the forecast and your head up. Especially if it’s a hot and sunny, humid day. That’s a twisters favorite beverage. It gulps up moisture in an instant from the puffy cotton ball clouds, to spinning into a super cell. After it gains some steam a tornado could drop from it. This is when a warning will be issued. It means that a tornado is on the ground and spotted by someone. Or it’s showing strong rotation on radar. Which means reports of high winds whipping at the radar and away from it in a small space, is likely a possible tornado.

Tornadoes are a violently rotating column of air extending from the bottom of a thunderstorm down to the ground. They can completely destroy well-made buildings, rip trees out from the ground and hurl things through the air, turning them into deadly missiles. And we are entering their season.

They need three specific things to form. The fuel, which is the heat and humidity. A spark, which lifts the warm air up, usually from a cold front. And the last thing required is a spin in the sky. Basically, if you put a pen between your hands and roll it, one hand moves faster than the other to make that happen. This is what the winds need to be doing at different levels or directions. All of these three things must happen for the perfect tornadic environment. And when it does, it happens fast.

Twisters can also lift up and drop down again, creating gaps in their path and sparing one house over the other. There are also multiple vortices inside one tornado causing scattered destruction as well.

When the sirens go off or an emergency alert pops up on your phone… telling you to take shelter from a tornado warning, do you know where to go?

Seek out the lowest level like a basement or ground floor. Then, pick a spot that’s got plenty of walls between you and the outside. Maybe a closet or bathroom.

Most tornadoes tend to be weak, and rip through the upper levels and tear down exterior walls as the roof blows off. Flying debris then becomes missiles, so you’ll want to get under something or cover yourself with a couch cushion. Get low and cover your head.

If you’re driving, pull over and go inside the nearest building for shelter. Don’t stay in your car or go under an overpass, you’re actually safer getting into a ditch or a ravine. More scenarios here, like in an apartment, shopping mall or tall building.

Now sometimes these warnings don’t produce anything but high winds, hail and heavy downpours… and consider yourself lucky. Always take watches and warnings seriously. Stay weather savvy and have your plan ready for action.

If you are the type that likes to watch the storms roll in, the National Weather Service is offering storm spotter training classes now. There’s online opportunities and it’s only one class that lasts about an hour. You’ll cover severe weather safety and dive in depth on the science behind it and at the end get a certificate.

There’s a class on Thursday and another one on Monday, you can register here. If you love it, there’s also an advanced class you can take next!