New Tornado Warnings Aims To Scare. Its About Time!

I live in tornado alley, and with the false alarms, and the way it seems that some channels have different interpretations about tornadoes, people dont take it seriously.

I live by Joplin Missouri, and that was a terrifying time, and even though it killed many, people were not that concerned, because to be honest, the news here no one I know takes to seriously.

So for those that have either tornadoes, hurricanes, and many natural disaster in you area, we are finally getting the type of warning that is necessary to save lives. Like this.

"THIS IS AN EXTREMELY DANGEROUS TORNADO WITH COMPLETE DEVASTATION LIKELY. … SEEK SHELTER NOW! … MOBILE HOMES AND OUTBUILDINGS WILL OFFER NO SHELTER FROM THIS TORNADO — ABANDON THEM IMMEDIATELY."

www.usatoday.com...

Now tell me you would get off your butt and get to a place for safety immediately?

Had such a warning come across his television set on May 22, Joplin resident Jeff Lehr said he might have sought shelter. Instead, it wasn't until a siren distracted him from a sporting event he was watching on TV that he looked out a window and saw what appeared to be dark thunderstorm clouds.

Even then, he didn't take cover until the windows began imploding in his apartment.

"After hundreds of times of similar thunderstorms approaching Joplin, many of those with tornado warnings attached, and you see them pass … after all those storms, you kind of get jaundiced about the warnings and tend not to give them the weight you probably should give them," said Lehr, a reporter at The Joplin Globe.

www.usatoday.com...

ITS ABOUT TIME!!!

pEACE, nre.

reply to post by NoRegretsEver


I was wondering if the unexplained sky sounds could be a warning system?

Well if they aim to scare, most people fell for it lol.

always said 2012 was going to be interesting.

Sad but in a few years everyone will not take these new warnings any more seriously either. Just like the article talks about, people would be leaving their home all the time if they heeded every warning and people just don't like to do that sort of thing.

reply to post by Vodo34861


They will be more "informative" concerning the severity of storms, as apposed to a siren, or marque across the screen. This in my opinion will give people a new way to understand what is happening in their area.

Peace, NRE.

I agree that if the intention of this new warning is to get people off the couch and into a sheltered area (if they have one) is a great idea.

I should be used only rarely though or you are going to have people ignore that warning too, eg the sky is falling.

On the other hand this warning is really going to screw up some folks bad, the ones that live in mobile homes and have no shelter.

We too live in Tornado Alley and we always pay attention to the weather warnings and radar here on the computer, and the sky as well.

We are lucky enough to have a basement with cinder block walls, I realize that did not help much in Joplin but that is all we have here.

Great thread and I hope people get your message,
S&F
Regards, Iwinder

At the beginning of each month they sound the sirens to test them here in St Louis.
Yesterday we heard them, but there was a twist- now there is a voice announcement afterwards. Horrible hearing this booming voice over the treetops. Even more horrible-you cannot understand what it says. Garbled.

What if the NOAA decided to just broadcast the same way they always did, but with an announcement that it is up to each person to make the right choice. Put personal responsibility back.

I forgot to address the OP's question,
"Now tell me you would get off your butt and get to a place for safety immediately?"
If we did not do that already, by god if this warning doesn't get you moving to below ground or shelter then you have a serious lack of respect for your own life.
Regards, Iwinder

Had my only warning about 30 mins ago. It went from beautiful, sunny day, to dark and ominous, lights flashing on and off, lightning striking all around. I just rounded up my goats, took them back to their barn. Guess I'll turn on my emergency weather radio for further info. Love my rural area. But, no warning system in place. The clicking of my UPS backup is my first warning.

Damn...it's getting mighty cold too....bet I have good sized hail again.

Des

here is what i think we all need. SMART PHONES. :-)

i downloaded an APP for my iphone called CODE RED. It is linked into the national weather service so you get alerts on your phone loud enough to wake you. but the main reason i like it is because i can set it to alarm me if it goes off in the middle of the night because there are storms moving to my area. you can set 10 miles away, 5 miles away, 3 miles away... so plenty of notice if you want it.

the way it normally happens is the tv says a warning for the entire county, i don't want to stay up all night for things happening 20 miles from me and what if i am not watching tv but i am asleep???

i only want to know what is coming to my house. it gives me plenty of warning specifially for my area and i don't have to be watching tv to know about it. i don't know how many times i have been woken up in the middle of the night with 60 mph winds and lighting and i had no idea it was coming.

there are APPS for that :-) and it is FREE.

Originally posted by dmonkey
here is what i think we all need. SMART PHONES. :-)

i downloaded an APP for my iphone called CODE RED. It is linked into the national weather service so you get alerts on your phone loud enough to wake you. but the main reason i like it is because i can set it to alarm me if it goes off in the middle of the night because there are storms moving to my area. you can set 10 miles away, 5 miles away, 3 miles away... so plenty of notice if you want it.

the way it normally happens is the tv says a warning for the entire county, i don't want to stay up all night for things happening 20 miles from me and what if i am not watching tv but i am asleep???

i only want to know what is coming to my house. it gives me plenty of warning specifially for my area and i don't have to be watching tv to know about it. i don't know how many times i have been woken up in the middle of the night with 60 mph winds and lighting and i had no idea it was coming.

there are APPS for that :-) and it is FREE.

Great post and starred, the one thing we notice here where we live is if there is severe weather popping up 20 miles away there is a very good chance it is going to pop up here as well.

That is one plus thing for the county wide warnings, you have to watch the big picture to get the smaller ones.
Regards, Iwinder

reply to post by NoRegretsEver

Had such a warning come across his television set on May 22, Joplin resident Jeff Lehr said he might have sought shelter. Instead, it wasn't until a siren distracted him from a sporting event he was watching on TV that he looked out a window and saw what appeared to be dark thunderstorm clouds

emphasis mine

New tornado warnings to pinpoint storm's severity

Says it all right there. Mainstream programming designed to distract performing as intended.

Some people wouldn't heed any warning, no matter how it was worded or delivered.

I agree it is a good idea. But I also agree that people will start to ignore that as well. Just like the colored terrorist levels.

There just comes a time where people either heed the warnings, or they don't.

I have heard mid westerners complain that someone is trigger happy with the alert siren. lol

Just a question, if people in tornado alley go through this enough, wouldn't you be able to begin to recongize which storms look like trouble?

reply to post by Destinyone


Yeah it just got real dark over here, and the thunder scared the crap out of me. My internet will slowly begin to fade out, and I also have no warning system due to the population around here being about 50.

Things should get better soon, we will see, stay safe Destinyone and everyone, NRE.

reply to post by NoRegretsEver


We keep a weather alert box in the house with battery backup.

You can set it for what counties, areas you want to hear alerts from.

Does get pretty annoying in the spring though when the severe t-storms start rolling through.

It gives off this emergency alarm that makes you want to dive into the basement.

Let me find out what the actual name is of the screaching weather alert box doohickey is called.

oops sorry, just reinstalled that APP an now it says $4.99 but i still like it. i'll probably pay for it. and it does do just the few miles away from your GPS. so where every you are it will only alert things coming your way. if your at work, home, friends house, relatives, etc.

we travel alot and i don't want to have to tell the computer i am not home. :-)

reply to post by dmonkey


You don't even need a smartphone, either, just a cell phone. I signed up for text alerts from the Weather Channel and they have been very helpful. I'll be distracted by my work and suddenly my phone will vibrate.

reply to post by dmonkey


oh. the $4.99 was if you wanted a subscription but it is not REQUIRED for the app to notify you of warnings. i confirmed with CODE RED if you just want the alerts it is free. the name is CodeRED Mobile Alert at the APP store