Monday, April 30, 2012

April 30th Severe Weather outlook

severe

Severe Weather Outlook For April 30th 2012
First things first lets look at the surface map and as you can see the front that was stationary has indeed lifted north as we mentioned that it would..
http://www.hpc.ncep.noaa.gov/sfc/90fwbg.gif
Once again this front has become quasi stationary...
And as you can see there is waves of low pressure along the front as well..
Low pressure will be located over western Illinois in about another hour.. This low will move east while pushing a warm front into the N
E. This warm front will serve as a focal point for convective rains and the potential for severe weather into the PA and Ohio region and the stationary front will once again serve as a focal point for severe across the rest of the region..
http://www.ssd.noaa.gov/goes/comp/ceus/wv-l.jpg
As you can see by water vapor we do not have as much dry air in place as what we had previously ...
http://www.ssd.noaa.gov/goes/comp/ceus/flash-wv.html
Putting this in motion you can see how the atmosphere is becoming more moist by looking at the enhanced water vapor image and the orange colors. For those in TX notice that most of this is occurring to the north..
Since we base these forecasts on the parameters we like to look at the time period around when the heat of the day is at its best so when we do that we are looking at the CAPE here for 24 hrs. from 7 PM (Sunday evening)
http://www.twisterdata.com/data/models/nam/221/maps/2012/04/30/00/NAM_221_2012043000_F24_CAPE_SURFACE.png
CAPE ranges anywhere from about 500 to about 3000 depending where you are..
http://www.twisterdata.com/data/models/nam/221/maps/2012/04/30/00/NAM_221_2012043000_F24_PLI_30_0_MB_ABOVE_GROUND.png
Lift index goes to about - 8 again depending on where you are located...
http://www.twisterdata.com/data/models/nam/221/maps/2012/04/30/00/NAM_221_2012043000_F24_SHRM_500_MB.png
Shear is about 30 knots to as much as 60 knots..
HELICITY
http://www.twisterdata.com/data/models/nam/221/maps/2012/04/30/00/NAM_221_2012043000_F24_HLCY_1000_M_ABOVE_GROUND_0_M_ABOVE_GROUND.png
About 50-250 and under....
Remember with Helicity this information:
*150-300 Possible Super cell
*300 to 400 Super cell Severe Favorable
*400+ Tornadic Thunderstorms Favorable
So essentially the Helicity is suggesting that some locations in PA could have super cells.
EHI
http://www.twisterdata.com/data/models/nam/221/maps/2012/04/30/00/NAM_221_2012043000_F24_EHI_1000_M.png
You can see that most areas for EHI are below the threshold of 1 with the exception of SW PA .. and in NW TX...
Keep this in mind for EHI
*Interpretation of values:
*Greater than 1: Super cells likely
*1 to 5: Possibility of F2, F3 tornadoes
*5+: Possibility of F4, F5 tornadoes
So this suggests that SW PA could see super cell severe thunderstorms. It also suggests where the EHI is 2.25 that their could be some tornado's which is in NW TX to the south of the OK/TX panhandle..
Dew points are in the 60s
http://www.twisterdata.com/data/models/nam/221/maps/2012/04/30/00/NAM_221_2012043000_F24_DPTF_2_M_ABOVE_GROUND.png
Temperatures 70- 90 +
http://www.twisterdata.com/data/models/nam/221/maps/2012/04/30/00/NAM_221_2012043000_F24_TMPF_2_M_ABOVE_GROUND.png
The main threats outside of the areas mentioned above will be Large hail and wind..
It is indeed possible that locations such as TX outside of the area mentioned above stay on the southern side of any activity. Looking at water vapor
http://www.ssd.noaa.gov/goes/comp/ceus/flash-wv.html
Again does show the dry air trying to come back into the atmosphere.. Essentially we are not expecting any thing more then isolated tornado chances in the area mentioned around the 2.25 region for EHI ...and because we are essentially dealing with more in the way of a warm front and a stationary front...

Sunday, April 29, 2012

April 29th Severe Weather Outlook

severe

Just made some adjustments to the map that was made last night. The culprit responsible for the severe weather probabilities is essentially the same stationary front that is across the region..
http://www.hpc.ncep.noaa.gov/basicwx/91fwbgus.gif
Severe weather parameters
CAPE 500-2000 depending where you reside...
EHI is virtually non existent on the NAM
Helicity is also virtually non existent on the NAM
Lift index to about negative 7 depending where you reside..
Shear once again is 35 knots +
Temperatures in the 80s and 90s
Dew points in the 60s and 70s
If you go to this link ( time sensitive)
http://www.ssd.noaa.gov/goes/comp/ceus/wv-l.jpg
You will see how the moisture blew up over N C TX and the reason for the storms that occurred west of there..but you can also see when you put this into motion that drier air is also filtering back into the region..
http://www.ssd.noaa.gov/goes/comp/ceus/flash-wv.html
Dry air is noted by the brown color on the enhanced water vapor..
This front is really not going to move to much thru out the day, It may lift slightly north as a warm front but then essentially settle slightly south by evening..
So in TX there could be some isolated severe but the main thing we expect in that region is rainfall. Most of the region still has a dry RH 700 mb level ...and as Water vapor shows dry air is filtering in behind left over convection from yesterday.
With NO EHI essentially and no Helicity we are not really seeing a Tornado threat anywhere..Of course you always risk the threat of one with a severe storm but if any were to occur we expect them to be more isolated...

Saturday, April 28, 2012

April 28th Severe Weather Outlook

severe

Severe Parameters
500 to about 3500 depending where you are..
EHI is essentially below 1 in all locations
Lift Index 0 to about - 8
Mid Level Lapse Rates 6.0 to 7.0
Across N KY around 300 this would indicate tornadic possibility but with EHI low thinking would be isolated..
Shear is not an issue with 30 + knots
At the surface..
Low pressure over NW Missouri will be moving towards the southeast. Trailing to the southwest is a cold front moisture starved on the southern end thru TX due to mentioned reasons above and to the east of this low is a warm front.. Southern part of this front will become stationary and it is the warm front off to the east that will bring about the chances for severe weather along with rainfall across the highlighted zone...

Friday, April 27, 2012

April 27th Severe Weather Outlook

severe

Severe Weather Parameters
CAPE is 500-2000 depending on where you are located
EHI is +1 or higher in East Central KS
Helicity is at or about 300 in the same general region
This suggests that in this region there is the potential for tornado activity...
Lift Index is 0 to about -6 depending where you reside..
No lack of shear with 35-50 knots depending where you are located..
At the surface
http://www.hpc.ncep.noaa.gov/sfc/90fwbg.gif
There is a front draped across the region and this front will become stationary and become the focal point for severe weather.
In addition to this an area of low pressure will be moving across Kansas!

Tuesday, April 24, 2012

April 25th Severe Weather Potential

severe

Severe Parameters
We are looking at CAPE values on the guidance from 500-4000.
Lift index actually as low as -10 on the NAM..
Temperatures are going to be from the 70s to as high as 100 perhaps + that if the NAM is correct in locations such as TX...
Speaking of TX we have them in the region of severe but all in all that region should be capped as the 700 mb level is dry as a bone. As a refresher this is what we use to look at to see if moisture can make it down to the ground...And in this case all the moisture should stay North of that region despite the high parameters that are in place..
Shear will be ample with 35-60 knots in place across the region..
Across the rest of the region there will also be a CAP in place with Westerly flow over the region. This will likely cause any severe weather to be caused by Warm Air Advection.
Mid Level lapse rates will be 6.0 + so we think that the greatest severe threat that will be in place would be Hail..However...with the severe being dependent on Warm Air Advection and the westerly flow this could cause more of isolated severe hail. Overall we are not seeing this as a major severe weather threat day!
At the surface low pressure and associated trough will be dropping Southeast out of Minnesota with its attending Warm front which will provide the Warm Air Advection push across the region. By Wednesday evening this low pressure should be located over NE Iowa with the warm front draping SSE ..
Again...not really impressed about severe weather chances ..leaning more towards isolated severe then anything else

Friday, April 20, 2012

Weekend Early Week Storm System

Winter

It would appear as if all models are in relative agreement as of the 00z runs with a frontal system coming thru but slowing up and a wave of low pressure riding up along the eastern Seaboard bringing with it heavy rains and gusty winds of which could gust as high as 60 mph.

This will all get underway Saturday with the cold front advancing slowly towards the east.

It appears as though something that has not happened all winter long will happen with this storm and that is we will have the northern stream energy phase up with the southern stream energy to produce a Late Season Nor'easter…

Heavy..Flash flooding rains will be the issue along with gusty winds which could bring or cause power outages in the locations that have them.

As we said all guidance agrees on this..

00zeuro850mbTSLPUS072

00zgfs850mbTSLPNA072

00zggem850mbTSLPUS072

00znam850mbTSLPUS072

00zukmet850mbTSLPUS072

00zecmwfens850mbTSLPUS072

00zecmwfens850mbTSLPUS096

Even the ECM ensembles which are the last two images agree on this scenario..though the low is not as far west inland as the operational was.

Now we did not show it on the map above but keep in mind that there is a decent chance for rain to change over to snow in Western Pa.

Stay tuned for more information later this evening on this developing storm system!

Thursday, April 19, 2012

April 21st Severe Weather Potential

severe

Frontal system that looks to be crossing the region on Saturday looks as though as it could bring some severe weather across PA and into the south east! This is a day 2 map at this point so we are not really going to go into any details at the present time..Parameters however are favorable across this highlighted zone and there is also a trigger in the form of a cold front..Something to keep a watch on in addition to whether or not the coastal effects the area or not..

Tuesday, April 17, 2012

Severe Weather Education

I work with and counsel quite a few people that are afraid of Severe Thunderstorms or in general Severe Weather. I think that this fear basically lies in the fact that they do not know what to look for or they do not understand severe weather. If you do not know what to look for then you really do not know what to expect which then plays on the underlying fear of severe thunderstorms which is the fear of the unknown. So we are going to try to put together something that will help these individuals and hopefully allow them to over come that fear.

Severe Weather Ingredients…

Lets begin with the 4 primary ingredients.

1 Instability. You will often find this discussed as CAPE or Convective Potential Energy..

Instability is important because it causes air to accelerate into the vertical. Think of it this way..

As an example, imagine a basketball at the bottom of a swimming pool. Once the basketball is released it accelerates upward to the top of the pool. The basketball rises because it is less dense than the water surrounding it. A similar process occurs when instability is released in the atmosphere. Air in the lower troposphere is lifted until it becomes less dense than surrounding air. Once it is less dense it rises on its own.

00zgfsSurfaceCapeCINS114

An example of CAPE is above which shows the greatest CAPE as being 1000-2000.

2, Wind Shear

Strong vertical wind shear is important to severe thunderstorm development. Wind shear influences a storm in potentially several ways:
VERTICAL SPEED SHEAR- Significant increase of wind speed with height
VERTICAL DIRECTIONAL SHEAR- Significant change of wind direction with height
1. A significant increase of wind speed with height will tilt a storm's updraft. This allows the updraft and downdraft to occur in separate regions of the storm the reduces water loading in the updraft. The downdraft will not cut-off the updraft and actually it will even enforce it.
2. Strong upper tropospheric winds evacuates mass from the top of the updraft. This reduces precipitation loading and allows the updraft to sustain itself.
3. Directional shear in the lower troposphere helps ignite the development of a rotating updraft. This is one component that is important to the development of a mesocyclone and the development of tornado genesis. Strong lower tropospheric winds and directional shear together will generate high values of Helicity and thus this increases the tornado threat when severe storms develop.

00zgfs850300mbsheartropical120

On the above example you can see shear as strong as 60 knots across the NE region..

Next up is the third ingredient..

Lifting or what is referred to as the Lift Index..

Now while instability can be described as a basketball rushing to the top of the pool as described above..Lifting is caused by air that is forced to rise. Forced lifting is like picking up a bowling ball or bench pressing! This air will not rise until an object forces it to do so.

Some lifting mechanisms or what we call triggers:

Frontal boundaries

Lower Level Warm Air Advection or WAA

Upslope Flow

A low pressure system

Low Level Moisture Advection

Number 4 is moisture. Moisture is important ingredient for severe weather. If you have no return moisture …even though you have CAPE…and other severe parameters…then the likely hood of severe weather is low..

Other things that are important to look at ..

Helicity & EHI

NAM_221_2012041706_F69_HLCY_1000_M_ABOVE_GROUND_0_M_ABOVE_GROUND

NAM_221_2012041706_F69_EHI_1000_M

These are two important Severe ingredients or parameters to look for if you are looking for tornado potential. First one is Helicity and the second one is the EHI..

Essentially anything over a 1 on EHI is tornadic potential..

The higher the Helicity ..the better the Tornado chances will be..

What is Helicity?

A property of a moving fluid which represents the potential for helical flow (i.e. flow which follows the pattern of a corkscrew) to evolve. Helicity is proportional to the strength of the flow, the amount of vertical wind shear, and the amount of turning in the flow (i.e. vorticity). Atmospheric helicity is computed from the vertical wind profile in the lower part of the atmosphere (usually from the surface up to 3 km), and is measured relative to storm motion. Higher values of helicity (generally, around 150 m2/s2 or more) favor the development of mid-level rotation (i.e. mesocyclones). Extreme values can exceed 600 m2/s2.

EHI is Energy Helicity Index…

For super cells to develop, wind factors (such as helicity) and thermodynamic factors (such as CAPE, or convective available potential energy) must combine to produce an environment that is favorable for the formation of rotating thunderstorms. Therefore, one important aspect of forecasting the likelihood of super cells (and by association, tornadoes) is estimating and assessing the combination of helicity and instability.

Lift Index…

(abbrev. LI)- A common measure of atmospheric instability. Its value is obtained by computing the temperature that air near the ground would have if it were lifted to some higher level (around 18,000 feet, usually) and comparing that temperature to the actual temperature at that level. Negative values indicate instability - the more negative, the more unstable the air is, and the stronger the updrafts are likely to be with any developing thunderstorms. However there are no "magic numbers" or threshold LI values below which severe weather becomes imminent.

Example map of LI

00zgfsLIBLwinds120

These are the major severe weather ingredients one has to look at and decipher on the guidance. If all these ingredients come together with the proper lifting mechanisms mentioned above you have the ingredients for severe weather to occur,

However… the severity of the severe will depend on the combination of the ingredients as well as other factors such as Dry Air..

20040715.0045z.wvplain

Above is a water vapor image and you can see how there is mass amounts of dry air in place. This shows up as a brownish orange color.

Also another thing to watch out for is dry air in the upper levels of the atmosphere . Such as the 700 mb level..

NAM_221_2012041706_F69_RH_700_MB

The green colors represent moisture while the gray colors represent dry air.

As we have just seen this past weekend places like TX escaped majority of the severe weather because of the dry air in place. This was also the reason that the storms fell apart as they moved east because of all the dry air that is across places like PA for example.

So as you can see there are many ingredients that go into Severe Weather. However..the more you understand about these ingredients and how to look for them and find them the more you will understand whether or not you even have to worry about Severe Weather.

If you are really interested in learning more about severe weather and weather in general a good starting place would be the following:

Met Ed (click here its Free Training with videos )

Monday, April 16, 2012

Sunday, April 15, 2012

Friday, April 13, 2012

Severe Weather Outlook For Friday/Saturday... 4/13/-4/14/12

severe

Severe Weather Outlook For Friday/Saturday...
We have three zones once again
1. The checkered red zone we think is going to be the greatest area for tornado's to occur. Now today (Friday) Iowa is not so much under that category but would be more for the potential on Saturday.
2. The Red colored zone is where we think the area will remain CAPPED . 700 mb Relative Humidity is at its lowest and this is one level we look at in the winter to see whether or not precipitation is able to make it to the ground or not. The drier the level the more difficulty. If this CAP were to weaken then there is the possibility of some severe weather but mainly winds and or Hail would be the likely hood..
3. The Gray area which is the low risk zone for winds and or hail as being the primary threat..
So lets look at the parameters in place...
CAPE 500-3000 depending where you reside..
Lift Index 0 to about negative 10
Lapse rates 5.5 to about 7.5 depending where you reside
Shear 30 to as much as 60 knots in place
EHI around 1 in places for Friday (other then Iowa) Saturday EHI is 3 or greater....depending where you reside... (this is also the greater severe threat day)
The focus as you can see we have extending further north then what the SPC has. This is due to the EHI in place further north..
At the surface a low pressure is over western Nebraska and from this area of low pressure a warm front extends south and then east across E TX slicing Louisiana in half and also a cold front that extends S and then west thru the SE corner of NM..
This low pressure will slowly lift off to the east NE which will cause the cold front to slowly move towards the east.
Dry line as of 6 Z will be located essentially in between where these fronts meet at the low pressure and then head to the south from that starting point.
Majority of the storms and moisture will be associated closer to the low pressure area where along the front itself in the south since it is mainly a CAPPED environment ..thru Saturday they should essentially stay dry or at the most have some scattered showers.. Again..if the CAP were to break there would be severe weather further south but at this point and time we do not see that occurring thru Saturday..
Should anything need to be updated for Saturday we will do so later tonight before 2 AM...
We do not think that today will be a significant tornado outbreak..There will be some tornados but no outbreak expected. Saturday..there could be more tornado's expected but the area is already highlighted where the potential will lie!

Thursday, April 12, 2012

April 12th Severe Weather Potential

severe

Severe Weather Potential...
As we are always trying to strive and improve here with the way we do things we have actually three areas designated...
A. The gray area will always represent low risk for winds and Hail
B. The red zone indicates all three severe aspects of winds & hail & Tornado's
C. The checkered area equals the greatest risk for tornado's
In reference to C..this is because the EHI in those locations is well above 1..
In reference to B..While there may be tornado's in this zone they will be more isolated compared to the location above in the checkered zone..The main threat in the red zone would be the hail and winds..
Now lets look at severe parameters in addition to the EHI
CAPE about 500-2000 depending where you are...
LI meaning Lift Index is only to negative 4
Lapse Rates 6.5 or above
Shear 35 knots +
Current Surface analysis as of 03 Z
http://www.hpc.ncep.noaa.gov/sfc/90fwbg.gif (time sensitive)
Low pressure located over SE Colorado as of 6 Z this morning with a stationary front attached to it. This stationary front will move thru as a warm front across TX. Trailing also from that low pressure area is a cold front to the SW.
By 18 Z the low pressure will begin to lift towards the NE and a dry line will be located from N to south across the Ok/TX panhandle continuing south to off the coast of TX to another area of low pressure.
For those that may not be familiar we take each severe event one day at a time. There are many out there that are hyping talking about a Major Tornado outbreak...While there are the possibility of tornado's today...A major outbreak at this point and time is not anticipated..
However..if you live in an area where Tornado's are possible you want to keep an eye to the sky and your ear tuned into your favorite weather source.
We here at Down To Earth will be around today till 6 AM and then from about 1 PM till 6 AM for coverage and to consult those with questions and or who may need assistance with fears etc..
We provide this service for free & to our knowledge we are the only ones who PROVIDE this service! We are here for you!

This service is provided via Facebook  <--- Click where it says Facebook!

Tuesday, April 10, 2012

Severe Potential April 11 2012

severe

CAPE 500-2000
Lift Index 0 to -8 depending where you are located..
Temperature will be in the 80s
Dew Points in the 50s-60s range
Shear 35 knots + which will be increasing in the over night period..
Mid Level Lapse rates 6.5 +

EHI is pretty much on the low side but we think with the location of the dryline where it will be located (NM mountains) and the shear increasing overnight that the location east of there could have some potential for tornado's. Though its not a high risk with EHI being below 1.

Low pressure over NE New Mexico with a stationary front trailing south south east which then turns into a cold front across the SE which then turns up the east coast to a low pressure off the Mid Atlantic Coast.  It is once again this frontal feature that will be responsible for severe weather.

Monday, April 9, 2012

Severe Potential 4/10/12

severe

CAPE 500-2000 depending where you reside
Lift Index 0 to -6
Shear 30 knots + in the greatest area zone
Temperature in the 80s-90s
Dew point 50s to 60s
Lapse rates 6.0-7.0
Low pressure located over NE New Mexico has a stationary front draped to the east south east thru the TX region. Another stationary front is just to the north of that front.
It is these fronts that will continue to be the focus for severe potential.
EHI is relatively low across most of the region but we have included the potential for tornado's where the shear is highest but these would be isolated instances. Main threats are winds and large hail.

Severe Potential April 9th 2012

severe

CAPE 500-2000 depending where you are...
Lift Index is 0 to -8 depending where you are
Mid Level Lapse Rates 6.5 +
Shear 25-40 knots..Highest across Oklahoma and East TX..
EHI is + 1 across OK on the western side and the eastern side..
Temperatures in the 70s and 80s
Dew points 50s and 60s
Majority of the daytime looks to be dry across the vast majority of TX and OK. Anything prior to 00z is going to be spotty and isolated..
Specific to Northern Central TX by Wichita Falls area ..700 mb RH is between 10-20 % . This tells us how much dry air is in the 700 mb level and this gives an indication that that particular region may just end up with out seeing any precipitation ..This is the case on both the NAM/GFS and more then likely why the SREF only has low risk severe in that region...
Here is the thing...there is really NO trigger for this severe weather. When we think of a trigger we think of a cold front..That is not the case... What we are dealing with is a warm front that is draped or stalled if you want to say across western Oklahoma to east of Wichita Falls region and into eastern TX. A weak low does develop over SE Colorado and drop southwards ..with the warm front essentially stalling it will become stationary.
It is this frontal boundary that will serve as the focus for severe weather.
The map above indicates where we think the worst of the severe with tornado potential will be based on the shear and the EHI. The best time for those will be between 00z and 09 Z...

Saturday, April 7, 2012

April 7th 2012 Severe Weather Potential

severe

Severe Weather Outlook for Today...
Wanted to get this out before 2 AM
Cold front will be slowly sagging to the southeast and it is this cold front that will serve as the trigger. Greatest threat will be hail with some possible wind damage as well..
The potential for isolated tornado's should be in the area zoned as the greatest threat area. These storms will die off during the evening due to the boundary layer cooling off...
CAPE 1000-2000
Lift Index to about - 8
The greatest amount of shear appears that it will be BEHIND the front ..which essentially means tornado threat over all looks to be low and should be isolated...

Wednesday, April 4, 2012

Severe Potential 4/5/12

severe

Latest Severe Outlook for tomorrow.. 4/5/12
Generally looks like a lower threat for severe weather ...
CAPE is about 500-1500 which is much lower then what it has been..
Same low pressure system and frontal system that has been responsible for the severe weather the past several days will once again be the culprit that could cause severe weather again today!

Tuesday, April 3, 2012

April 4th Severe Weather Outlook

severe

Latest SREF not all that impressed for severe weather in the northern sections ..Parameters to the north on the NAM as far as CAPE are only around 500. The greatest threat appears again to be the southern areas ..matter of fact ..tomorrow looks like it will be due east of where it is today.

April 3rd Severe Outlook

severe

Severe Outlook for today the 3rd. This map is slightly a different format with the gray shading meaning low risk and the red shading meaning the greatest risk..
Based off a blend of the latest NAM/SREF
Again greatest threats will be Large Hail and Damaging winds..
Tornado's are possible as well..essentially in the greatest risk area...

Sunday, April 1, 2012

April 2nd Severe Weather Outlook

severe

Alright the guidance tonight such as the NAM is throwing some pretty off the hook parameters across the zone highlighted above.. SREF is also pretty much on the bullish side but we are going to look at the NAM first and then the GFS…

NAM CAPE 500 to as great as 4500 depending where you are located..

NAM Lift Index 0 to negative 11 indicating great lift across the region highlighted above.

EHI is from 1 to 2 + less north Texas- Greatest South TX…

Shear Surface to 500 mb is 40 + knots which is more then sufficient ..

Surface Temps in the 70s to 80s

Looking at the GFS it has the following Parameters

GFS CAPE 1000-4000 depending where you are located

Lift Index – 4 to –8

Lapse rates are 7.0-8.0

Shear 25-40 knots..

There is no doubt about the severe parameters on the guidance being off the hook. Problem lies in the timing of the storms..

NAM essentially keeps things dry until after the 11 PM our across TX..so basically would be over night severe weather potential..

GFS however starts to more or less develop the storms between 2 PM and 8 PM EST..

At the surface we are anticipating one low pressure system to be over Iowa from that low a cold front should trail to the south southwest to another low over N Texas panhandle region with a cold front trailing to the south of that low pressure area. This cold front by Monday evening should still be west of San Antonio TX..

Storms will develop out ahead of this cold front..and this cold front should cross Jacks County by 12 Z Tuesday morning.

Now with these parameters that are in place we do think that the potential exists for all three types of severe weather..

We think a general 2% to 5% tornado risk will be in place in TX (less north-Greatest south)

We also think that the threat will exist for large hail and wind…

Please stay tuned for more updates and we will be following and tracking this till the event is past..

Keep your NOAA weather radio on hand as well.

Remember that if severe weather is expected to effect your area to follow your regions safety plan and if your region does not have one make sure you have one of your own in place to follow.

These storms will also contain heavy rain so be careful not to drive or walk thru any standing water because you never know how deep it is..