I can’t remember a severe weather day with so much advance publicity. NOAA, the federal agency that responsible for the Weather Service and Storm Prediction Center has been relentless in scary press releases. I got another this morning.
Tornadoes and large hail will be among the severe weather threats in the central and southern Plains on Saturday. Experts with NOAA’s National Weather Service will provide a briefing to explain what’s expected and what’s causing the latest round of potentially destructive weather.
First things first. No one doubts these warnings are warranted. Kudos to SPC for getting ahead of the weather.
STATE AND LOCAL EMERGENCY MANAGERS ARE MONITORING THIS POTENTIALLY VERY DANGEROUS SITUATION. THOSE IN THE THREATENED AREA ARE URGED TO REVIEW SEVERE WEATHER SAFETY RULES AND TO LISTEN TO RADIO…TELEVISION…AND NOAA WEATHER RADIO FOR POSSIBLE WATCHES…WARNINGS…AND STATEMENTS LATER TODAY.
One Tornado Watch for Eastern Nebraska and Western Iowa already contained a spacial admonition.
EFFECTIVE THIS SATURDAY AFTERNOON AND EVENING FROM NOON UNTIL 700 PM CDT.
…THIS IS A PARTICULARLY DANGEROUS SITUATION…
DESTRUCTIVE TORNADOES…LARGE HAIL TO 4 INCHES IN DIAMETER… THUNDERSTORM WIND GUSTS TO 70 MPH…AND DANGEROUS LIGHTNING ARE POSSIBLE IN THESE AREAS.
They’re called PDS watches–Particularly Dangerous Situation.
The best place to watch all this action is from the Storm Prediction Center‘s website. Everything will pass through there.
The biggest problem today is knowing tornadoes are coming is not enough. People can be sheltered, though some will not heed the warnings. For everything else all bets are off.
Note: The map at the top of this entry will update with live data until midnight, then will permanently contain data for 4/14/2012.