Think about getting a NOAA Weather Radio. It provides inexpensive, continuous updates directly from the National Weather Service for all watches, warnings, and advisories. Local forecasts, climate information, and area observations can be heard when no severe weather is in progress.

General garden variety thunderstorms are nice, but occasionally they turn severe. A watch is issued by the Storm Prediction Center in Norman, Oklahoma when the possibility of strong winds or large hail exists in an area.

A Severe Thunderstorm warning means that storms are capable of producing 58 mph winds or greater, and/or hail 3/4" or larger in size. It is issued locally by the National Weather Service office.

By comparison tornado winds are stronger than hurricane winds. The fastest hurricane winds are about 150 mph. See F2 tornado winds below. Most tornadoes are only on the ground for a few minutes and are black in color from the dust and dirt they suck up.

The enhanced fujita damage scale is used in determining tornadic winds by the damage they produce. EF0 produces light damage with winds up to 72 mph. EF1 produces moderate damage with winds between 73-112 mph. EF2 produces considerable damage with winds between 113-157 mph. EF3 produces severe damage with winds between 158-206 mph. EF4 produces devastating damage with winds between 207-260 mph. And EF5 tornadoes produce incredible damage with winds of more than 261 mph.

There is a misconception opening windows before a tornado will allow air to flow through the house and equalize the air pressure to prevent damage to the structure. This is false! Structure damage is caused by the rotating winds from the tornado which could be more than 300 mph.

Lightning is 5 times hotter than the surface of the sun. Its temperature is about 50,000 degrees and 65-75 people die each year from it. These accidents can be avoided with some common sense. Remember if you can hear thunder, then you can be struck by lightning no matter how far away.

Flooding is the number one killer in the United States. It takes only six inches of fast moving water to knock people off their feet, and two feet of water will float most vehicles (including vans and SUV's).