Weather Radios save lives!!!

It's been extremely disturbing to me as I have talked with local folks about Wednesday night/Thursday morning, how many were completely oblivious of how bad and how close to home it was. I hear... "There was a tornado?!" Christine mentioned in her comment on my other post, a topic that I was planning to cover in great detail today. Weather Radios, NOAA Weather Radios are an essential life-saving device for every household, as essential as a smoke detector... especially, as is the case with my county, a county without a tornado siren, as ridiculous as that is! (According to my county's emergency manager, plans are in the works to acquire a siren.) **The image is of the weather radio I use**

As Mini-Dew shared with her friends, the story of us hunkered down in the hallway behind a mattress, she talked to many from the same general area, who 1. slept right through it, 2. didn't even know there was a storm and 3. don't have a weather radio! Don't have a weather radio?! Don't have a weather radio?! Why not?!

Anywhere you live in the United States, you need to have a NOAA weather radio. Weather radios are much more advanced than they used to be. EAS tones are loud enough to wake me from a solid sleep, which is not an easy task, but they awaken me, and I treat all weather advisories very seriously. If you get one that is SAME enabled, you can set yours up to only alert you for relevant warnings for the counties of your choosing. On Wednesday night, my radio sounded 5 times. The first was prior to me going to sleep, and it alerted me that the National Weather Service (well, the SPC) had issued a Severe Thunderstorm Watch (remember, that means conditions are present for a good chance of severe thunderstorms, which COULD include tornadoes), which included my county and surrounding counties. I had expected at least that given the approaching frontal boundary moving in from our north, and I actually expected a tornado watch because of the interaction I anticipated with the moisture boundary feeding in off the Gulf. I knew it would happen. I knew it would happen at night. The only thing I didn't know was specifically where that initiation would occur, but I had an uneasy feeling all week to that point that it might be in my neck of the woods, but that depended on the speed of the approaching cold frontal boundary. After falling asleep, my weather radio blared announcing a tornado warning (a tornado warning means that a tornado is likely in the area, seek shelter immediately) in my neighboring county, indicating that this was an actual tornado with significant damage reported in its wake, and that anyone in its path should immediately seek shelter in their safe place (basement or interior room in a STURDY STRUCTURE-- remember the pics of non-sturdy structures...). The exact warning...

AT 112 AM EST...NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE DOPPLER RADAR WAS TRACKING A TORNADO (not doppler indicated, but a tornado) 23 MILES WEST OF QUITMAN...OR NEAR THOMASVILLE...MOVING EAST AT 60 MPH.

* THE TORNADO WILL BE NEAR... QUITMAN BY 135 AM EST...

THIS IS A VERY DANGEROUS AND LIFE THREATENING SITUATION. NUMEROUS REPORTS OF SIGNIFICANT DAMAGE HAVE BEEN RECEIVED ACROSS GRADY AND WESTERN THOMAS COUNTY. IF YOU ARE IN THE PATH OF THIS STORM YOU MUST SEEK SHELTER IN A STURDY SHELTER IMMEDIATELY! THIS IS A LIFE THREATENING SITUATION!

A very dangerous and life threatening situation... numerous reports of SIGNIFICANT DAMAGE have been received... IF YOU ARE IN THE PATH OF THIS STORM, YOU MUST SEEK SHELTER IN A STURDY SHELTER IMMEDIATELY! THIS IS A LIFE THREATENING SITUATION! Over the past couple of days since the tornado event in south Georgia's, Grady and Thomas Counties, I have covered aspects of the event, from being in the middle of an immediate threat *live* to the significant damage and subsequent aftermath and recovery. This was a serious threat to life and property!!!

The damage captured in the above slideshow was caused by a very large, dangerous and destructive 400 yard wide EF3 tornado, which touched the ground no more than 25 miles from my home, and the persistent tornadic supercell subsequently raced my way, still showing signs of rotation on the radar, most likely dropping a funnel very close to my home (a spotter reported a tornado, but nothing on the ground can substantiate that report, but given radar signature, the number of visually obstructive trees on the road it was seen, I have no doubt that a funnel was most likely seen.)... and people (not us) were sleeping because they don't have a weather radio and didn't realize there was a threat... because they had gone to sleep after channel 6 weather news had reported that the threat was over... because the weather radio they do happen to have was annoying them with all the EAS tones blaring, and they actually removed the plug and the batteries (jaw dropped, what?!) The threat was real, the threat was right at our back door, and families were sleeping right through it. They were in imminent danger... their children were in imminent danger. The 2nd EAS tone alerted me to go check out the situation and see whether or not our situation was an imminent threat to our lives... radar confirmed, and a courtesy call from Mike confirmed. The cell was ablaze with energy, strong signature, most likely a tornado coming our way. I had just made the decision to get me and my family to our "safe spot" when the 3rd EAS tone came announcing our tornado warning. Exactly my area, we got under a mattress. It was after 2 long tracked tornadoes that the SPC issued a tornado watch, that being the 4th EAS tone with a bit of irony in my eyes as I crouched on my floor, holding tight to my daughter, as she held our dog behind a mattress in my hallway. Man, that was eerie. When I got the all clear from the the Weather Brigade (my storm chasing team), I checked radar, posted an "I'm ok." I crawled back into bed in time to hear the 5th and final EAS tone of the night... a tornado warning for the county to my northeast. Actually, in my grogginess, I think I cut off the radio for a 6th announcing a severe thunderstorm warning or watch for my eastern counties, but I knew that it didn't pertain to me.

THIS WAS A LIFE THREATENING SITUATION!

Buy your weather radio today! Seriously.

Check out this article... reverse 911 emergency alert system was not activated before the Thomas County tornado, and the emergency manager is now on unpaid administrative leave.

Have a lovely day,
~Dewdrop