I'm sure you all remember the MCS that struck southern Missouri earlier this month. You can see the NASTY satellite imagery on the left. As this storm barreled across southern Missouri, it produced winds in excess of 100 miles per hour in some spots, but in most places about 80 m.p.h., which is still VERY dangerous. You can see some horrific damage to a station that is still not on air.
How were the average people in the path of this storm supposed to know how dangerous this storm was as it barreled towards them? They were under a severe thunderstorm warning. They probably shrugged that off of their shoulders saying something like, "Oh, this happens ALL of the time," and went on doing what they would have done normally during a thunderstorm. What would you do?
If you just heard, "A severe thunderstorm warning has been issued for your county," with your weather radio, would you necessarily listen to the rest of the statement? Some might, and take proper action; some may, and still underestimate the risks, even though it says winds in excess of 80 miles per hour; some may not hear the wind speeds at all, and just stay inside their un-safe-for-bad-storms area.
This is why people want to change the rating system for severe thunderstorm warnings. An example would be one of my thoughts below:
>STORM WARNING : Same criteria, and people should still take the basic precautions.
>PARTICULARLY SEVERE STORM: Wind gusts in excess of 80. Great damage is LIKELY if you are in the direct path of this storm. People should take the same precautions as for a tornado. Here is an example.
>TORNADO WARNING: A tornado is on the ground in your area, or is soon likely to come. Take tornado precautions IMMEDIATELY.
As you can see, this would give a 3 level system:
>The basic warning would be issued that would be common and tell the people to just take basic thunderstorm precautions, and to be ready for some potentially gusty winds.
>A warning would be used less commonly, thus taken more seriously. This would basically state a very rare, very dangerous storm is coming your way, and you should take the same precautions as for a tornado.
>A tornado warning would actually mean there's a tornado ON THE GROUND, or one is eminent, and you should take tornado precautions
There are many more pros and cons to this "3 alert level system" I have made up. Many changes can be made, and I'd love to hear them.
Have ideas on how to make this better or questions? POST THEM PLEASE!!! Anybody can.
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