Comment by dylan604 | Hacker News Reader

Comment by dylan604 | Hacker News Reader

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>We get severe storm warnings, but there's so many storms in tornado alley to be honest people get fatigue over them and mostly ignore other than maybe changing plans for a bbq

This is such a cop out. You can pay attention to the weather and make decisions based on that. People have chosen to carry on like nothing is happening. You can get alerts and warnings and watches issued for areas near you and see if the storm is coming or going. If you get alerts and see the system is to the east of you, then no problem. If you see the storm is southwest of you and still pay no attention to it, that's on you.

If people are single with no others to worry about, then fine, YOLO your life away. If people are "fatigued" with dependents and get caught up in it, it really irresponsible of them.

I never said it was clear cut. I stipulated that the multiday forecasts are sometimes farcically bad. However, when the severe stuff does hit, these guys are all over it. Choosing to ignore them when they are telling you it is there is totally mind boggling. When the severe weather is happening, they can literally show you the streets in the neighborhoods it is impacting or are directly in the path. If that's not your area, then fine, tune it out. But to say "I'm tired of hearing about weather not affecting me" is so so weak.

I was kind of close to a couple of tornadoes this summer.

Before, I believed it doesn't just sneak up on you but I am not sure anymore. We don't usually see tornadoes, and I don't think they were very big, so maybe that changes things.

One went a couple of blocks to the north of me. The tornado watch came out the day before so I was paying attention. I was standing on the porch watching in that direction. It was storming, but it wasn't a very strong storm. No green, no hail, no strong winds, rain was pretty average. Still didn't know until I started hearing about it through Twitter and a coworker. The warning came 10-15 minutes after he saw it.

The other storm that dropped a tornado went over us while we were at a park. It was sunny when we arrived ~20 minutes earlier. This one did have all of the classic signs - winds picked up out of nowhere, heavy rain, hail, etc. At least it made sense when we heard a tornado touched down.

Maybe it IS a weak argument, but I've seen dozens of tornado warnings where no tornado occurs. There are weeks where a severe t-storm watch is out 4-5 nights and it doesn't rain. Sometimes a severe t-storm warning comes out and it doesn't rain. It's really easy to start ignoring them. I even see winter storm warnings that fizzle out to a couple of inches of snow. The weather report is frequently a bad version of the boy who cried wolf.

SPC uses radar measurements (velocity) to detect rotation at different radar tilts. When you see 2 velocity points very close together, that usually raises the criteria to a warning. Sometimes, at the lowest tilt, we can detect debris on the radar..

But, as you said, not every warning translates into a confirmed tornado on the ground, a limitation of the current radar models.

People have lives and have to go to jobs. It's not a cop out. You can't go to the basement every time there's a tornado watch. It's just not a thing.

I really dislike how smug, dismissive, and judgemental you're being. I don't think this is a positive contribution.

nobody said go hide in the basement because it's cloudy and there's some thunder and lightning. all i'm saying is that when there's severe weather outside and you know you live in an area where severe weather has the potential to bring tornadoes, you check the weather. there's no need for the "we didn't know".

> You can't go to the basement every time there's a tornado watch.

You can, though. I grew up attending a summer camp in Iowa, and we did go to the basement anytime there's a _warning_. 24 hours a day, if there's a nearby warning, all 200 campers & staff crammed into a basement singing songs and trying to keep the first-graders from crying.

That said, being able to tell the difference between a tornado warning and "a tornado will be at your house in 10 minutes" is the kind of detail that will almost certainly get folks to move to the basement and save lives.

I think you have "warning" and "watch" reversed:

A "tornado watch" means the potential for a tornado.

A "tornado warning" means there IS a tornado on the ground.

For a _warning_, everyone should take cover.

But watches are sent out frequently, for large areas -- that means that most people won't see that watch turn into a warning.

No, I had them right. Watch means "turn the radio on", Warning means "go to the basement".

I think the person I was responding to had them backwards; nobody is hiding in the basement for a tornado _warning_.

> I think the person I was responding to had them backwards; nobody is hiding in the basement for a tornado _warning_.

The PP was arguing exactly that::

> > > You can't go to the basement every time there's a tornado watch. It's just not a thing.

They were making that argument in response to the top commenter who was arguing that folks should go to the basement on a watch notice:

> > > > > This is such a cop out. You can pay attention to the weather and make decisions based on that. People have chosen to carry on like nothing is happening. You can get alerts and warnings and watches issued for areas near you and see if the storm is coming or going. If you get alerts and see the system is to the east of you, then no problem. If you see the storm is southwest of you and still pay no attention to it, that's on you.

Well, a tornado warning could be either radar indicated or ground obs (big difference).

> A "tornado warning" means there IS a tornado on the ground

This used to be the rule. Not anymore. Warnings are issued based on radar indications which could be rotation, a funnel that’s not on the ground, or could be a false positive entirely.

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