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