Many with an interest in severe weather or storm chasing attended the annual Storm Fury on the Plains storm spotter training at the Parsons Municipal Building on Monday evening.
Labette County Emergency Manager Charlie Morse noted this was the first year in many years that the event was held in Parsons.
Vanessa Pearce from the National Weather Service of Wichita was the evening’s presenter, and introduced herself, noting that she has always had an affinity for weather and meteorology.
The free training taught budding storm chasers and weather enthusiasts how to identify storm features that help a person to recognize the storm’s potential severity, how to identify various types of storms, and how to report severe or hazardous weather safely and accurately.
Kansas leads the nation in severe weather events, with an average of 62 reports of severe weather per year. According to Pearce, the state with the second-most number of incidents is Oklahoma, with an average of 52 reports annually.
Severe weather is defined as any storm with hail that is golfball-sized or larger, winds of 70 miles an hour or more, and tornadoes, according to Pearce.
In a typical year, there are 1.6 or 1 to 2 reports of tornadoes in Labette County, and an average of 14 severe thunderstorm warnings.
A watch vs. a warning
Pearce described the difference between a weather watch and a weather warning.
“A Watch is like when you have all the ingredients to bake cookies or cupcakes, or make tacos…We have all the ingredients, but we have don’t have everything put together yet. So all the ingredients are there for a storm, but we don’t have a storm yet,” Pearce said.
A warning means that those ingredients have been combined, Pearce said.
Another difference is the length of time that notice will be in effect, and the area it covers. A watch will be in effect for several hours and cover a broader area than a warning will. Pearce said a warning could cover multiple states.
“It’s really the ‘get ready’ stage. Get prepared, make sure you have a plan in place, where you are going to shelter — all that kind of stuff,” Pearce said.
She said that a warning means that severe weather is actively occurring in your area, the warning typically lasts between 30 and 90 minutes.
“The average lead time for warnings is 15 minutes. That’s it,” Pearce said. “That is the ‘take action’ time.”
Pearce said one should take shelter when a warning is issued.
Automatic weather alerts received on mobile devices are triggered for tornadoes, winds over 80 miles per hour, baseball-sized hail or larger, and flash flooding.
Reports for less intense storms can be received through the CodeRED app, according to Charlie Morse.
Severe weather safety tips
During thunderstorms, the best defense is to stay inside a sturdy building or shelter, according to NWS. The greatest concerns are lightning, large hail, damaging winds, flooding, heavy rain, and tornadoes. Thunderstorms will most often pass by a location in less than one hour.
While sheltering, the NWS recommends staying away from windows, as well as avoiding electrical equipment and plumbing. Bring pets inside and secure loose objects outside if there is time, as these objects can become dangerous flying debris in high winds.
If caught outside, one should take shelter in an enclosed building or a hard-top vehicle. Avoid open spaces, isolated objects, high ground, and metallic objects to prevent being struck by lightning. Get out of boats and away from bodies of water.
This is the first part in a multi-part series on severe weather and weather safety for Severe Weather Preparedness Month, which is recognized in March. The next part in this series will highlight different types of tornadoes and tornado safety.
