If so, I hope whatever develops misses you. And everyone else, for that matter.
Stay safe!
Just to be clear, a “tornado watch” really isn’t all that worrisome. All that means is that it’s stormy and conditions are right that tornadoes might plausibly form, so you should keep an eye out and an ear to the radio just in case. When I was growing up in Cleveland, we had those at least twice a year.
More serious is a tornado warning. That means that an actual no-foolin’ tornado has actually been sighted. Which still probably won’t affect most of the people who get the warning, but it probably will affect some of them.
I will be by tonight (central IA). Have to drive to Des Moines and back for a job. It’s a dealer loaner car - wonder who pays for hail damage 
Considering the today’s weather, I think that view is a bit worrisome. There are a number of tornadoes sighted, and on the ground right now. Click on the radar button just to see how bad it is.
Normally, I would agree with you (and I currently live near Cleveland), but the thing that is worrisome today is that the watch was issued 24 hours in advance.
Well, there are tornado watches and then there are tornado watches (note the red lettering; “THIS IS A PARTICULARLY DANGEROUS SITUATION”, meaning there is a high probability of significant tornadoes, same goes for a “high risk”). Although the chances of actually getting hit by a tornado is still very small (they say there is up to a 45% chance - within 25 miles radius).
They don’t issue watches that far in advance, more like a few hours and in effect for 6-8 hours; you are probably thinking of the ones they had yesterday (which were different watches).
What exactly am I supposed to be looking for on that page? All I get is a Google map with four location markers on it, labeled with what appear to be the names of tour groups. And clicking the markers just gets me live feeds from cars driving down unremarkable-looking roads. Nor does the radar button give any explanation of what it’s showing, and I can’t see any other controls on the page.
Perhaps. I didn’t think they issued them that far in advance, either. Either way, the likelihood of severe weather in the Midwestern states has been a leading news item since early this morning, which is what prompted my post.
Actually this is only the second time that such a warning has been issued so far in advance. I read an article this morning, can’t remember where, that said that the only other time it’s been done was in 2006, (I think). And that weather system spawned 100 tornadoes.
I’m in Kansas, the eastern part, so you bet I’m keeping an eye on the weather.
I’m at the Northern edge of it in Southern Wisconsin. We’re supposed to get smacked with rain and hail Sunday morning/afternoon. I waiting to see what actually happens to plan my day. If it turns out to be nothing, I’m driving from Milwaukee to Madison. If it’s ugly, I’ll stay put.
Right now, I’m going to mow my lawn or it’ll be about 7 inches long after all that rain. Especially if there’s any kind of sun mixed in with it.
Got a good storm hitting right now here just north of Des Moines. Car’s in the garage, cats are all accounted for, and books & candles on hand if we lose power.
I have a tornado siren right over the back fence, so no fear of missing any warnings.
I just saw on the Weather Channel that there’s a tornado warning for Salina, Kansas, and they showed video of a huge tornado. I hope my cousin and his family will be OK, Salina is their home.
It’s really starting to blow up now. Luckily, the new tornadoes are in sparsely populated areas. It’s going to get dark soon and that will just make things worse.
The tornado-producing stormlet that was over Hutchinson, KS an hour ago might have hit us soon (here in Lawrence), but apparently it’s petering out, so looks unlikely that we’ll get much action. Getting windy out there, though, and hail is a possibility tonight.
The warnings are now becoming PDS warnings, which are a step above a regular tornado warning. PDS stands for potentially dangerous situation and means a tornado is on the ground and causing damage. The only higher level of warning is a Tornado Emergency.
Stay safe everyone.
Sirens went off at 1.30 am here. We can barely hear the siren when we are awake so we didn’t hear it until closer to 2.30. Thankfully no tornado although there was real wind and hail damage about 1 mile south. Northwest OK is getting hit pretty hard with a couple on the ground. They are expecting the Oklahoma City metro area to get hit after midnight. I am worried this is my first tornado season in Oak. Right now we have wind warnings until 2am.
Stay safe everyone
Do you have a weather band radio? You can get them pretty cheaply and when there is an alert in your area they will turn on automatically with an alarm. I wouldn’t be without one in Tornado Alley.
Watching a big cone move from NW OK towards Wichita-ish area right now. South of us in Norman got hit yesterday. We had sirens at 2:00am this morning. Still waiting to see what the OKC area will go thru in tonight’s overnight.
Besides weather radios, smart phone apps and even text message warnings also go out from OKC’s TV news stations. You have to sign up for them, but they’re free.
Gary England: “We’ll keep you advised.”