Oklahomans Know Weather, but Do They Know Storm Preparedness?

Preparedness includes understanding severe weather terms and thinking ahead.

Storm preparedness begins with knowing what your needs will be during that storm. For a tornado, it could be stocking your storm shelter with what you and your family -- including pets -- will need. Photo credit: Madison Horton.

In Oklahoma, we get a lot of severe weather. From severe thunderstorms to severe winter weather, you need to be prepared.

ENN asked the National Weather Service in Norman for tips on how to prepare for bad weather in all seasons.

Watches and warnings

The first thing you need to know is the difference between a watch and a warning. 

Rick Smith, the warning coordination meteorologist for NWS Norman, said, “The simplest way to explain it is: a watch just means to watch out.”

Be ready and be prepared. But know that whatever the watch is for might not happen where you are until hours after it’s issued, or it might not happen at all. All a watch means is that the ingredients for an event are there; they just have to come together for something to happen. 

Sometimes that something happens, while other times nothing happens.

A warning, on the other hand, is much more menacing.

“A warning is an urgent message saying it's either about to happen, or it's already happening,” Smith said. 

When you get a warning, you need to take the proper safety precautions for that warning, such as seeking shelter during a tornado.

Receiving warnings

Now more than ever, there are a plethora of ways to receive a warning. Smith said it’s important to have more than one way to receive a warning. A couple of ways you can receive warnings are on television, through your phone via apps or wireless emergency alerts, or on a NOAA weather radio. 

“If you want to get awakened in the middle of the night by a warning, that's really what you need to have,” Smith said about the weather radios.

The last option is outdoor warning sirens. These should not be used as your primary or only source of receiving a warning, he said. They’re meant to alert you if you are outside, not inside. 

You need to have multiple ways to receive a warning because they could fail at any time. With phone apps or wireless emergency alerts, you can lose service and not be able to access the internet. For the television, you can lose power and not be able to access the coverage. Having multiple ways to receive warnings can help lessen the chance of not receiving a warning.

Severe thunderstorms

NWS classifies severe thunderstorms as having one of the following: hail one inch in diameter or larger, winds of 58 mph, or producing hail or wind damage.

The storm's severity dictates the safety measures you should take. 

“Depending on what the severe thunderstorm is producing, a lot of times your safety precautions for a really bad severe thunderstorm are essentially the same as a tornado,” Smith said.

One of these cases might be a storm that is producing 90 mph wind with baseball-sized hail. While a tornado warning will not be issued, it is important to take it seriously and treat it like a tornado, considering such storms can be just as deadly and dangerous. For less severe thunderstorms, staying away from windows and staying in a sturdy building are recommended. 

Tornado safety

When a tornado warning is issued, it is very important to get to a safe place to shelter. You don’t want to be outside, in a vehicle or mobile home.

“The goal when you're taking shelter from a tornado is to put as many barriers between you and the tornado as you can,” Smith said.

If you have a storm shelter, that’s the best place to be. If not, get to the first floor of a sturdy building, get in a basement, get as many walls between you and the outdoors as you can. 

“Get in, get down, cover up.” Smith said.

In case something falls on you, you need to be protected. Smith said to use sleeping bags, mattresses, couch cushions and other items like those. 

Stay in shelter until the threat is over. 

Severe weather preparedness kit

One way to stay prepared is to have a severe weather preparedness kit.

Smith recommended having a three-day supply of emergency things you may need. For a tornado, you don’t necessarily need the full three-day kit. Make sure you have a flashlight, your phone battery is fully charged (take a charger and/or a portable battery pack if needed), food, water and prescription medications. 

“For those of us who have pets, you can't forget about the pets,” he said.

Even though you may think you can hold your pet for a 10- or 15-minute tornado warning, it could be longer, so you need to bring a collar, leash or carrier for them. Don’t forget food, water or medication if they need it.

Another thing to consider before taking shelter is making sure you are dressed for the worst-case scenario. 

“If you come out of your shelter and your home is seriously damaged, it may be cold, rainy and you may be walking through glass, broken wood, debris, mud in the cold rain. So long pants, long-sleeve shirt or jacket and closed-toed shoes. ... Hopefully, it won't happen, but it's better to be safe than sorry,” Smith said.

Safety for other types of severe weather

Other than tornadoes and severe thunderstorms, Oklahomans see other types of severe weather. Winter storms, extreme heat, extreme cold, wildfires, dust storms and flooding are among these.

For flooding, you need to get to higher ground. If in a car, a common saying is “turn around, don’t drown.”

This saying may seem trite, but drivers have died in floods because they tried to drive through water their cars couldn't clear.

For winter storms, Smith said most of the time our winter weather primarily impacts people on the roads. Stay safe by not traveling, if possible. If you must travel, pay attention, be extra careful and leave early. Winter storms can also cause power outages, so it is important to have the right supplies for an outage. If you have a severe weather preparedness kit, you have most of what you need.

With the other types of severe weather, having a severe weather preparedness kit and taking the precautions recommended by officials can help you be safe during those events.

What you shouldn’t do

While there are plenty of things you should do to prepare for severe weather, there are also a couple of things you shouldn’t do. 

Don’t rely on outdoor warning sirens. Sirens don’t always go off during a warning, and most of the time you can't hear them. 

Another thing is thinking that your location can never be hit by a tornado. 

Many people think that because your area has never been affected by a tornado or because you live on a hill, in a valley or near a lake, you can’t get a tornado. This is not true, and it's a dangerous belief.

“Tornadoes can happen anywhere, at any time. There's nothing out there that protects us from those, and just because it hasn't happened yet doesn't mean it's not going to or can't happen,” Smith said.

Being prepared for a tornado and not thinking that you’re immune to them is one of the best things you can do to be prepared. 

Don’t be scared, be prepared

If you know there is a severe weather event coming up, get prepared. Even if you don’t use whatever you have gathered, it’s there for next time.

“The more you do in advance, the easier it's going to be when and if it happens, the less stressful and the better prepared you and your family are gonna be,” Smith said.