Be Ready, Not Lucky

Does your family and business have a tornado plan? Now is the time to make sure that you do.

No one thinks that a tornado will happen to them. And there is a lot of truth to that. The chance is a very small one. But, that day might come that you might look out the window and see the unthinkable coming at you. When and if it does you and every member of your family or team of employees has to know exactly what to do, instinctively.

First, you have to be weather aware. That means checking the weather every day, especially during our prime severe weather seasons of spring and fall. An easy way is to watch any of the newscasts on ABC3340. If you prefer email, subscribe to our e-forecast. Or just visit the blog. That way you can be mentally aware in advance.

You also need to make sure that you have a reliable way to receive severe weather information immediately. A NOAA Weatheradio is the best device available.

ABC3340, Publix Supermarkets and Handy TV are all partnering to bring top quality Midland Weatheradios to Alabamians for just $29.95, about the price of a takeout meal for a family of four. Go here for more information on how to get yours today.

They are simple to program so that you receive the warnings just for the counties you desire. Check Brian’s post for some good programming tips.

Then, all you have to do is turn it on, set it on alert, and it will alarm when watches or warnings are issued for your county. Perfect for waking you up in the middle of the night with advance warning. Today will unfortunately be a good day for testing your Weather Radio in a real situation.

Most of us have PDAs or data enabled cell phones. If you do, you can receive warnings on our E-Warn service. Again, you can program your free subscription to receive only the particular warnings that you want for the counties that you need. Go to www.abc3340.com/weather and follow the links for E-Warn.

When a tornado warning is issued, there is no better place to stay on top of the severe weather than ABC3340. We provide the best longform tornado coverage you can get anywhere with an extensive team of weather professionals that focus on getting information to you.

If you are not near a television, our coverage is simulcast on several radio stations across Central Alabama. And J.B. is broadcast live on several other stations. You can watch streaming video of our longform coverage on the ABC3340 weather website. Just go to www.abc3340.com/weather and click on the streaming video link.

If you are at work and are restricted from watching our video or hearing a radio, stay with us right here on the ABC 3340 Weather Blog. We have beefed up our servers and they will get quite a test today. We will have frequent updates on the blog along with posts from our extensive audience of readers.

We have been preaching the fact that you should not rely on sirens to warn you. Sirens have a place in our warning systems: to alert people who are outdoors away from their weather information source. They cannot be relied upon to wake you or to alert you when you are in a closed house or building.

A critical part of being weather aware is to gain an understanding of the signs of severe weather. Living in Alabama, you have seen your share of strong thunderstorms, I am sure. When you see dark, threatening clouds or hear thunder, check out your weather source.

Finally, know your tornado safety rules. Rehearse them with your family and employees before the weather gets bad. Better to be ready than lucky.

Our goal this year is no tornado fatalities in North or Central Alabama. Let’s work together to make it a reality. Today will be a good start.

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