SWAW: Focus on Severe Thunderstorms

SWAW stands for Severe Weather Awareness Week. This is an annual event, and has been since 1975, to focus on the weather threats which come with severe weather season in Alabama. Many, many states hold these educational events in an effort to increase the awareness of people to the severe weather threats and also to the procedures to follow for safety. Monday’s focus is on severe thunderstorms.

-Brian-

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PUBLIC INFORMATION STATEMENT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE BIRMINGHAM AL
630 AM CST MON FEB 17 2014

...THIS WEEK IS SEVERE WEATHER AWARENESS WEEK IN ALABAMA...
...TODAY IS SEVERE THUNDERSTORM AWARENESS DAY....

THIS WEEK HAS BEEN PROCLAIMED SEVERE WEATHER AWARENESS WEEK IN
ALABAMA BY GOVERNOR ROBERT BENTLEY. DURING THIS SPECIAL WEEK,
ALABAMIANS ARE ENCOURAGED TO LEARN AND OR REVIEW THE PROPER SAFETY
PRECAUTIONS NECESSARY FOR PROTECTING THEIR LIVES DURING SEVERE
WEATHER.

TODAY IS DEVOTED TO SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS. THUNDERSTORMS ARE A
COMMON OCCURRENCE IN ALABAMA DURING ANY TIME OF THE DAY, MONTH OR
YEAR. THERE ARE ABOUT 2000 THUNDERSTORMS IN PROGRESS AROUND THE
WORLD AT ANY GIVEN MOMENT. HOWEVER, LESS THAN ONE PERCENT OF THESE
THUNDERSTORMS ARE CLASSIFIED AS SEVERE. SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS ARE
DEFINED AS THUNDERSTORMS THAT PRODUCE HAIL ONE INCH OR LARGER AND
OR STRONG WIND GUSTS OF 58 MILES PER HOUR OR GREATER. SEVERE HAIL
THAT IS ONE INCH IN DIAMETER IS ROUGHLY THE SIZE OF A QUARTER.

ALL THUNDERSTORMS GENERATE POTENTIALLY DEADLY LIGHTNING. HOWEVER,
LIGHTNING IN A THUNDERSTORM DOES NOT NECESSARILY MEAN THAT THE
THUNDERSTORM IS SEVERE. OCCASIONALLY, A SMALL PERCENTAGE OF SEVERE
THUNDERSTORMS PRODUCE TORNADOES WITH LITTLE OR NO LIGHTNING AT ALL.

ALABAMA'S PEAK SEVERE WEATHER SEASON IS MARCH, APRIL AND MAY.
DURING THIS SEASON, SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS USUALLY FORM DURING THE
LATE AFTERNOON AND EVENING HOURS, BUT MAY FORM AT ANYTIME. ALABAMA
HAS A SECONDARY SEVERE WEATHER SEASON THAT RUNS FROM NOVEMBER
THROUGH MID DECEMBER. THEREFORE, SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS CAN AND DO
OCCUR IN ANY MONTH OF THE YEAR.

HERE ARE SOME SEVERE THUNDERSTORM SAFETY RULES...

THE BEST DEFENSE AGAINST THUNDERSTORMS IS TO STAY INSIDE A STURDY,
SUBSTANTIAL BUILDING THAT CAN PROTECT YOU FROM DEADLY LIGHTNING,
LARGE HAIL, DAMAGING WINDS, FLOODING RAIN AND TORNADOES.
FORTUNATELY, THUNDERSTORMS TYPICALLY DO NOT LAST VERY LONG AND
WILL MOST OFTEN PASS BY YOUR LOCATION IN LESS THAN ONE HOUR. IF
CAUGHT OUTSIDE, FIND SHELTER IMMEDIATELY. ONCE IN A SHELTER, STAY
AWAY FROM WINDOWS AND AVOID ELECTRICAL EQUIPMENT. BE SURE TO
SECURE LOOSE OBJECTS OUTSIDE AS THESE OBJECTS OFTEN BECOME
DANGEROUS FLYING DEBRIS IN HIGH WINDS.

A SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WATCH MEANS THAT CONDITIONS ARE FAVORABLE FOR
THE DEVELOPMENT OF SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS IN AND CLOSE TO THE WATCH
AREA. PEOPLE LOCATED IN AND AROUND THE WATCH AREA SHOULD KEEP AN
EYE TO THE SKY AND LISTEN TO THEIR NOAA WEATHER RADIO ALL HAZARDS
OR TUNE TO THE LOCAL BROADCAST MEDIA FOR FURTHER WEATHER
INFORMATION. TYPICALLY, WATCHES LAST AROUND 6 HOURS AND COVER A
RELATIVELY LARGE AREA.

A SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING MEANS THAT EITHER A SEVERE
THUNDERSTORM IS OCCURRING, HAS BEEN DETECTED BY NATIONAL WEATHER
SERVICE DOPPLER RADAR, OR A RELIABLE REPORT HAS BEEN RECEIVED.
PERSONS IN THE WARNED AREA SHOULD TAKE IMMEDIATE ACTION TO PROTECT
THEIR LIVES, LIVES OF OTHERS, AND THEIR PROPERTY. TORNADOES CAN
AND OCCASIONALLY DO ACCOMPANY SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS. TREAT THIS
WARNING THE SAME AS YOU WOULD FOR A TORNADO WARNING BY TAKING THE
PROPER SAFETY PRECAUTIONS. WARNINGS ARE ISSUED FOR SMALLER MORE
SPECIFIC LOCATIONS AND GENERALLY LAST FOR ONE HOUR OR LESS.

ON TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 18TH, THE EMPHASIS WILL BE PLACED ON LIGHTNING
AWARENESS, AN UNDERRATED WEATHER KILLER. FOR ADDITIONAL DETAILS,
VISIT OUR WEB SITE AT WWW.WEATHER.GOV AND THEN CLICK ON CENTRAL
ALABAMA, OR CONTACT JIM STEFKOVICH, METEOROLOGIST-IN-CHARGE,
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE BIRMINGHAM, AT 205-664-3010, EXTENSION
222, OR JOHN DE BLOCK, WARNING COORDINATION METEOROLOGIST, AT
EXTENSION 223.

$$

Category: Alabama's Weather, Severe Weather