Tech Table Thursday, May 15, 2014
May 15, 2014
Justin: Welcome to MPA’s Tech Table. I’m Justin.
Diana: And I’m Diana.
Justin: And we’re your hosts. We’ll be serving up a heaping spoonful of all things tech.
Diana: We promise, it’ll be easy to digest. Well, it is Theme Thursday and have we got a theme for you.
Justin: That’s right. We’re going to be talking about tornado safety. It sounds exciting but this time of year…
Diana: Frightening.
Justin: …where we live, in the mid-West you’re bound to have these storms that spawn tornados. They can be quite devastating. There are several tools available to help you be prepared and take action in the event of a tornado in your area.
Diana: Yes, now first, a couple of definitions. Tornado watch. A tornado watch is issued when weather conditions are capable of producing a tornado.
Justin: I think that’s really important: it’s a watch. I’ve seen people move here from other places… I grew up with this but people move here from Maine and they don’t really have tornados in Maine and they think a watch is what we know as a warning and they panic. They start running around in circles and screaming. I’ve literally seen that happen.
Diana: There is no need to do that but…
Justin: No. I wouldn’t do that in a warning situation either.
Diana: No, no, no. What you should do is just be prepared to take cover quickly if a tornado warning becomes issues.
Justin: Right. A watch just means keep an eye on the sky and on the weather. There are so many apps and things nowadays that will let you know.
Diana: My phone notifies me if there’s even a watch that comes up. Then it goes to warning and it notifies me again.
Justin: Likewise, we can have flash flood watches, severe thunderstorm watches. And usually that’s what happens first: you have a severe thunderstorm watch and then a tornado watch. And then warnings. But sometimes it’s just a tornado watch or a tornado warning.
Diana: Right. So what is a tornado warning then, Justin?
Justin: A tornado warning is issued when an actual tornado has been Now, I’m not sure if these days…I believe it is not actually, they don’t always rely on just spotter information alone. I believe it is a radar indicated rotation.
Diana: Well, technology has just come so far.
Justin: So the National Weather Service I believe they go on radar alone and then they try to have a spotter confirm it, confirm that there’s rotation. That’s a tornado warning. At any rate, when you hear the word ‘warning’ you should take cover immediately if there’s a tornado warning for your area.
Diana: NOAA, the National weather service, has a storm prediction center website. On the website you can see current days and multi day severe weather outlook. During the stormy seasons a quick visit to the website will tell you that the weather risk is either high or low or moderate for the day. And that website is www dot SPC dot NOAA dot gov.
Justin: You really should have things to be prepared for since we live this area. The Red Cross has a great set of web pages to help you be prepared for tornados. That’s RedCross dot org and you just type ‘tornado’ in their search bar on that website and they’ll give you tornado safety tips…
Diana: Look for the links.
Justin: There are tips on preparing, responding and recovering. And of course, Smartphone apps are out there for alerts, tips. And the Red Cross has one. Most big television stations and radio stations these days have apps.
Diana: It’s true. And then of course, you can get your old fashioned weather radio and use that.
Justin: Absolutely. So be prepared and be safe. Until next time.
Diana: Take care.
Justin: Tech Table is brought to you by MPA of Bloomfield, Iowa and God’s Country Radio. You can visit us online at askMPA dot com.
Diana: If you have questions or comments please send them to questions at askMPA dot com. That’s questions at askMPA dot com.
Justin: And thanks for listening.
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