TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (WTXL) — With the potential for strong to severe storms back in the forecast, it's never a bad time to review the difference between a tornado watch and a tornado warning.
Tornado watches are usually issued in advance of the expected arrival of severe storms, typically getting a lead time of hours before the event. The watch usually spans several counties and can stretch across neighboring states.
A watch means that environmental conditions are favorable for the development of severe thunderstorms capable of producing tornadoes.
What you need to do under a watch is stay weather-aware, make sure you have a plan in place and you know where your safe place is. That's going to be the lowest, smallest most interior room of your house as possible, typically a closet or a bathroom, putting as many walls between you and the outside as possible.
If you're issued a tornado warning then it's time to go to your safe place. That means a tornado is imminent within a specific area (usually parts of a county or counties) and it's been spotted by a trained storm spotter or detected by rotation on radar.
Lead time for rotation for tornado warnings is minutes.
So make sure you have a plan in place and make sure you have reliable ways to get watches and warnings. You can download the Storm Shield app on your cell phone, that will push all alerts to you over the next few days before the weather clears out again for this week.
