Watches vs. Warnings

Now that we are officially in meteorological spring we have our next docket of nasty storms available. With that next group of storms comes along the watches and warnings for severe weather, but even I get a tad confused about what the difference is between the two.

First off, we have the lesser of the two – warnings. Warnings are exactly what they sound like, they are there to warn you about the likely development of severe weather in the area. The important thing to do when one of these is announced is to figure out what kind of storm the warning is about and to be on the lookout for the formation of the storm or worsening of the conditions outside. Watches on the other hand are there to inform you that the severe threat, i.e. a tornado, has formed in the area and is nearby.

The correct action to take when this alert is sent out is to gather more information about the storm, get in your safe place to reduce your risk of this event and to do it as quickly as possible, as watches are for a small specific area of high risk in the coming minutes. There is one more alert that has never been used, but is the most severe warning of all, Emergency. This is only allowed to be used in extreme circumstances of high risk with little to no warning time.

In the case of this being issued for your area, which the area in this would be extremely small maybe 5-25 square miles, you have hunker down as best you can immediately, you don’t have time to go somewhere else or get out of the way, if this is issued it is already right on top of you. Email me at tomy3290@

Email me at tomy3290@ gmail.com with your weather questions.