Comments on: It’s Time To Stop Issuing Tornado And Severe Thunderstorm Watch Boxes

By: Jo Johnstone

Jo Johnstone — Sat, 20 Aug 2016 13:20:34 +0000

As part of the general public and someone who has always loved weather, I pay close attention to weather forecasts and if there is a day coming up that the meteorologists are concerned about, I make sure to check each day’s forecast to see what is happening with the situation. If there is a watch issued, I listen for my county and for the counties surrounding mine. Then I stay tuned, via apps, Local 12, NWS, etc., till the event is over. But that’s me. I realize there are people out there that don’t pay any attention to the weather at all and that’s where the confusion starts, I believe. Important topic, Scott. Thanks. 🙂

By: Michael Potts

Michael Potts — Sat, 20 Aug 2016 03:15:01 +0000

Remember: “A TORNADO WATCH MEANS CONDITIONS ARE FAVORABLE FOR TORNADOES AND SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS IN AND CLOSE TO THE WATCH AREA.” So they technically have the counties outside of the designated box covered if they’re “close” enough.

I agree with your premise, but that leads to the problem transforming watches from the traditional binary “in” or “out” designation into probabilistic areas. Of course we weather geeks will look at the SPC outlooks and monitor the developing weather conditions to see what kinds and intensity of severe weather could happen, but we haven’t cracked the code on how to best communicate that to the general public yet.