Tornado Season is here - be prepared!!

Wow yesterday was somewhat scary in Tennessee and a lot of damage was done in the south. This might be a good time to make sure your weather radios has new batteries and if you don't have one and live in a high risk area you might consider getting one. I truly believe a radio with S.A.M.E can save your life by giving you at least some warning of a pending event. I just replaced my old Midland which has worked well for several years with a Sangean CL-100 and have found the quality outstanding and very easy to program which is a plus. A few features I like a lot are you can program a specific county for alerts as well as disable certain events like child abduction and the weekly test so you want be bothered with unwanted alarms that you may not care about or be a threat in your specific area. I believe most manufactures have models that have these features but I tend to believe people might turn their radios completely off if they are getting a lot of alarms that don't apply to them. I'm sure there are others who have more knowledge about radios who could give better advice about specific models and brands but if you live in a high risk area then consider getting one.

Was anyone else affected by the storms yesterday or see a tornado?

The CL-100 is the current favorite among tabletop emergency radios; if you'd prefer something a bit cheaper and a lot smaller, look into the portable Sangean DT-400W.

I used the TuneIn app and hunted around the dial as the storms were moving through the Lexington area yesterday, where the worst damage was. The only AM station that was covering it at all was just some guy who would read off the list of warnings and watches, then cut to commercial, repeat; no call ins or actual news coverage at all. So if you didn't have a weather radio during Friday's storms, you wouldn't have gotten any info at all.

Snapped this pic then ran to the basement:

Looks like theres an app for that

http://appshopper.com/weather/mywarn

StarHalo said:

The CL-100 is the current favorite among tabletop emergency radios; if you'd prefer something a bit cheaper and a lot smaller, look into the portable Sangean DT-400W.

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There really isn't much in the way of quality choice in this area, is there? I had a Midland W-100 that completely crapped out. It seems everyone is rushing to the CL-100 as it's a bit hard to find.

If you're averse to Midland, and you want full alert customizability, Sangean is really the only other name. And yes, I noticed that the CL-100 has a lot of glowing reviews that all popped up rather quickly, it would appear the weather radio category is rather heated. You can try giving Universal a call and they'll work with you.

I bought mine from Amazon a few weeks ago but it appears they are now sold out for now anyway. I'm sure after the tornado outbreak there was a rush for weather radios.

I'm just curious if anyone on the CPF has ever been involved or has knowledge of setting up a local early warning system for a community. Where I live we do not have an early warning system other than weather radios. I was checking out the Thunderbolt 1000 Alert Signal system on YouTube and it looks pretty cool, the siren spins around on top of a pole so it looks like you could place the siren on top of a existing telephone pole keeping cost down. I can't imagine a community system costing too much but I have no idea what the real cost are in terms of upkeep and keeping the system in communications with NOAA. I'm not sure why we do not have a system in place, I live just outside of Nashville TN in a small town so maybe cost is a factor. What is interesting is we have had two tornados in the last few years so you would think there would be a system in place.

West Liberty, KY looks like something out of WWII, I can't believe the damage.

~Deicide~ said:

Snapped this pic then ran to the basement:

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Looks scary! like a wall cloud! was that crap rising into the clouds? I saw a very similar storm, might have been the same cell. That largest one with the massive hail core that went through middle TN (although nothing compared to the ones in KY and IN) went just north of me, showing me her beautiful structures. Just wish pretty clouds weren't so dangerous.

BTW, my favorite radar website is Intellicast. Their "wxmap" in fullscreen mode, with storm alerts is useful to me. Just wish it had animated wind velocity map too... Other than that, it's a pretty rockin' radar, and is updated fairly quickly.

Hey Leb! :wave:

Even NWS forecast pages let you animate radar maps and the like so they're a good place to start.

As for lightning strikes I like a site that has Astrogenic/Storm-Vue or Boltek detection systems or software. Google "local lightning strikes" or "local lightning detection" and include your area in the search as well. You might find something like it that's useful for your neck of the woods.

On another note I know people who often turn off their weather radios because they are afraid it might wake them up. D'oh! Fortunately tornadoes are rare here but we do get other dangerous weather.

Lebkuecher said:

I'm just curious if anyone on the CPF has ever been involved or has knowledge of setting up a local early warning system for a community.

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Can't say I have, sounds like a fun project though. I've run across siren systems online, they're certainly not cheap, but perhaps there's some sort of compensation local government could help you out with..

Lebkuecher said:

West Liberty, KY looks like something out of WWII, I can't believe the damage.

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Yup. check out the 2:20 mark forward. That would definitely make you spit out the morning coffee to see that out back.

StarHalo said:

If you're averse to Midland, and you want full alert customizability, Sangean is really the only other name. And yes, I noticed that the CL-100 has a lot of glowing reviews that all popped up rather quickly, it would appear the weather radio category is rather heated. You can try giving Universal a call and they'll work with you.

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Thanks. Maybe more will have them in-stock once the budget rebounds from the latest buying spree. haha

Lebkuecher, we have a system in place, but to be honest, it's not easily heard indoors. Even worse when you're asleep too. Best to use a dependable alert radio. We recieve a telephone recorded warning usually too. Severe storms at night are just no fun. You could have the radio and system in place and still not feel 100% secure enough to get really restful sleep - unless you happen to have a Serta camped out underground.

Tornados warning... Be safe guys

I just see in the news that is a tornados warning in the area of Oklahoma and Texas

Be safe guys...


SFMI4UT

I dont remember post this message here... Anyway the feeling is the same. Be safe guys...


SFMI4UT

Seeing reports of 2"-per-hour rainfall with 1" diameter hail near the Fort Worth area; anyone near there want to update us?

So many tornado and power outage reports today that I can't keep up with them all. Anyone affected?

Anyone else see the IMAX show Tornado Alley? I watched it about a week ago and thought it was pretty good. Basically the movie revolves around a group of storm chasers trying to gather data with some real nice footage of tornados. It is similar to the storm chasers show on the discovery channel but with 3D.

Hey StarHalo

Based on your post you seem knowledgeable about what's going on with the weather, are you a chaser?

Lebkuecher said:

Based on your post you seem knowledgeable about what's going on with the weather, are you a chaser?

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Not quite; I was born and raised in Kansas, so I didn't have to chase storms, they came to me. It culminated in a five-day power outage ordeal in 20 degree temperatures, so I take the subject of power outages pretty seriously. Now I live in the California desert, where it rains less than 30 days out of the year and we don't have outages at all, I miss the action. I consume news voraciously, so I'm usually on top of the major storms and outages (there were six schools in Kentucky that lost power while in session this morning..)

I just heard on the news that Dallas –Fort Worth has been hit with two Tornados, anyone in the area?

I've been watching the coverage of the DFW tornados all afternoon. I hope everyone is ok there.