Texas Flood

Weather is a powerful force. It can be dangerous & the United States is well known for its extremes in weather.

One part can be brutally hot and the other brutally cold. Meteorology is the study of weather and thanks to technology it's come a long way.

Can you imagine what it was like 100's of years ago when no such field existed? The study of weather came down to your own 2 eyeballs and 2 ears. There could be a violent tornado on the way to your location and you would have no idea it was coming.Now a meterologist can look at various models and say such and such a location has anywhere from a 2% to a 15% chance of an EF2 tornado or greater within a 25 mile radius. They're usually accurate to a "t.". We're doing far better than we used to.

You can find these forecasts at the Storm Prediction Center. Check out the Convection Reports. You can also see Current Watches and Mesoscale discussions.

I check every day.

https://www.spc.noaa.gov

Our area is not prone to dangerous floods but it does have a good chance of severe weather including tornadoes given the right conditions.

I've written about weather preparedness in my word press blog because i believe it is that important.

Here are some of the points i've stressed that can be applied to all types of weather events.

1. Don't be scared, be prepared. Become weather aware. Check the convection reports as well as local weather on a daily basis. Weather can rapidly change.

Many events end in tragedy from a lack of awareness. The more prepared you are the more likely you are to survive.

So you have to be weather aware. It doesn't help if you don't know what's coming.

2.The most dangerous tornadoes occur at night. This is the most dangerous time for any weather event for the same reason across the board. People are usually sleeping. You have to have some way of being alerted. This could be a friend, family member, phone or radio alert. The latter 2 being the most dependable.

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Heed all watches/warnings. We can always hope they're wrong but they only have to be right once.

Never become complacent. People tend to start blowing them off when nothing occurs more often than not. Weather forecasting can be tricky-the models are generally accurate but weather is also known to be unpredictable no matter how accurate the report.

I've seen where a model shows a good chance of a tornado outbreak in a given area and nothing happens but another area suddenly reports on a tornado that wasn't expected.Still, the models do a fantastic job despite a few surprises.

3. Have a plan. Go over it with your family from time to time. Be ready to go to your safe space.Make sure you have a way to get alerts especially at night when you may be sleeping.

   I'm not a company rep or sponsor this product. I make no commission on the sales-it's only that i had one myself and know how well they work. Again, i highly recommend the NOAA weather radio. You program in the warning and believe me you'll hear it. https://shopryanhall.com

   
   

   

I'm sure the tragic event in Texas will be investigated thoroughly. The big question will be; what went wrong and what can be done in the future. You can't stop the weather but you can mitigate its affects and have a good plan in place.

As the technology improves so will forecasting.

NOTE: i didn't think anyone could come up with a conspiracy theory for a weather event but lo and behold someone managed. We're NOT going to go there. Facts and opinion only here. I will stick to what i know. People suffered great losses in Texas. They need our thoughts, prayers and help.