This post was originally updated here on March 14th, 2025
I've lived in tornado country pretty much my whole life and to be honest they still freak me out. I also remember how anxiety inducing it was when I first moved out and had to deal with them on my own. So like a message in a bottle to my former self, I wanted to compile what I've learned over the years in a skimmable format in case there's anyone else out there today who could use it.
Tornado watch means you have time; think of a wrist watch. Tornado warning means one is incoming, no more time. This is the one I use to remember it.
Or if you prefer the Weather Channels very memeable explanation - tornado watch means you have taco (tornado) ingredients - picture a taco bar. Tornado warning means you have a fully assembled taco (tornado). This is what my partner uses.
Make a plan about where you'll go if you get a warning. It should be the most interior room in your house, well away from any windows. Here we have a walkout basement and I go to the most interior part of it. When I was in an apartment, the most interior room happened to be my bathroom and hallway. If you live in a dorm or other communal setting, they should have a plan in place so make sure to find out what it is.
Take pictures of your rooms and car in the event you need to file an insurance claim. Having pictures of what you own, it's condition is helpful for filing insurance claims if you need to. Especially if you're a renter. This is easiest to do when there's no storms in your area so you aren't nervous or pressed for time.
Make a power outage plan. A lot of the threat that comes with tornados is not from the tornados themselves but the damaging straight line winds around the tornado. Whenever there's high winds, there's a chance to lose power. Consider how you'd eat, drink, go to the bathroom, and stay warm in the event of a power outage. Less necessary but still helpful - consider how you'll entertain yourself, especially if cell towers go down or you need to conserve your phone battery. Consider what chores - like laundry or dishes - would be good to have out of the way before hand.
Grab snacks and food that doesn't need refrigeration. If you're able to make a grocery store run, grab some food you can eat that is shelf stable and doesn't require cooking. A good rule of thumb in my experience is three days worth. Most power outages I've been through have been fixed in that time and you can more safely evacuate then if you need to go somewhere with power. If you're like me and have a lot of food allergies (gluten, dairy, soy) - consider baking items ahead of time that can keep well at room temperature like cookies, scones, and breads.
Check the forecast: you might have lots of time before the storms will be in your area or you might have very little.
Make a plan if you haven't already. Or check your building's plan if you live in a dorm or communal setting.
Make sure everyone involved knows the plan. Don't assume people you're with know. I have made that mistake before.
Charge your phone and electronics. If you don't currently have a thunderstorm in your area, go ahead and charge your phone, power bank, flashlights, and anything else you'll want to take with you your safe spot.
Gather supplies to take with you to your safe spot
Minimum:
Explanation of minimum:
Shoes are important because if you need to evacuate, there's likely broken glass and other things on the floor that can injure you. If you can't safely move through it, then people will have to come escort you out which means waiting longer + more risk.
Phone is important for calling for help and receiving alerts. Also many can double as a flashlight in a pinch.
*ID is helpful accessing emergency housing and medical services if you have to leave your home. If your ID doesn't list your residence or you don't have/want to have ID documents on you for safety reasons, consider grabbing a copy of your lease or some mail addressed to you there. You can still access services without this, it just helps speed stuff up.
Keeping pets on a leash or cage helps keep them safe in the event you need to evacuate with them.
If you can:
I put all my supplies in a little tote bag. It's my storm tote (conference bag I'm never gonna use for anything else).
Helmet is pretty self explanatory. One more way to keep your head safe in case anything falls on you.
Flashlights help you move around your house if it's safe to stay in if the power goes out. In the event your house is unsafe, it helps you safely evacuate. If you're trapped, it helps you signal for help.
Power bank + cord helps you recharge your phone if the power goes out. When you're checking alerts and watching streams, the battery can deplete quickly.
Weather radios of any kind is helpful. Cell service often goes out so the way you'll get your information then will be primarily through radio. If you're reading this not in a watch and want to get one, look for ones that will wake you up if there's a warning in your area. Midland has several. I have a small Sony radio I take with me to my safe spot.
Water bottles are helpful because they're highly portable and in the unlikely event you get trapped in your house, you'll have water to keep you hydrated while help gets to you.
Pet food is so you can feed your animal without leaving your safe spot since warnings can last a long time. I've seen some areas be warned for 1-2 hours before if a storm is slow moving enough. But it's also so you'll have some food for them in the event you need to evacuate.
Snacks are similar to pet food. It's you food. Just helps you shelter in place.
Put on your shoes
Put pets on harnesses and a leash or in a cage
Go to your safe spot and don't come out until the warning has expired
Especially if the warning is PDS or has some other enhanced tag, try to bring something to cover your head and body with - like a mattress. A thick blanket is better than nothing in a pinch.
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Bringing this back ahead of the bad storms today and tomorrow (03/14/25-03/15/25). If you're in the Midwest, South, or Ohio Valley, you need to have an eye on the weather and ideally a way other than your phone to get weather alerts (highly recommend a Midland weather radio; set it up to alarm for what you care about).
There's a risk of large (EF2 or greater) long track (20+ miles) tornados today but mostly tomorrow in some of these regions. Some of the risk will be overnight when people are sleeping. The SPC is discussing issuing a historic high risk zone (5/5) tomorrow for the Deep South which only happens once every 5-10 years.
Which is all to say, please check the weather and please tell the people you know and care about in these areas to do the same. Bonus Info/Tips
If you don't have access to the weather channel or local broadcasting (which is a lot of us), I highly recommend Ryan Hall Y'all on YouTube. Max Velocity also seems good and runs live streams as well.
Don't see any watches yet? Check out the SPCs mesoscale discussions page - this is where you'll see the likelihood of watches getting issued sometimes hours ahead of them going live.
Waiting for a watch/is there a watch in your region? Then your local NWS page is the best place to refresh.
As storms approach, be sure to turn on that radio/have it set up to alarm for tornado warnings and severe thunderstorm warnings if it's able.
Why severe storms too? Because in tornadic weather severe storm warnings will be issued for super cells and line segments that already have damaging winds/hail and often will tell you in the warning itself whether the segment has the potential to spawn a tornado - it gives you more time to get to a safe place.
Especially if you're in these enhanced (3/5) to high (5/5) risk areas, there's a chance you'll be hearing the NWS's event tags. A lot of people don't understand these yet so let's talk about them.
PDS stands for Particularly Dangerous Situation. It is not a strict category, but generally refers to weather threats that are abnormally destructive for an area and/or could impact a large number of people. Watches and warnings can get this tag. Its can be used for any type of weather event.
You might hear this get used today - PDS Severe Thunderstorm Watch - as there's a risk for a derecho to form which can cause structural damage to buildings and significant hail damage which will absolutely require you to take cover. Derechos can down healthy trees and pull roofs off of buildings.
You might hear this get used tomorrow - PDS tornado watch/warning - as there's a sizeable risk for EF2+ and long track tornados tomorrow. These types of tornados can flatten houses or clear them off their foundations. They can pull trees clean out of their roots and toss cars like candy wrappers. They can carry debris for many many miles. These are not the tornados you're used to seeing in these areas. As a child, I lived through an F3 tornado and coming out and seeing the damage is seared into my memory.
Please take them seriously. Go to the safest room in your house. You'll want to try to cover you or your family with a mattress or similar if you've got it. Use helmets if you have them. If you have a baby, bring their car seat into the shelter area and put them in it if you receive a warning. It is designed for impact protection.
There are other events tags than PDS - like considerable and catastrophic - they'll be included in the warning language itself and will tell you the specifics they're concerned about and what they recommend you do. This is why it's helpful to receive the warnings themselves, not just the fact they've been issued.
Are you safe? Do you see downed trees or hail? Consider reporting it to the SPC under Storm Reports. Its generally not recommended you report funnel clouds or tornados unless you've gone through training (like Skywarn). Its very easy to mistake a shelf cloud and other scary looking clouds as funnel clouds. I recommend the training though, very helpful.
Feel free to ask me questions if you need help developing your safety plan. If I don't know the answer, I'll tell you and try to direct you toward a resource that can help.
Stay safe out there friends.