Severe Weather Preparedness Week: Watches and Warnings

SOUTH BEND, Ind. -- As we get closer to the severe weather season it is important to know the distinction between watches and warnings.

Now of course I can say the normal stuff, watches are more widespread and when we have potential for severe weather, warnings are location specific and are for when we are actively having severe weather, but that would be a little bit on the boring side.

The National Weather Service has adopted The Taco Principle to help people remember what the difference between a watch and warning is.

Now if we had a Taco Watch, we would have the ingredients for a taco, but they aren’t all together yet. Maybe the meat’s in the freezer, the shells are on the shelf, the lettuce, salsa, and cheese are all in the fridge. Nothing has started, but there is the potential to see tacos.

A Taco Warning would be when the taco is finished and headed straight toward…your mouth. The taco itself also takes up less area than the spread of the ingredients before.

The NWS would send out alerts if there is a watch for severe weather, but when the sirens start to sound in your area, that’s when a tornado warning is issued.

As part of Severe Weather Preparedness Week each state does a statewide tornado drill. For Indiana, that is going to happen on Tuesday, but for Michigan viewers, the drill won’t be happening until next Wednesday.

Of course this is just a drill, with the alert coming over the sirens, as well as your radio and tv screens.

This warning will not pop up on your phone, but if you are on your phone while this happens, why not make a checklist of things you would need when severe weather strikes.

This drill is not only to make sure our emergency alert systems are in proper working order, but also to get people thinking about things like safe spots, making sure you have emergency supplies, food, drinkable water, and making sure you and your loved ones have a communication plan or a set meeting point.

All of these things are vital to stay safe when severe weather strikes, so take the time today to put all of these things into consideration.