What's the difference between a tornado watch, warning and emergency?

AccuWeather

There are several different kinds of tornado alerts you could receive when severe weather is in your area. But what exactly do they all mean?

Transcript

00:00Well, by the time we get to a situation where you see something like this,

00:05you likely will have gotten a tornado warning sent to your phone,

00:08especially if you have the AccuWeather app with your push notifications turned on.

00:11But there's a couple different types of alerts that can be issued.

00:15Let's start with the watches and give you an idea of how you should react to all of these.

00:19So first, we have your typical tornado watch.

00:21This means that there are conditions out there that are favorable for a tornado to develop.

00:25These are typically issued a couple hours in advance and cover a pretty wide area.

00:29But you might have seen a PDS tornado watch before.

00:32This stands for particularly dangerous situation.

00:35It's more rare that these are issued.

00:37And it's only when long lived, strong and violent tornadoes are possible,

00:41especially if it's headed toward a populated area.

00:43How you respond, though? It's the same for both.

00:46Get ready for a tornado warning. Know where you are going to seek shelter.

00:50Now let's talk about the warnings, because there are a couple different types of these as well.

00:54Your typical tornado warning is kind of the run of the mill, right?

00:57It's these red polygons that we show you on radar.

01:00This means that meteorologists have detected rotation, especially on radar.

01:05But it doesn't necessarily mean they have definitely seen a tornado on the ground.

01:08That is for a confirmed tornado warning.

01:11Now, right here we have your typical radar scan.

01:14Here we have a different tool that can detect debris.

01:18And actually what we're looking for is this right here, a debris ball.

01:21When we either see this on the radar or if that tornado has been spotted outside by a trained storm spotter,

01:30that is when we get a confirmed tornado warning.

01:32Now, either way, you should react the same.

01:35Seek shelter right away.

01:37There's one more type, though. Tornado emergencies.

01:40These are very rare for only the most violent tornadoes, often in a highly populated area.

01:46You should take the same action, though.

01:47Seek shelter immediately and take all of these warnings seriously.

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