Tornado Warning
 

Yesterday I was checking the settings on my weather radio to make sure everything is set up correctly.

Around 5 am this mornig the warning sound fired off and woke me up. At first I thought I had accidently set the clock radio alarm, but when I turned on the light, I could see it was a Tornado warning for the area and the rain was coming down in buckets.

Quite a scare while the storm moved through the qrea very quickly.

Yes, it was quite a rude awakening. Our radio went off and within seconds we received automated calls on both of our cell phones from Sumter County sheriff saying a tornado has been spotted. However, in watching WESH 2, they are just saying there is a "potential" for tornadoes but nothing detected yet ... which to me is supposed to be a "Watch", not a warning. Oh well, it's good to know that all the warning systems are functioning.

Good Test
 

Maybe last week when they didn't go off and everybody rechecked them it was a good thing. It woke me this AM also. I know what it sounds like anyway.Hopefully they'll all be a false alarm!!

Yikes!!
 

Well that was a heck of a wake up call!! At first I was just gonna stay comfy under the covers, but so glad I got up and put the news on! Saying tornado heading for The Villages in few minutes and to get away from windows! So I grabbed my doggies and we huddled in the bathroom till it passed. It sounded like a train going thru the house!! I cant wait till it gets light so I can go find my plants and outside furniture lol!!
I hope everyone is safe and didnt incur any damages.
Jeanne

Better not have happened
 

JeanneBeanie

Ma Nature better not have messed with your outside furniture. :cus: Mr Halle & I have a vested interest in the construction or was that the television, planter boxes, grill, couch, wall, 24x40 garage.....And the plants will be buried this week. Your just lucky the bass aren't cooperating - YET!:evil6:

:confused:

Jeanne, I hope you found your plants and furniture. The only damage we had was from when the cat threw up. barf
He's afraid of thunder.

Yep, my weather radio went off for Sumter County tornado warning about 5:10 am. Gotta give WESH2, NBC affiliate, a lot of credit for their extensive severe weather coverage on TV... helps to pinpoint right where the bad weather is and where it is heading.

But.... there was also a severe T-Storm warning in Marion County and I think also in Lake County. I'm still a little concerned that we did not get warnings for the other 2 counties. The Sumterville transmitter tower is supposed to broadcast warnings for all 3 counties. Fortunately, the Sumter County warning worked.

Lol lol lol you are funny :1rotfl:. Not to worry, I went outside and furniture and plants are fine. The plants did take a tumble but look like its going to make it lol. Did I understand you correctly that since the fish arent biting (sorry about that) that you are in the planting mood? :bowdown: It sure will be nice to have them in the ground, than pulling them inside everynight lol. :mademyday:

Thanks!! Yep I found the plants in my neighbors yard lol! Looks like they wont have to be watered for some time lol! Your poor lil kitty must have been so scared!

When we left out yesterday for our Alabama home, we hit it right outside Atlanta. Winds, HEAVY rain, etc. Even the traction light came on in my wife's Honda due to water on roadway.
Is everything ok? Did it do any damage with wind etc? We live in Bonita.
Thanks, Army Guy

We heard the same thing JeanneBeannie heard, stay away from windows...etc etc, heading towards The Villages, evacuate mfg. homes. That part was pretty frightening to us...since we live in Silver Lake!!!! Thankfully it passed quickly.

If your weather radio did not sound an alert or at least automatically turn itself on this morning, you absolutely need to have your settings checked.

Here are some things to know. If your radio has S.A.M.E. emergency capability (and it should or it’s time to buy a new one), realize that the first two letters stand for “Specific Area”. That means that you can program your radio to only sound an alert when the event/emergency is going to affect your county and ignore the those that are for other counties. So you need to be sure you have told your radio which counties (by code) you are interested in. The NWR radio tower for The Villages area is located in Sumterville and here is a list of the county codes to enter (one or more depending on the capability of your particular radio:

County County Code
-------------------------------------
Citrus 12017
Hernando 12053
Lake 12069
Marion 12083
Sumter 12119

So if you never programmed your county code into your radio, or programmed it for Marion county, or entered an invalid code, your radio would not have sounded this morning because the alerts were issued for Sumter and then Lake counties.

If you find any of this difficult to deal with, you can bring your radio to the local fire station and they will check it for you.

For those of us off campus.....
 

Did anything get hurt?:shocked:

From here just south of Lake Sumter all looks OK. We had torrential rain for about a half hour and some wind, but, nothing too extreme. All is well.

Our weather radio did go off this morning but it wasn't until several minutes after we had already received the Sumter County Code Red Weather Warning phone calls (land line and cell). It was about 5am when the phone rang, because it was 5:02 by the time I got the tv tuned in to Tony on WESH 2. We actually questioned why the radio had not gone off, but then it finally did. Probably around 5:10 as Villages07 mentioned.

If you haven't signed up for this service I would recommend it as an additonal information system for threatening weather (as well as other community emergencies). Here's the link for additional info and to sign up. http://www.sumtercountysheriff.org/e...nt/codered.asp

Jeanne, grabbing the dogs and huddling in the bathroom is a good idea. Always try to stay in an interior part of your home away from exterior walls. If you didn't do it, I'd suggest putting your dogs' leash on so they can't get away from you and go hide. That was the first thing I did after jumping out of bed is to put the leash on the dog and hold on to her. Grabbed my purse, my husband's wallet, our cell phones and shoes to put on. If there should be damage and debris from a storm you don't want to be walking around barefoot.

Fortunately it was a fast moving storm and passed quickly with no damage. I was here in 2007 and know what can happen so I take all warnings very seriously.

2007 Tornado Pictures
 

For all of you who never saw pictures from the Groundhog Day tornado of 2007, I downloaded a few pictures I took that morning in the Village of Mallory.

https://www.talkofthevillages.com/fo...hp?albumid=241

These pictures are a reminder of what can happen. Fortunately it didn't happen today:smiley:

Feb 2, 2007 Tornado - You Better Take It Serious
 

Mine Did
 

Mine went off at 5:02. I turned on the TV to Channel 6, Tom Sorrells. My radio is set for Sumter, Marion, Lake...the fire department did it for me. They can do it faster than you can read/follow the directions. I come from Tornado Alley and he's right, you better pay attention.

Still can't get an answer...where are those of us who live on historic side supposed to evacuate to:shrug::shrug::shrug:

Thanks
 

Thanks F16 for the link to the Daily Sun re: the tornado 2/7/07. A good way to remind us of the importance of the weather warning system.It may scare you to death when your weather radio wakes you...but it could also save your life.

Is everything ok?
 

Oh dear, just reading this. How did things turn out? Did a tornado touch down? I hope no injuries or major damage!

There seems to have been contradictory reports. The message that we got from the automatic phone announcement and, I believe the weather radio was that a tornado had been sighted in the area. However, upon turning on Channel 2, they indicated that no circulation had been detected by their radar. If the latter turns out to be true, I question the reason for issuing a warning versus a watch. If they start issuing warnings before actual sightings, people may eventually treat them as "the boy who cried wolf" and start to ignore warnings.

better to be safe than sorry....gn

Quite true, but I thought that it was said that some rotation was noticed in a particular comma cloud type formation. The funnel cloud doesn't have to touch down to have the warning issued I believe...if the clouds aloft are showing rotation, it could be only a matter of a few seconds and suddenly you have a funnel cloud on the ground, a tornado. Checking on the weather, the rain, and trying to listen to tv from our bedroom closet, I thought that's what I heard.

Let me know.....
 

They can and should let me know, via the emergenacy radio, when there is any possibility of a tornado in the area. Just look at the photos posted in this thread! The wind at the height of the storm last night was scary.

When I was a kid, I saw first hand the devistation a tornado can cause; a three story house turned 180 degrees off it foundation; pieces of houses rising in the sky.

Tell me loud and tell me early!!
_

i thought a watch meant conditions could produce one, warning meant one had been confirmed on the ground...gn

GN, that is how I understood the difference between watch and warning!

My weather radio wakes me up for both watches and warnings.

To me, a tornado watch means I roll over and go back to sleep.

I take tornado warnings for Sumpter County seriously. I head for the interior laundry room with my pillows, dogs and cat.

If you have signed up for the Code Red alert on your cell phone, you should remember that they will call you no matter where you are. Mr. Judy got the call at 3 AM in Utah. Hahaha! :1rotfl:

A tornado watch is issued when weather conditions are favorable for the development of tornadoes in and close to the watch area.

A tornado warning is an alert issued by government weather services to warn an area that a tornado may be imminent. It can be issued after either a tornado or funnel cloud has already been spotted, or if there are radar indications that a tornado may be possible.

According to this morning's Daily Sun, NOAA was running a test at the time and some of the warnings about the tornado got bypassed.

:confused: where do we go? I understand that there is a drill on Wednesday...what does that entail?

How do you sign up for a Code Red Alert?

JoannP...where and when is the drill??

Bare,


Here is the site for the codered

http://www.sumtercountysheriff.org/e...nt/codered.asp

PR123

In this morning's paper, they mentioned a drill. I do not know if this is only a "radio drill"...I am new to this...thats why I am asking questions.....

Does anyone have answers????? I would like to make sure that we are prepared !!!!!!:shrug:

Here ya go:
http://www.sumtercountysheriff.org/e...nt/codered.asp

It's nice to have your cell phone registered. That way if you're playing golf you can still get the warning.

Suggest you call Department of Public Safety. 352-205-8280