I suspect a lot of folks in Southwest Virginia have been as entertained by the recent weather as they care to be. The daily warnings of tornadoes and severe thunderstorms are starting to make my teeth hurt. Until the other night, I’ve never had a lightening storm sit directly overhead for a half hour. Watching a huge old willow tree get split by lightning 200 feet from your front door can be stimulating, and not necessarily in a good way.

Granted, the storms we have been experiencing are no where near the size of the ones the Midwest are experiencing, but if a tree lands on your house and destroys it, it really doesn’t matter the force of the storm. Your house is still gone.

NOAA, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, oversees the National Weather Service (NWS,) which is the organization that collects and disseminates information and issues weather advisories. For those of you who have trouble remembering the differences, here are NOAA’s definitions of WARNING and WATCH:

WATCH — Issued by the National Weather Service’s Storm Prediction Center in Oklahoma. The center monitors conditions favorable to thunderstorms and then alerts the public when those conditions are present.
WARNING — Issued by local NWS offices, based on radar signs or a storm seen by a trained spotter. It is a message to the public to take precautionary actions because a storm is likely to occur.

Here’s how I do it:

WATCH – Shit’s getting’ deep. Somebody could die.
WARNING – We’re in deep shit. I could die.

If you don’t have an emergency radio, you should get one. Ours can be operated with a hand crank and can be used to charge a cell phone. We listened last night while the tornado warning was in effect for Wythe County. The NOAA broadcast was very specific as it tracked the storms, mentioning specific roads and ridges.

“This storm cell is tracking roughly parallel to I-81 traveling south along the service road approaching the town of Wytheville. . .winds of 80-90 miles per hour are hitting the outskirts of town traveling west along E. Main Street…..the storm has now made a 90 degree turn into…

ATTENTION K-MART SHOPPERS! THERE’S A FUCKIN’ TORNADO IN ISLE 4!”

Well, you get the idea. The current forecast calls for good weather today and tomorrow, with more thunderstorms Friday and Saturday. Stay safe.