03/14/2025
From the National Weather Service...
Hi y'all! We need to have a little chat about tomorrow's severe weather risk... ⛈ I know it's been a bit since we've had this large of a threat, so here's a safety refresher for everyone out there.
- We're looking at a nocturnal threat for severe weather Friday night into Saturday, including tornadoes. 🌙 Nocturnal tornadoes are especially dangerous because most people usually are asleep when the threat arrives (midnight to 6am is our time window right now) 😴. So make sure you have multiple ways to receive warnings that can wake you up (more on that in a bit), keep some sturdy shoes and a flashlight by your bed in case a tornado warning is issued and you need to get to your shelter quickly, and know where your safe place is so you can get there quickly if you're woken up by a warning. 🔦👟🏃
- Speaking of safe places, the best option is in a tornado shelter, but good options include interior rooms on the first floor of your home, or in a basement. A good rule of thumb is to put as many walls between you and the outdoors as you can. Extra credit for bringing a mattress, pillows, or helmets with you to protect from falling debris. ⛑ Don't forget about your pets and make sure they have a space in your safe place too! Preferably in a hard sided kennel! 🐱🐶
- Finally, having multiple ways to receive warnings is important in severe weather, but even more so in nocturnal severe weather. You want to make sure you are woken up if severe weather threatens! A NOAA weather radio, WEA set up on your phone, an app that can alert you to the weather warnings, or even the TV on (if you can sleep like that). 📱📺📻 DON'T rely on outdoor sirens to wake you up, those are for people OUTDOORS! ❌
Make sure you figure all of this out and have a disaster kit BEFORE severe weather strikes, as you only have minutes at that point. Stay weather aware this weekend, middle Tennessee!! 🫡🌪⛈
