New Severe Thunderstorm Format Taking Effect Today

 

This will be a short post explaining the new format of severe thunderstorm warnings. They will now have impact based warning tags. A severe thunderstorm(regardless of rating) is a storm that produces 58 mph or gustier winds and/or 1" or larger hail. If a thunderstorm has 58-70 mph winds and/or 1-1.5 inch hail, there will be no new tag and it will not be sent out to the public in any different way compared to before April 28. If there are 70-80 mph winds and 1.75-2.5" hail, there will be a new tag to the warning: considerable damage threat. However, they will not be released to the public any differently compared to before April 28. If there are 80+ mph winds and 2.75" or greater sized hail, there will be a new tag on the warning: "Destructive Damage Threat". If this occurs, this will be released to the public through smartphones using the WEA(Wireless Emergency Alert) using the IPAWS(Integrated Public Alert and Warning System). This system will hopefully help people better understand the severity of the thunderstorm when it comes to them, and gives them a better incentive to act properly based on the situation. Thank you for reading, and I'll see you next post!