Tuesday, February 28, 2012

Severe Weather Update for Overnight...


The above radar mosaic image shows a line of strong to severe thunderstorms extending from West of Omaha to near Ponca City Oklahoma. This activity is moving toward the East/Northeast at up to 55 mph.

A Tornado Watch continues until 1am CST for eastern Kansas and northcentral and northeastern Oklahoma:


This watch includes the Topeka, Manhattan, Lawrence, Emporia, Chanute, Stillwater and Tulsa areas.

Although an isolated tornado cannot be ruled out... large hail and damaging thunderstorm wind gusts are the primary severe weather threats across this region.

Based on their present location and movement, the thunderstorm activity can be expected to reach the Kansas City Metro area between 10:30pm and 11:30pm CST, and the Tulsa Metro area after 11pm and toward Midnight CST.

Once passing through these areas, the severe weather threat will continue into the overnight and pre-dawn hours Wednesday into southwestern Missouri and much of central and northern Arkansas.

Severe weather can be especially dangerous at night.  If you live in these areas make sure that you have a way to receive weather warnings overnight, such as a NOAA Weather Radio with a battery back-up, a smartphone application, text or phone alert service, etc.  Be sure to identify your potential sheltering location(s) ahead of time, that way you can quickly move to that area if necessary.

Please...be sure that you never count on outdoor tornado warning sirens to warn you of a threat when inside.  As the name implies, they were not designed to provide indoor warnings, and you may not be able to hear them depending on your location relative to the siren, the storm's location, and other factors.


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