Category: safety tips

Severe Weather Awareness 2018: Severe Thunderstorms

March 1, 2018

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Erik Proseus

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safety tips, severe thunderstorms, severe weather, SWAW

There are approximately 2,000 thunderstorms in progress around the world at any given time. Most of these storms are beneficial and bring needed rain. Only a small fraction, less than one percent, are classified as severe. Severe thunderstorms are those thunderstorms that produce hail one inch in diameter or larger or strong wind gusts of…
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Severe Weather Awareness 2018: Tornado Safety

February 28, 2018

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Erik Proseus

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education, safety tips, severe weather, SWAW, tornado

The El Reno, OK EF-3 tornado of May 31, 2013, taken from about one mile away by storm chaser Nick Hellums. Tornadoes are violent columns of rotating air that are produced by severe thunderstorms. Weak tornadoes produce wind of 65-85 mph, while the strongest (such as the Moore, OK tornado of May 2013), produce wind…
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Heat Safety: A Complete Guide from MWN

June 4, 2015

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Erik Proseus

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education, excessive heat, heat, safety tips, weather-ready nation

Many Memphians are aware of, or experienced, the record-breaking heat of the summer of 1980, even though it was 35 years ago this summer. The longest streak of 90-degree temperatures in Memphis recorded history was July 25-September 16, 1980 (54 days). Just prior to that, the longest recorded streak of 100-degree days occurred, a 15-day…
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Multi-day severe weather outbreak possible Sunday-Tuesday

April 25, 2014

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Erik Proseus

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forecast discussion, safety tips, severe thunderstorms

A couple of hours of rain and storms and very few warnings were all that came of last night’s severe weather risk and Thunderstorm Watch, but at least everything outdoors got a good pollen-washing! All attention now turns to what may be a significant multi-day severe weather outbreak that begins in the Plains tomorrow, but…
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Halloween Week Forecast: Warmer through Wednesday, then a stormy Halloween

October 28, 2013

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Erik Proseus

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forecast discussion, safety tips

To start your week off, we’re going to focus on weather through Halloween. The big picture is increasing moisture with warmer temps each day, then a frontal passage and precipitation for Halloween. Get the details below. Visible Satellite Imagery at 1402 UTC (9:02 AM CDT) We started this morning off with a large area of…
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The end of sub-90 weather and re-introducing “heat index”

June 10, 2013

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Erik Proseus

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heat, safety tips

UPDATE: As of 3:09pm, Memphis International Airport officially reached 91 degrees. Welcome to summer! Ladies and gentlemen, appearing for the first time in 276 days, please welcome back to Memphis, TN – THE 90’s!! OK, so maybe you’re not excited about it either, but today’s forecast high of 91 at Memphis Int’l Airport will officially…
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Spring weather pattern means the beginning of severe weather season

April 6, 2013

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Erik Proseus

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forecast discussion, safety tips, severe weather, spring

While most Mid-Southerners are grateful for consecutive days in the 70s (especially on the weekend!), Mid-South meteorologists and weather weenies are keenly aware that a persistent southerly flow of moisture off the Gulf of Mexico and warm temperatures are harbingers of convective weather. And those same people, including yours truly, have been closely monitoring a…
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Severe Weather Awareness 2013: Tornado Safety

February 20, 2013

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Erik Proseus

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education, safety tips, severe weather, tornado

Murfreesboro, TN EF-4 tornado, April 10, 2009. Photo credit Titus Bartos, TitusBartos.com/PhotoBlog/ Tornadoes are violent columns of rotating air that are produced by severe thunderstorms. Weak tornadoes produce wind of 65-85 mph, while the strongest (such as the Joplin, MO tornado of May 2011), produce wind of over 200 mph and can be 1/2 to…
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11 Reasons why Mid-South tornadoes are so insidious

February 18, 2013

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Erik Proseus

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dixie alley, education, safety tips, severe weather, tornado, tornado warnings

While Tornado Alley may be the Hollywood backdrop for storm-chasing worthy tornado action, those of us living in the south know that Tornado Alley’s redneck cousin, Dixie Alley, is where the real action is when it comes to deadly tornadoes! In fact, statistics show that Dixie Alley is where the majority of killer events occur.…
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Severe Weather Awareness 2013: Severe Thunderstorms

February 18, 2013

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Erik Proseus

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safety tips, severe thunderstorms, severe weather

THERE ARE APPROXIMATELY TWO THOUSAND THUNDERSTORMS IN PROGRESS AROUND THE WORLD AT ANY GIVEN TIME. MOST OF THESE STORMS ARE BENEFICIAL AND BRING NEEDED RAIN. ONLY A SMALL FRACTION LESS THAN ONE PERCENT ARE CLASSIFIED AS SEVERE. SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS ARE THOSE THUNDERSTORMS THAT PRODUCE HAIL ONE INCH IN DIAMETER OR LARGER AND/OR STRONG WIND GUSTS…
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Video evidence that lightning safety tips work!

September 27, 2012

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Erik Proseus

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education, lightning, safety tips

As we near secondary severe weather season in the south (November-early January), I ran across the following videos that prove lightning safety tips DO work and should be heeded as thunderstorms (not necessarily even severe storms) approach. The first proves that the Faraday Cage that is a vehicle is a safe place to shelter during storms…
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Flood Safety Awareness Week: March 12-16

March 12, 2012

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Erik Proseus

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education, flooding, safety tips

The NWS has designated March 12-16, 2012, as Flood Safety Awareness Week It floods somewhere in the United States or its territories nearly every day of the year. In the past 30 years, floods have claimed an average of 94 lives a year and the economic impacts of floods are growing. The annual average inflation-adjusted…
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Significant severe weather event possible tonight – plan now

January 22, 2012

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Erik Proseus

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safety tips, severe weather, tornado

Weather models have continued to come into agreement over the last 24 hours on the storm system that will impact the Mid-South tonight. Unfortunately, ingredients are coming into place that favor the development of organized and possibly significant severe weather. Currently, a warm front is surging north and will move across the metro area late…
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Secondary severe weather season returns to the Mid-South

November 7, 2011

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Erik Proseus

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safety tips, severe weather, stormwatch+, tornado

While most Mid-Southerners are fully aware of the possibility of severe weather from mid-March through early June, there is also a distinct “secondary severe weather season” in the Mid-South that runs from November into early December. The autumn transition season brings an increased number of frontal systems and diverse airmasses battling for control of the…
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Flash Flooding Safety Tips

June 7, 2011

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Erik Proseus

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flash flood, safety tips

Flooding and flash flooding occur every year in the Mid-South. River flooding occurs seasonally when winter and spring rains combine with melting snow upstream to cause rivers and their tributaries to overflow their banks. River flooding (such as we experienced in spring 2011) can occur over a period of weeks to months. Flash floods on…
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Tornado Safety

June 5, 2011

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Erik Proseus

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safety tips, tornado

Tornadoes are violent columns of rotating air that are produced by severe thunderstorms. Weak tornadoes produce wind of 65-85 mph, while the strongest (such as the Joplin, MO tornado of May 2011), produce wind of over 200 mph and can be 1/2 to 1 mile wide or greater. Not all severe thunderstorms produce tornadoes, only…
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Severe Thunderstorm Safety

June 5, 2011

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Erik Proseus

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lightning, safety tips, severe thunderstorms

There are typically almost 2,000 thunderstorms in progress around the world at any given time. Only a small fraction (less than 1%) are classified as severe. Severe thunderstorms are those that produce hail at least 1″ in diameter (quarter-sized) and/or wind gusts of 58 mph or greater. A small fraction of severe thunderstorms produce tornadoes,…
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“Turn Around, Don’t Drown” – Flood Safety Awareness Week continues

March 15, 2011

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Erik Proseus

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flooding, safety tips

Vehicles ignore the threat of rushing water across a roadway. Photo courtesy MemphisWeather.net. TODAY’S THEME IS “TURN AROUND…DONT DROWN” OR TADD. TADD IS AN EFFORT TO INCREASE AWARENESS OF THE DANGERS OF DRIVING OVER FLOODED ROADS OR WALKING IN FLOODED AREAS. TADD SIGNS ARE BEING PLACED AHEAD OF LOW WATER CROSSINGS WHERE FLASH FLOODS OCCUR. TOO…
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Flood Safety Awareness Week coincides with local river flooding

March 14, 2011

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Erik Proseus

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flooding, river, safety tips

This week is set aside by the National Weather Service as National Flood Safety Awareness Week. It happens to be a good week to highlight the threats of flooding since the Mississippi River is rising above flood stage of 34.0 feet at Memphis this week. See the graph below showing the forecast for the Memphis…
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EF-2 tornado strikes suburban Mobile, AL

March 10, 2011

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Erik Proseus

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alabama, regional weather, safety tips, theodore, tornado

The storm system that moved through the Mid-South on Tuesday night also battered the Gulf Coast as a squall line raced across that region and flooding was reported in many areas of the south. If you read yesterday morning’s blog entry that showed the Mid-South on the backside of a large area of rain and t’storms,…
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