Severe Weather Safety Rules:

• Develop a plan for you and your family at home, work, school, and when outdoors.
• Have a NOAA Weather Radio with a warning alarm tone and battery back-up to
• receive warnings.
• Identify a safe place to take shelter.
• Have frequent drills.
• Keep a highway map nearby to follow storm movement from weather bulletins.
• On the Internet, go to http://www.weather.gov for NWS watches and warnings.
• Listen to radio and television for weather information.
• Check the weather forecast before leaving for extended periods outdoors. Watch for signs of approaching storms.
• If severe weather threatens, check on people who are elderly, very young, or physically or mentally disabled.

Tornado Safety Rules:

• In a home or building, move to a pre-designated shelter, such as a basement.
• If an underground shelter is not available, move to a small interior room or hallway on the lowest floor and get under a sturdy piece of furniture. Put as many walls as possible between you and the outside.
• Stay away from windows.
• Get out of automobiles.
• Do not try to outrun a tornado in your car; instead, leave it immediately for safe shelter. If caught outside or in a vehicle, lie flat in a nearby ditch or depression and cover your head with your hands.
• Highway overpasses do not provide shelter from tornadic winds.
• Be aware of flying debris. Flying debris from tornadoes causes most fatalities and injuries.
• Mobile homes, even if tied down, offer little protection. You should leave a mobile home and go to the lowest floor of a sturdy nearby building or a storm shelter.

More information about tornado forecasting and research is available online at: http://www.noaa.gov/tornadoes.html.