Severe Weather Preparedness Drill, Storms move into Middle RGV (Page 14, English)

What's Important?

Severe thunderstorm danger moves quickly. Your office made the decision to go to the breakroom at 2:37 p.m. and it was all over at your family's house 10 miles away by 3:25 p.m. Ignoring the warning, or not paying attention to it immediately would have put everyone in danger!

The storm started very quickly. Most people expect a storm to start gradually, almost like a hurricane, with a little wind followed by more wind, followed by more wind. Severe thunderstorms and tornadoes almost never do this. The wind may go from calm, to over 100 mph in a matter of one or two SECONDS. So if you are standing by the window waiting to see a "tornado" your roof could be ripped off and you swept away before you even realize what has happened. Take cover BEFORE the storm arrives, you won't have time to react.

You can't see most tornadoes. Especially in the Rio Grande Valley. The vast majority of wind damage in the area occurs from Severe Thunderstorm straight line wind damage, and it can be serious! Most tornadoes occur in storms that would wrap the tornado in rain, making it impossible to see. It's highly unlikely you would be able to get "video" or a good picture of any tornado in the Rio Grande Valley, and trying could result in you being seriously injured or killed!

Severe Thunderstorm Warnings are important too! Your family received a tornado warning 9 minutes before a tornado passed close by. A severe thunderstorm warning was issued 24 minutes before the tornado warning, and that warning had information on extreme winds and damage that allowed your family to take cover.

For example look at what type of damage different wind speeds can do here.

There is a great wealth of information available in dangerous weather. Local TV and radio stations frequently cover severe weather closely. Additionally the NWS Brownsville web site and NOAA Weather Radio will have warnings and statements updated minute by minute. These warnings and additional information will also be distributed on our office's Twitter and Facebook pages. The office also produces a briefing, available every day and updated more frequently in severe weather here.

This can and has happened here! All of the radar images, wind speeds and reports of tornadoes were taken from actual events that have happened in the Rio Grande Valley and Deep South Texas. The timing and location of those events were then modified to go over a highly populated area. Everything described here has happened once before and could happen again.