New Warning Method For Weather Service
Starting October 1st the way we receive severe weather warnings from the National Weather Service and the way you see them on NBC17 will change. Instead of issuing a warning for an entire county, a storm-based warning will be issued providing more specific information on the location, direction and areas impacted by the storm.
The National Weather Service has been issuing county-wide warnings since the 1960s because it was consistent with current technology. Over the years, technology has evolved to support better warnings. By eliminating needless warnings for those outside the threat area, confidence in the warnings will grow and people will be more likely to take action. By pinpointing the specific area a storm will impact instead of the entire county, the National Weather Service can reduce the area warned by as much as 70 percent.
Here is an example of the storm-based warning from the September 14, 2007 tornado outbreak. Note the Tornado Warnings in red for southern Wake County (near Fuquay-Varina) and Central Johnston (near Smithfield) counties where tornadoes touched down. The yellow boxes highlight areas where Severe Thunderstorm Warnings were in effect due to damaging winds.
If you would like to sign up for free severe weather alerts on your cell phone, click here.
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