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Severe thunderstorm warning
A severe thunderstorm warning (SAME code: SVR) is a type of public warning for severe weather that is issued by weather forecasting agencies worldwide when one or more severe thunderstorms have been detected by Doppler weather radar, observed by weather spotters, or reported by an emergency management agency, law enforcement, or the general public. Unlike a watch, a warning is issued to areas in the direct path of active severe thunderstorms, that are expecting a direct impact typically within an hour. Severe thunderstorms can cause property damage and injury due to large hail, high winds, and flooding due to torrential rainfall. The exact criteria to issue a warning varies from country to country.
In the United States, the National Weather Service issues a warning when an observed thunderstorm is producing wind gusts of at least 58 miles per hour (93 km/h), or hail of at least 1 inch (2.5 cm) in diameter. Most forecasting agencies have similar criteria, but some agencies, such as Environment Canada, also include high rainfall rate. Others may instead issue a flood advisory or in the case of the National Weather Service, a flash flood warning.
A severe thunderstorm warning indicates the warned area is in impending danger from hail or wind speeds meeting warning criteria as well as from lightning and hydrological impacts associated with the storm cell. Severe thunderstorms can and occasionally do produce tornadoes without warning. While not all severe thunderstorms produce tornadoes, they can produce serious straight line wind damage as severe as a lower-category tornado or hurricane, and can actually cover a much wider area than a tornado's comparatively narrow path width.
If a tornado is detected on radar or is sighted visually, a tornado warning will be issued either in replacement of or concurrently to the existing severe thunderstorm warning. Generally, but not always, a severe thunderstorm watch or tornado watch (or a regional equivalent thereof) will precede a warning. If a tornado warning is issued, based on Doppler weather radar, it means strong rotation has been detected within a thunderstorm. Usually, if a thunderstorm is producing only weak rotation, it will only yield hazardous weather warranting a severe thunderstorm warning. However, the public will usually be advised this type of rotation has been detected and that the storm in question should be watched closely in the near future for further intensification.
In the United States, the National Weather Service (NWS) defines a severe thunderstorm as having large hail of one inch (2.5 cm) in diameter or larger, surface wind speeds of 58 mph (50 kn; 93 km/h) or greater, and/or a tornado. Prior to January 2010, the hail size for which a thunderstorm would be considered severe was 0.75 inches (1.9 cm); public complacency due to overly frequent issuances of severe thunderstorm warnings and recent studies stating hail did not produce significant damage on the ground until it reached one inch in diameter caused the upgrade in hail criteria. Severe thunderstorm warnings are issued by the National Weather Service through the agency's local Weather Forecast Offices, which utilize WarnGen software integrated into the Advance Weather Interactive Processing System (AWIPS) to generate the warning statement; it is then disseminated through various communication routes accessed by the media and various agencies, on the internet, to NOAA satellites, over NOAA Weather Radio and, depending on the storm's severity and at the office's discretion, via activation of the Emergency Alert System to local broadcast media and Wireless Emergency Alerts for cellular phones.
Local NWS forecast offices outline warnings for tornadoes and severe thunderstorms in polygonal shapes for map-based weather hazard products distributed to the main agency, individual forecast office websites and the Storm Prediction Center (including open-source APIs available for free use to public weather websites and mobile apps), based on the storm's projected path as determined by Doppler weather radar at the time of the warning's issuance. In NWS text products, warnings are usually illustrated by individual counties, parishes or other county-equivalent jurisdictions (sections or the entirety thereof, and in list format if it covers more than one jurisdiction), particularly dependent on the jurisdiction's total land area. Prior to October 2007, warnings were issued by the National Weather Service on a per-county basis. SPC and NWS products, as well as severe weather alert displays used by some television stations, typically highlight severe thunderstorm warnings with a yellow or orange polygon or filled county/parish/equivalent jurisdiction outline.
The NWS has the option of adding enhanced wording to severe thunderstorm warnings and update statements issued as a Severe Weather Statement (SVS)—"particularly dangerous situation" (PDS), "severe thunderstorm emergency", or, as used by some Central and Southern Region offices as indicative PDS wording, "this is a very dangerous storm"—when an extremely intense severe thunderstorm expected to impact a densely populated area contains very large hailstones and/or intense straight-line winds capable of causing major structural damage (especially to roofs, windows, siding and structures of poor construction such as outbuildings and mobile homes), and severe injury if not death to people and animals exposed outdoors (from either repeated hail-induced blunt trauma or wind-generated debris). Although it is an unofficial alert product, a "severe thunderstorm emergency" statement—an extension of the tornado emergency statements issued to warn of a violent tornado impacting populated areas—is the highest and most urgent level relating to non-tornadic severe thunderstorms. When a threat of tornadic activity exists (especially if a tornado watch is in effect), local NWS forecast offices, particularly those in the Great Plains or Southeastern U.S., will sometimes include a safety precaution action statement indicating "Severe thunderstorms can produce tornadoes with no advance warning..." or similar wording in their severe thunderstorm warnings to advise the public to keep abreast of possible tornado development and any tornado warnings that may be issued.
As part of the agency’s March 2012 implementation of a multi-tier Impact Based Warning (IBW) system to notify the public and emergency management officials of the severity of specific severe weather phenomena, National Weather Service-issued severe thunderstorm warnings and associated Severe Weather Statements providing updated storm information include event tags at the bottom of the product text providing summarical estimates of straight-line wind speeds (sustained or gusts) and hail size and, when applicable, an indication of possible tornadic development. The product text will also provide a summary of impacts to life and property that may be caused by the hailstones and winds being produced by the parent thunderstorm. Initially implemented at six NWS offices in Kansas and Missouri, the categorical threat and damage indicator text—which are applicable to all of the agency’s Weather Forecast Offices, primarily those operating within the agency's Central and Southern Region divisions—were expanded to 33 additional Central Region WFOs in March 2013; eight additional offices operating within the Eastern, Southern and Western Region divisions began using the IBW indicators in March 2014. The entire agency began using the format in 2016. The threat indicators consist of three coded taglines, ascending by observational level:
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Severe thunderstorm warning
A severe thunderstorm warning (SAME code: SVR) is a type of public warning for severe weather that is issued by weather forecasting agencies worldwide when one or more severe thunderstorms have been detected by Doppler weather radar, observed by weather spotters, or reported by an emergency management agency, law enforcement, or the general public. Unlike a watch, a warning is issued to areas in the direct path of active severe thunderstorms, that are expecting a direct impact typically within an hour. Severe thunderstorms can cause property damage and injury due to large hail, high winds, and flooding due to torrential rainfall. The exact criteria to issue a warning varies from country to country.
In the United States, the National Weather Service issues a warning when an observed thunderstorm is producing wind gusts of at least 58 miles per hour (93 km/h), or hail of at least 1 inch (2.5 cm) in diameter. Most forecasting agencies have similar criteria, but some agencies, such as Environment Canada, also include high rainfall rate. Others may instead issue a flood advisory or in the case of the National Weather Service, a flash flood warning.
A severe thunderstorm warning indicates the warned area is in impending danger from hail or wind speeds meeting warning criteria as well as from lightning and hydrological impacts associated with the storm cell. Severe thunderstorms can and occasionally do produce tornadoes without warning. While not all severe thunderstorms produce tornadoes, they can produce serious straight line wind damage as severe as a lower-category tornado or hurricane, and can actually cover a much wider area than a tornado's comparatively narrow path width.
If a tornado is detected on radar or is sighted visually, a tornado warning will be issued either in replacement of or concurrently to the existing severe thunderstorm warning. Generally, but not always, a severe thunderstorm watch or tornado watch (or a regional equivalent thereof) will precede a warning. If a tornado warning is issued, based on Doppler weather radar, it means strong rotation has been detected within a thunderstorm. Usually, if a thunderstorm is producing only weak rotation, it will only yield hazardous weather warranting a severe thunderstorm warning. However, the public will usually be advised this type of rotation has been detected and that the storm in question should be watched closely in the near future for further intensification.
In the United States, the National Weather Service (NWS) defines a severe thunderstorm as having large hail of one inch (2.5 cm) in diameter or larger, surface wind speeds of 58 mph (50 kn; 93 km/h) or greater, and/or a tornado. Prior to January 2010, the hail size for which a thunderstorm would be considered severe was 0.75 inches (1.9 cm); public complacency due to overly frequent issuances of severe thunderstorm warnings and recent studies stating hail did not produce significant damage on the ground until it reached one inch in diameter caused the upgrade in hail criteria. Severe thunderstorm warnings are issued by the National Weather Service through the agency's local Weather Forecast Offices, which utilize WarnGen software integrated into the Advance Weather Interactive Processing System (AWIPS) to generate the warning statement; it is then disseminated through various communication routes accessed by the media and various agencies, on the internet, to NOAA satellites, over NOAA Weather Radio and, depending on the storm's severity and at the office's discretion, via activation of the Emergency Alert System to local broadcast media and Wireless Emergency Alerts for cellular phones.
Local NWS forecast offices outline warnings for tornadoes and severe thunderstorms in polygonal shapes for map-based weather hazard products distributed to the main agency, individual forecast office websites and the Storm Prediction Center (including open-source APIs available for free use to public weather websites and mobile apps), based on the storm's projected path as determined by Doppler weather radar at the time of the warning's issuance. In NWS text products, warnings are usually illustrated by individual counties, parishes or other county-equivalent jurisdictions (sections or the entirety thereof, and in list format if it covers more than one jurisdiction), particularly dependent on the jurisdiction's total land area. Prior to October 2007, warnings were issued by the National Weather Service on a per-county basis. SPC and NWS products, as well as severe weather alert displays used by some television stations, typically highlight severe thunderstorm warnings with a yellow or orange polygon or filled county/parish/equivalent jurisdiction outline.
The NWS has the option of adding enhanced wording to severe thunderstorm warnings and update statements issued as a Severe Weather Statement (SVS)—"particularly dangerous situation" (PDS), "severe thunderstorm emergency", or, as used by some Central and Southern Region offices as indicative PDS wording, "this is a very dangerous storm"—when an extremely intense severe thunderstorm expected to impact a densely populated area contains very large hailstones and/or intense straight-line winds capable of causing major structural damage (especially to roofs, windows, siding and structures of poor construction such as outbuildings and mobile homes), and severe injury if not death to people and animals exposed outdoors (from either repeated hail-induced blunt trauma or wind-generated debris). Although it is an unofficial alert product, a "severe thunderstorm emergency" statement—an extension of the tornado emergency statements issued to warn of a violent tornado impacting populated areas—is the highest and most urgent level relating to non-tornadic severe thunderstorms. When a threat of tornadic activity exists (especially if a tornado watch is in effect), local NWS forecast offices, particularly those in the Great Plains or Southeastern U.S., will sometimes include a safety precaution action statement indicating "Severe thunderstorms can produce tornadoes with no advance warning..." or similar wording in their severe thunderstorm warnings to advise the public to keep abreast of possible tornado development and any tornado warnings that may be issued.
As part of the agency’s March 2012 implementation of a multi-tier Impact Based Warning (IBW) system to notify the public and emergency management officials of the severity of specific severe weather phenomena, National Weather Service-issued severe thunderstorm warnings and associated Severe Weather Statements providing updated storm information include event tags at the bottom of the product text providing summarical estimates of straight-line wind speeds (sustained or gusts) and hail size and, when applicable, an indication of possible tornadic development. The product text will also provide a summary of impacts to life and property that may be caused by the hailstones and winds being produced by the parent thunderstorm. Initially implemented at six NWS offices in Kansas and Missouri, the categorical threat and damage indicator text—which are applicable to all of the agency’s Weather Forecast Offices, primarily those operating within the agency's Central and Southern Region divisions—were expanded to 33 additional Central Region WFOs in March 2013; eight additional offices operating within the Eastern, Southern and Western Region divisions began using the IBW indicators in March 2014. The entire agency began using the format in 2016. The threat indicators consist of three coded taglines, ascending by observational level:
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