What is a tornado emergency and how is it different from a warning or a watch?
DETROIT– Michigan’s first-ever tornado emergency was issued Tuesday, one of several called across the country in recent weeks as severe weather swept through states in the Plains and Midwest. As massive storms rage east, homes and properties have been destroyed and thousands of people are left without power.
The National Weather Service declared a state of emergency for parts of Michigan Tuesday evening amid forecasts of a damaging tornado and hail. At the time, other places in Michigan and parts of Illinois, Kentucky and Missouri were also under tornado watch. Tuesday’s severe weather followed a nasty tornado that ravaged a small Oklahoma town and killed at least one person a day earlier.
Tornado emergencies were also declared in Nebraska and Iowa late last month. During those storms, tornadoes destroyed homes in the suburbs of Omaha, Nebraska, and to the northeast, a small town of Minden, Iowa.
Tuesday marked the sixth emergency declared in the US this year. 15 have been issued in 2023.
Here’s what you need to know about a tornado emergency:
A tornado emergency is the weather service’s highest alert level. One is issued when a few criteria are met during a rare weather event.
“Such language gets people out of their seats and into basements and storm shelters,” said Kevin Laws, a science and operations officer for the National Weather Service in Birmingham, Alabama. “It provokes a different kind of response and action that you need to really save your life in those types of events.”
There must be an immediate or continuing serious threat to human life and catastrophic damage. A damaging tornado must also be confirmed visually or with radar images.
“Generally you reserve that designation for the worst of the worst,” Laws said.
When the NWS Storm Prediction Center issues a tornado warning for an area, it means that tornado development is possible and people in the area should be prepared to respond quickly if a warning is issued. It’s a warning, Laws said, about 10 hours before the storm.
The watch area typically covers a large area, such as several provinces or even multiple states, the weather service said.
When a tornado warning is issued by local weather forecasting agencies, weather radar indicates that a tornado is approaching, or has already been seen. People in the area must take action because there is “imminent danger to life and property,” the NWS said. This may mean moving to a substantial shelter on the lowest possible floor and quickly avoiding windows.
Warnings typically cover a much smaller area, such as the size of a city or small county, that could be affected by a tornado.
The tornado emergency designation first came about when a large and destructive tornado struck Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, on May 3, 1999, according to the weather service.
The call was made because the storm was expected to be too intense for the tornado warning, which was already in effect, to be considered sufficient language to warn people.
The name “emergency” had not yet been formalized, but was used again during a storm that struck Greensburg, Kansas on May 4, 2007.
According to the weather service, five tornado emergencies occurred in Tennessee and Alabama during the Super Tuesday tornado outbreak on February 5, 2008. When no one was issued in Arkansas during similarly dangerous weather, the designation was codified and officially recognized.
According to the laws, 296 emergencies have been called since 1999 (both before and after the designation was formalized).
People should call friends and family to make sure their loved ones are monitoring the weather.
“Don’t ever try to get in the car and outrun him… You’ve got to take shelter somewhere,” Laws said. “You have to have a plan in advance.
“Don’t wait until those last ten minutes because then you feel panicky and you don’t know where the tornado is or where it’s coming from.”
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Alexa St. John is an Associated Press climate solutions reporter. Follow her on X: @alexa_stjohn. Reach her at ast.john@ap.org.
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