For Release March 14, 2004

This Is Severe Weather Awareness Week

AGRI-VIEWS
by Chuck Otte, Geary County Extension Agent

This week is severe weather awareness week. It always strikes me as odd that technically we're still in winter, but we're talking about hail, lightning and tornadoes! But the fact is that we do live in Tornado Alley, and the severe storm season peaks during May. Since 1950, 35% of all tornadoes in Kansas have occurred in May and 73% have occurred in April, May and June. Tornadoes have occurred in Kansas all months of the year except January! So as we are gearing up to head into severe storm season, let's take a few minutes to review some of the critical elements of severe weather awareness.

First of all, while tornadoes get all the press, there are many other severe weather threats. We also have lightning, hail, straight line winds, heavy rain and flash floods. Each and every thunderstorm, severe or not, will have at least one of these features. While it may be easy to forget that each one of these are dangerous, any of them can kill or seriously injure us.

Since 1950, Geary County has officially had 12 tornadoes with no fatalities and only 3 injuries. So the odds of us even experiencing a tornado somewhere in the county in any given year is somewhere less than 1 in 4. But in the 23 summers I've lived in Geary County, I can remember many severe thunderstorms every year with lots of lighting and at least a couple of deaths from lightning.

The biggest risk we are all going to face is lightning and we're going to face it every year. If you can hear thunder then you are potentially at risk. Get inside a building or inside a vehicle. Do not stay outside. Do not go under a tree, I have some wonderful photographs of what lightning does to trees by the way! Do not stay on the golf course and think you're safe because there are so many other taller objects. It just doesn't work that way.

Straight line winds can cause a lot of property damage. They can blow vehicles off roads, rip limbs off trees and destroy homes. There will be some wind in any thunderstorm and severe storms can have wind gusts over 58 miles per hour. This is a lot stronger than what you think, so if you are traveling, slow down and hang on to the wheel. Maybe you even need to pull off the road until the worst part of the storm is past.

It never ceases to amaze me at how many people try to drive through flash flood situations every year. Two feet of water will float most vehicles, including your SUV. Just 6 inches of fast moving water can knock you off your feet. How fast is fast moving water? Try just 6 to 12 miles per hour. It may not look fast, until you step into it. So it should be no surprise that the number one severe weather killer is flash floods! If there's moving water over the road, stop, turn around and find another direction. It isn't worth the risk!

Finally keep informed. Listen to a local radio station. The Weather Channel is okay IF you are on a cable system that will broadcast local alerts. If you are receiving it off a satellite, it may do you no good. The best option may be to get a weather radio. Geary County is well covered by NOAA weather radio stations and you can be immediately notified, 24/7, if a watch or warning is issued. And radios with SAME technology can also display a message showing the type of alert and how long until it expires. We live in Kansas. We WILL have severe weather. It is our responsibility to be prepared, be alert and to know what to do when it happens, because it will!

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