False tornado warning helped Orlando prepare for Charley

[John Gnuechtel]

Strangely enough, I don't actually remember any tornado warnings from that day, though I don't doubt they were issued. There was an early squal that came through at 2:30PM bringing about 20 minutes of very heavy rains and wind. That sent pretty much everybody for cover, and there they stayed. From then, it was like a ghost town through the time when the eye finally came through at about 9:15PM. In the interest of erring on the safe side, I'm all for issuing tornado warnings for the eyewall. But given how weird things get hours before the eyewall even arrives, you'd have to be absolutely oblivious to the entire world to miss what was coming and need that extra warning.

 

[Joe Guerra]

I agree with Mike, unless they get NO coverage, they should have one, i got one for my grandparents and they really rely on it for weather updates (has battery backup)

 

[beaudodson]

Two things here...

1. I know a ton of people (who don't like weather) that have NOAA Weather Radios. That could be because of the number of tornadoes in this area? This area takes the weather radio thing seriously. The local media runs commercials advertising them - as PSA's. Good stuff.

2. I think the eyewall tornado warning is worth the effort of the NWS. It tells EXACTLY what counties should expect the HIGHEST winds. This really does narrow it down. I believe it is a valuable tool for the local radio stations and the television stations who are sending the warnings out. Doesn't really matter if people have a weather radio or not - they will get the warning from someone.