Watches or Warnings. Don't people know the difference?

[J Tyler]

I have been an on air radio DJ my whole life. I've spent 28 years giving the weather watches and warnings on the air to the end user. The general public.

The simple fact of LIFE is, you can't save everyone. You can reword, rework, redo, and reexamine, but in the end, there will ALWAYS be someone who won't understand. Either thru a few people not caring, or a few people who won't pay attention, or some people are just plain dumb. Others just defy description, such as THIS woman:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wZJdhmsfbPg&feature=player_embedded

I was ON that tornado. It was 5/19, near Wynnewood OK. My understanding is, she called KXII TV which has this area in its main viewing area! So, it is not like it was 5 states away.....So, how do you save people when there are people out there like HER...

 

[Patrick Marsh]

That said, children (e.g., seven year olds) don't make decisions to shelter or not. Those are made by their parents, day care providers or school administrators. There is plenty of time for children to learn about the warning system.

Not going to disagree too much, but did want to say that interviews conducted after the 3 May 1999 tornado outbreak learned that a majority of school aged children knew what to do (how to seek shelter) and a lot of parents did not. So although school-aged childed might not make the decision of when to take shelter, most of them know what to do when told to do so.

Maybe we should start with school aged children to teach the differences between a watch and a warning.

For more information, please read section 5 of the following publication: http://www.nssl.noaa.gov/users/brooks/public_html/papers/deathhist.pdf

 

[Todd Friskey]

You know I have run across this same problem to some degree at my work. I have done my part in educating those who have at least an interest, like knowing there is a difference between a tornado watch and a warning. At one time when I worked in another department, I was known as the weatherman. One thing that does annoy me and I'm not sure why, is when a local weather personality or network will come on and say there is a tornado watch for these counties, but at this time there is no tornado warnings or severe thunderstorm warnings. Ok, if you are not presently reporting any severe weather warnings at the time is that extra bit at the end then really necessary (e.g. TWC, Abrams). I guess I'm kind of having trouble explaining what I mean here, nit picking I guess.

 

[Mike Smith]

The Parent-Child Severe Weather Dynamic

Patrick,

I'm guessing you don't have children above the age of five.

The dynamic is that children don't hesitate to let you (the parent) know when they think they are smarter than you. They are proud to show off what they learned in school. While the child may educate the parent ("that's a warning, Dad, we need to take shelter!"), the parent is still in control whether the family takes shelter or not.

This starts around 1st-2nd grade in a delightful manner. At age 11-13 the parent becomes the stupidest person on the earth and that continues until, roughly, 21-25. In a way, that is the worst time for the "severe weather dynamic" because kids think they are indestructible (especially in their late teens) and roll their eyes when their parents caution them to "keep up on the weather today!"

Note: Keep in mind the OKC media market is unique. The terms watch/warning are rarely used compared to most other markets (trust me, this is the case). So, studies there may not be representative of other markets.

Mike

 

[Patrick Marsh]

Hi Mike,

I don't have any children. But just because I don't have any children of my own, doesn't mean I am clueless.

I would ask that you go back and re-read what I wrote. At no point did I say that the children were the ones making the decision as to when to take shelter. In fact, I said "...although school-aged childed might not make the decision of when to take shelter...". The point I was making is that school-aged children knew what to do with respect to taking shelter during the 3 May 1999 tornado. You can make strong inferences that the reason this was the case is because of the education that children receive regarding what to do. Not to mention that most schools conduct tornado-drills at some point throughout the school year. This constant reinforcement of what to do, helps children have a better idea than the parents.

I'm suggesting that in order to get people to have a better understanding of watch versus warning, find a way to tie it into the tornado education and safety drills that take place in the education system. Start young and hopefully more people will remember it as they grow older.

In a way, I was supporting your argument that children have time to learn the warning system by offering up that children tend to know what to do in order to seek shelter from a tornado.

 

[Greg Blumberg]

I'm suggesting that in order to get people to have a better understanding of watch versus warning, find a way to tie it into the tornado education and safety drills that take place in the education system. Start young and hopefully more people will remember it as they grow older.

The "starting whey they are young" idea has worked and helped save lives in several dangerous tornado events in the past. In the Jarrell, TX tornado NWS service assessment, an interview with a woman indicated that she knew how to keep herself safe because she had learned tornado safety rules as a child.

http://www.weather.gov/os/assessments/pdfs/jarrell.pdf (page 12)

From my experiences working educating kids of all ages about weather, I firmly believe that approaching kids with weather information when they're young is very effective. Every kid (like a lot of adults) I talk to loves weather. I've never met one who didn't like weather. They are always eager to share weather stories, information, experiences, and questions. That along with the impressionability of children makes for a prime atmosphere (pun totally intended) for learning about weather and an education that will last a lifetime. Additionally, the great thing about this is that every single day provides a person or child an opportunity to apply what they have learned about weather.

 

[Karla Dorman]

Watch: watch out (conditions right)
Warning: take cover now

How I learned it.

 

[Greg Stumpf]

Watch: watch out (conditions right)
Warning: take cover now

Of course, there are some folks in certain situations that need to start "taking cover" (taking protective action) well before warnings are issued.