what do you use for tornado warnings? (Hendersonville, Gallatin: fit in, tax)

[Aenewcomb9]

Do yall use an app on your phone? If so, will it wake you in the midle of the night if a tornado is close?

Or is a weather radio better? If yes, do you have any brand suggestions?

Coming from an area with very minimal severe weather... i want to make sure my family is informed and safe in nashville. We move in 2.5 weeks!!

Thank you.

[GWoodle]

Originally Posted by Aenewcomb9

Do yall use an app on your phone? If so, will it wake you in the midle of the night if a tornado is close?

Or is a weather radio better? If yes, do you have any brand suggestions?

Coming from an area with very minimal severe weather... i want to make sure my family is informed and safe in nashville. We move in 2.5 weeks!!

Thank you.

THere should be ap from Weather channel, Accuweather, for your phone. Be sure to have battery backup should the power go out.

You can get weather radio, some wired, some battery. Should have separate section for weather bureau channels with warnings as they are broadcast. Any brand is fine. Some work as clock radio.

The 4 major TV stations here do a good job, but must be on to get weather alerts there.

Be aware there are 2 seasons for violent weather. Springtime brings storms until it gets hot vs cold in the North. Fall brings similar conditions as NA cools.

[N.Cal]

No app. I just turn on the emergency notification on my iPhone. Works just fine.

[nashvols]

lol, I think there are 4 seasons of violent weather here. It can literally happen any time of year.


But that's not to say it's constantly a threat. This year has been pretty quiet.



As for the OP -- I get alerts on my phone and have a weather radio. I've been woken up by both. I've slept through both. I suppose it depends on the time of night and what stage of sleep I'm in.

My advice would be to just pay attention to the forecast. Weather is basically an Olympic sport for the local news, so if there is a CHANCE of severe weather, they will talk about it. Usually far too much. It's not like you go to bed and suddenly super cell thunderstorms pop up out of nowhere.

For instance, they are already talking about potential severe weather tomorrow night. They've been talking about it for a couple of days. They have a general time frame that they have this pinned to, and as it gets closer, the timing will become more and more precise. If they predict strong storms to come through in the late evening hours, before midnight, I'll probably just stay awake and watch updates if necessary. If it is supposed to come through at 4 am, I'll just go to bed and rely on the radio or my phone.

I'm not sure exactly what it is like to move here from somewhere with very little severe weather -- just keep in mind that the chances of you being hit by a tornado is quite small. Stay informed. Stay safe. But don't freak out.

[GJJG2012]

There's a huge selection of weather radios on Amazon. Some are NOAA weather, some also FM & a few have AM. There are table models, a few of which have battery backup. There are portables that are AC/DC, or battery only. Some will switch you from FM to weather when an alert is issued. Some have SAME so you can select to hear warnings for just the areas you choose. Mostly this is by county, a few you can select fractions of a county. Just about any severe thunderstorm could produce a tornado, so in my area the siren comes on for severe T-storms.

Anyone who wants NOAA weather should be able to find what they want on Amazon. They are real good about listing features & the customer reviews should be a big help. Some weather radios will fit in a pocket. Amazon has raised the minimum for free shipping from $25 to $35 & must collect tax from some states. Of course there are plenty of weather radios on eBay as well. There is a good list of NOAA weather stations on their website. The 300 watt stations will likely cover 30-40 miles, & the 1,000 watt stations will likely cover 40-55 miles, depending on terrain.

[Mi shots]

Speaking of tornados, does Hendersonville have sirens? I've never heard them tested.

[BirdieBelle]

Originally Posted by Mi shots

Speaking of tornados, does Hendersonville have sirens? I've never heard them tested.

No, they do not. The mayor has always said he thought they were an outdated mode of technology. They were talking about setting up a phone-based mass notification system last year, but I don't know if it's up and running yet. Check the city web page or fire dept page.

[Litefoot]

We bought a weather radio..... a really good one that alerts us if it rains in any of 5 counties.
Only problem with that is it's always going off, 15 minutes later it's going off again. Finally just turned it off.

Now we use the storm-tracker app for our cell phones. You get notified no matter where you are for the area you are in. Most local TV news/weather channels have them readily available for free.

[BirdieBelle]

Originally Posted by Litefoot

We bought a weather radio..... a really good one that alerts us if it rains in any of 5 counties.
Only problem with that is it's always going off, 15 minutes later it's going off again. Finally just turned it off.

Now we use the storm-tracker app for our cell phones. You get notified no matter where you are for the area you are in. Most local TV news/weather channels have them readily available for free.

You should be able to set it to notify you ONLY for your county. Some models may not have this capability, but ...

Mine used to do that too, and when I got tired of being awakened by a flash flood warning in Gallatin, I checked the directions and figured out how to set it ONLY for tornado warnings in my county.

[Ksmart]

Are tornadoes really that big of an issue there? I never realized they were so problematic in Middle Tennessee.