Tornado Safety Tips You’ll Be Glad Your Family Knows

Just when we’re celebrating the return of warm temperatures, some parts of the country are hunkering down in preparation for possible severe weather. When the temps change from low to high, the tornadoes start to fly. Ohhh, man. I just made that one up. You should tweet that.

Being born in Oklahoma and growing up in Tennessee makes tornado safety a part of my story in a weird Wizard-of-Oz sort of way. It’s part of the springtime routine — educating ourselves and our kids on what to do when bad weather strikes.

My Top 5 Tornado Safety Tips

So here are my top five tips to keep you and your family ready and safe should any tornado alerts or warnings occur:

1. Have an Alert System

Buy a weather radio for your family and/or install a weather radio app on your smart phone. On the iPhone, you can go to Settings –> Notification Center. Then scroll to the very bottom and make sure your “Emergency Alerts” and “AMBER Alerts” are turned on (green) to be notified of emergencies in your area. It looks sorta like this: (Ignore my love for Target and Netflix. Or don’t. I’m not ashamed.)

Since this is new (and in my opinion not 100% reliable yet), I also like The Weather Channel’s app for its awesome radar maps and an app called iMap Weather Radio. iMap Weather Radio works like your typical standalone weather radio and will send notifications to your phone (make sure you enable them when prompted). Now you’ll know when something’s going down. (Those are iTunes affiliate links, but I only recommend things I truly love and use.)

2. Warning… Watch… Whaaaa??

Warning. Watch. Which one is worse? (That’s an amazing tongue twister, by the way.) I know so many people who are confused by this one. Hey, even I get mixed up every now and then.

But my Mom has taught safety classes to kids for a long time, and she let me in on a little memory trick.

Anybody remember the 1960’s TV show Lost in Space? I’m unfortunately a little to young to have watched it myself (I hear it is iconic), but my mom always repeated the catch phrase the robot said. And as silly things tend to do, it stuck with me: “Danger, Will Robinson. Danger!”

Photo Credit: AV Dezign via Compfight cc

Imagine a tornado warning like your “Warning, danger, Will Robinson” moment. When you hear Tornado Warning, think of this space robot and get to your tornado shelter. A Warning is worse than a Watch. (This applies to thunderstorms and other weather activity, too.)

A watch is just like, “Hey, keep an eye out. Watch your surroundings.” It’s simply saying that the conditions make it likely to occur.

A warning means that something’s been spotted or indicated by weather radar. When you hear of a tornado warning in your area, that’s your cue to get yourself and your kids to the safe spot because it’s happening RIGHT NOW. But I’m getting ahead of myself.

3. Identify a Safe Room

With tornadoes, you have to imagine that amazingly strong wind trying to pull anything it can into its vortex. You want to put as many layers of walls between you and the outside world as possible. So a safe room is on the bottom level of a building, preferably below ground. It’s as close to the interior of the building as you can get. A safe room is without windows and — even better — has no exterior walls.

In our house, we have a downstairs bathroom that is in the middle of the house. No windows, no exterior walls. That’s what we’ve identified as our tornado safe place. Where’s yours?

4. Educate and Practice

This is something to bring the whole family in on. Have a plan for what you’d do if a Tornado Warning is issued in your area. Teach kids where your safe room is (and maybe how to get there fastest if your house is large).

If your area has tornado sirens, make sure your kids are familiar with their sound and what to do if they hear it. Other safety precautions include keeping sturdy shoes and working flashlights nearby — maybe even in your safe room. Putting infants in a carrier car seat and kids in bike helmets is a good idea if they are quickly available.

Practice it with your family — have a tornado drill every so often! This makes tornado safety for kids a little less scary.

5. What to Listen for

I am glad to have never heard one myself, but people say a tornado sounds very much like a train. Imagine that rumble and roar of a train going by, and that is what you are listening for. If you hear this, you are hopefully already in your safe place.

Teach your kids to crouch down on their knees, balled up with their hands behind the neck to protect it. Parents do the same. Stay in your safe place until the storm passes.

Anybody remember doing this type of tornado drill?
(photo public domain, via Wikimedia Commons)

I hope you don’t have to utilize these tips for tornado safety with kids this spring! But in the event that you do, remembering these tips can keep you from being carried out to Oz like Dorothy.

Please share these important, useful tips with your friends using the Facebook/Twitter/Pinterest buttons below!

READ NEXT: Fire Safety for Kids!

About Aubrey Hunt
Before hopping on the crazy ride we call motherhood, I studied engineering and taught math and science to middle and high school students. Now, perhaps like you, I fill my days singing The Itsy Bitsy Spider and praying my preschooler will eat a vegetable — any vegetable!