Severe Weather Safety: How to Prepare and Stay Safe

Step 1: Build a Severe Weather Plan Before Storm Season

The most important severe weather safety actions happen before any storm threatens. Every household should identify the safest shelter location in the home for each type of severe weather. For tornadoes and severe thunderstorms, this is the lowest floor, in an interior room away from exterior walls and windows, such as a bathroom, closet, or basement. For hurricanes, this is an interior room on the lowest floor if you are sheltering in place, or your designated evacuation destination if you are in a mandatory evacuation zone.

Create a family communication plan that designates an out-of-area contact person everyone can reach if local phone lines are overwhelmed. Ensure every family member knows the plan, including children old enough to understand. Practice your severe weather plan at least twice per year, especially if you live in a tornado-prone area. Schools and workplaces should have their own severe weather plans, and you should know where to go in each building you frequent.

Assemble an emergency supply kit and keep it in your designated shelter area. Essential supplies include a battery-powered or hand-crank NOAA Weather Radio, flashlights with extra batteries, a first aid kit, a three-day supply of water (one gallon per person per day), non-perishable food, essential medications, copies of important documents in a waterproof container, and a phone charging battery pack. For winter storms, add extra warm blankets, layers of clothing, and supplies to stay warm if heating is lost for an extended period.

Learn which types of severe weather are most common in your region and during which months. The central United States sees peak tornado activity from April through June. The Atlantic hurricane season runs from June through November. Winter storms affect the northern and central states primarily from November through March. Flash flooding can occur year-round but peaks during warm-season thunderstorm activity. Knowing your local risks helps you stay appropriately alert during high-risk periods.

Step 2: Understand Weather Alerts and Warning Systems

The National Weather Service issues two main levels of severe weather alerts: watches and warnings. Understanding the distinction between them is critical for appropriate response.

A watch means that conditions are favorable for the development of severe weather in your area. A tornado watch means tornadoes are possible. A severe thunderstorm watch means storms with damaging winds or large hail are possible. A watch covers a large area and a multi-hour time window. When a watch is issued, you should review your safety plan, charge your phone, monitor weather updates, and be ready to take shelter quickly if conditions deteriorate.

A warning means that severe weather is occurring or is imminent. A tornado warning means a tornado has been detected by radar or spotted by observers and you must take shelter immediately. A severe thunderstorm warning means a storm producing 58 mph or greater winds, one-inch or larger hail, or both is approaching. A flash flood warning means rapid, dangerous flooding is occurring or imminent, and you should move to higher ground immediately. Warnings are issued for specific areas and specific time periods, and they demand immediate protective action.

Set up multiple ways to receive weather alerts. Smartphone Wireless Emergency Alerts (WEA) push tornado and flash flood warnings directly to your phone. Weather apps from the National Weather Service and reputable providers deliver notifications for all alert types. A NOAA Weather Radio with battery backup provides alerts even when power and cell service fail, making it the most reliable alerting method during the most dangerous situations. Do not rely on outdoor warning sirens as your primary alert source, as they are designed to alert people who are outdoors and may not be audible inside your home.

Step 3: Take Shelter During Tornadoes

When a tornado warning is issued for your area, take shelter immediately. Do not wait to see or hear the tornado. Move to the lowest floor of a sturdy building, into an interior room or hallway away from all windows, doors, and exterior walls. A basement offers the best protection. If no basement is available, a small interior room like a bathroom or closet on the ground floor provides the next best shelter. Get under a sturdy piece of furniture if possible and cover your head and neck with your arms, a helmet, or thick blankets and pillows to protect against flying debris.

Mobile homes and manufactured housing provide almost no protection from tornadoes, even when tied down. If you live in a mobile home, your severe weather plan must include a pre-identified sturdy building nearby where you will shelter. Leave your mobile home and get to that shelter as soon as a tornado watch is issued for your area, not when the warning arrives, as you may not have time to travel safely once a tornado is imminent.

If you are driving when a tornado warning is issued, do not try to outrun the tornado unless you can clearly see it and the road ahead is clear. Pull over, park, keep your seatbelt on, duck below the window line, and cover your head. If a sturdy building is nearby, abandon the vehicle and get inside. Never shelter under a highway overpass, as overpasses create a wind tunnel effect that accelerates debris to lethal speeds. A ditch or low-lying area is preferable to an overpass if no building is available.

Step 4: Stay Safe During Thunderstorms, Lightning, and Floods

Lightning is one of the most underestimated weather killers, causing about 20 deaths per year in the United States. The safest response to lightning is simple: when thunder roars, go indoors. If you can hear thunder, you are within striking distance of lightning. Move inside a substantial building or a hard-topped vehicle with the windows closed. Avoid open shelters like picnic pavilions, porches, and carports. Once indoors, avoid plumbing, corded phones, and electrical equipment, as lightning can travel through wiring and pipes. Wait at least 30 minutes after the last clap of thunder before returning outdoors.

Flash flooding is the deadliest severe weather hazard in the United States, killing more people annually than tornadoes, hurricanes, or lightning. The critical rule is to never drive, walk, or wade through floodwater. Just six inches of moving water can knock an adult off their feet, and two feet of moving water can float and sweep away a vehicle. More than half of all flood fatalities occur when people drive into flooded roadways, often at night when water depth is difficult to judge. If you encounter a flooded road, turn around immediately.

During severe thunderstorms with straight-line winds or large hail, take shelter indoors away from windows. Damaging thunderstorm winds can exceed 100 mph and produce destruction similar to weak tornadoes. Large hail, sometimes the size of baseballs or larger, can shatter windows, dent vehicles, and cause serious injury to anyone caught outdoors. If you are outdoors with no shelter available during a hailstorm, protect your head and seek any available cover, even crouching beside a large solid object that blocks the hail.

Step 5: Prepare for Hurricanes and Winter Storms

Hurricanes provide more advance warning than tornadoes but require earlier preparation because of their vast size and extended duration. If you live in a hurricane evacuation zone, know your zone designation and evacuation route, and have a plan for where you will go. When an evacuation order is issued, leave promptly. Traffic congestion during evacuations can be severe, and leaving early avoids the most dangerous conditions. Secure your home by installing hurricane shutters or pre-cut plywood for windows, and bring outdoor furniture and objects inside.

If you shelter in place during a hurricane, stay in an interior room away from windows on the lowest level of your home. Storm surge is the deadliest aspect of hurricanes for coastal residents, with walls of water sometimes exceeding 6 meters flooding coastal areas. This is why coastal evacuation zones exist, and why evacuation orders for these zones must be followed. Even well inland, hurricane-force winds can last for hours, producing tree and structure damage, while heavy rainfall can cause catastrophic inland flooding days after the storm makes landfall.

Winter storms require preparation for extended power outages and dangerous travel conditions. Keep your vehicle's fuel tank at least half full during winter storm season, and carry an emergency kit in your car with blankets, a flashlight, extra warm clothing, water, food, and a small shovel. If you lose power at home, close off unused rooms to conserve heat, use flashlights rather than candles to avoid fire risk, and never operate a generator, grill, or fuel-burning heater indoors due to carbon monoxide poisoning risk. Frostbite can occur on exposed skin in as little as 15 minutes at temperatures below minus 18 degrees Celsius with wind chill, so limit outdoor exposure during extreme cold.