Issued Tuesday September 30th 2008
12:27 pm EST

Severe weather can happen anytime day or night and is most likely to strike during spring and summer months which usually starts in March and runs through early June before the official hurricane season begins. Usually the biggest events happens in from Texas to the heart of the plains, this wide stretch of flat land is known as Tornado Alley, why is it called Tornado Alley, its because tornadoes and severe weather happen there as many more times than one. Now there seems to be a shift in the pattern Jet Stream were the winds are the most strongest.
Now other than spring and summer months there seems to be another recorded severe weather season which runs in the fall which begins late October into November. This is the most dangerous time for any severe weather to happen.
So How does severe weather occur?

To get a normal thunderstorm in general you have to have several features to get things going for a thunderstorm. First you have to have very warm temperatures above 50 degrees or higher, then you have to have moisture pushing north from the Gulf Coast of Mexico, this allows moisture dew points to rise that starts the lift then you have to wind shear which is warm southwesterly winds creating more lift for the thunderstorm to continue to mature and grow. Then to continue for lift in the thunderstorm you have to have Cold Canadian air which is the cold front and this will finish the thunderstorm development. Thunderstorms can produce Deadly Lightning, Hail, Heavy Rainfall, and sometimes tornadoes. These storms that produce tornadoes are called Severe thunderstorms, for a storm to be classified as severe it has to produce hail 3/4 inches in diameter which is the size of a penny and damaging winds of 58 MPH or greater and tornadoes. For Severe thunderstorms to develop basically taking the same ingredients mentioned above only more wind shear in the lower levels of the atmosphere and higher levels of the atmosphere, wind shear is known as winds turning within height of the thunderstorm. As the winds could be blowing from the southwest at 10 to 20 or more in the lower levels, the upper levels could be churning 80 mph or higher at the same time. This causes the storm to tilt and produces a wall cloud which is normally seen in the rain free base then as the winds keep turning the wall cloud will form a funnel which is a rotation column or air that is intact from the thunderstorm base but not touching the ground. As the Funnel continues to grow more than likely if you see dust going up inside the storm itself then you may want to find a safe place because a tornado has formed. Don't call it a tornado unless you know there is debris or dust on the ground then you have a touchdown. A tornado is a violently rotating column of air attached from the thunderstorm base to the ground and can reach winds of 300 MPH or higher.
The southeast is known for all the nations severe weather in history, for instances in November 10th 2002 A violently F 5 tornado which was a mile wide cut a path of destruction from Mossy Grove Morgan County to Joyner. In April 7th 2007 a violent Tornado touch downed in GoodLett's Ville in Lebanon causing more damage in the area.
Severe thunderstorms and tornadoes can happen anytime and anywhere and has happened in every 50 states across the US. But first and foremost lets remember that Severe thunderstorms are the parents that give birth to tornadoes, so pay attention to your local forecasts for any severe weather risks or thunderstorms and here is some life saving info for you to keep in mind when severe weather threatens.
A SEVERE WEATHER WATCH MEANS THAT CONDITIONS ARE FAVORABLE FOR SEVERE WEATHER TO DEVELOP IN AND CLOSE TO THE WATCH AREA, STAY ALERT FOR APPROACHING STORMS AND BE READY TO TAKE ACTION SHOULD SEVERE WEATHER THREATEN.
A SEVERE WEATHER WARNING MEANS THAT SEVERE WEATHER HAS BEEN INDICATED BY NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE DOPPLAR WEATHER RADAR OR STORM SPOTTER OR EMERGENCY OFFICIALS AND YOU NEED TO TAKE SHELTER IMMEDIATELY SUCH AS A STURDY STRUCTURE BASEMENT OR STRONG BUILDING, GET UNDER THE LOWEST LEVEL OF YOUR HOME UNDER A TABLE OR WORK BENCH KEEP YOUR HEADS OVER YOUR HEAD. IF OUTSIDE GET INTO A DITCH AND LIE FLAT FACE DOWN. DO NOT GET UNDER AN OVERPASS OR BOTHER OPENING WINDOWS THIS WILL WASTE YOUR TIME AND THERE IS NO POINT IS DOING THIS. SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS CAN PRODUCE TORNADOES WITH LITTLE OR NO WARNING. SO YOUR BEST DEFENSE IS MONITOR NOAA WEATHER RADIO OR WWW.NOAA.GOV OR LISTEN TO LOCAL MEDIA OUTLETS FOR FURTHER INFORMATION.