Hello Everyone this is SKYWARN EMERGENCEY COORDINATOR STEVE COOPER) Severe weather awareness continues this week with Highlightig Severe Thunderstorm Awareness.

All thunderstorms pose a threat with Lightning, hail, heavy rain, and wind. Thunderstorms form when warm moist air rises from the gulf coast of mexico and cold dry air comes out of canada when these masses combine the cold air causes the warm air to rise and you get thunderstorms. Whether you have windshear present or not, windshear is winds turning within height of the thunderstorm, windshear is winds blowing faster in the upper atmosphere then the winds in at the surface, when in fact the winds in the lower levels may be blowing at a rate of 45 mph from the southwest when in fact the winds are blowing faster such as 100 mph or more in the upper. When these fronts and winds combine you get Severe Thunderstorms, for a thunderstorm to be classified as Severe it has to have the following:

Hail to 3/4 inches in diameter or larger
Damaging Thunderstorm Winds to 58 MPH or Greater
and or tornadoes.

All Severe thunderstorms dont have to produce tornadoes all the time when in fact the damaging winds and hail causes more heartaches then one. Severe Thunderstorm Winds can be destructive as a tornado!!! this is True. For instances

58 to 65 MPH can push over shallow rooted trees and break tree limbs.
65 to 75 MPH winds can Damage Chimneys, Break Large and Shallow Rooted Trees and even bend road sighs.
75 to 85 MPH this time of WIndspeed was experienced here in Shakrag. The winds pushed over allot of trees and the place was without power for days. This type of windspeed can do allot of signifficant damage.
95 to 112 MPH Winds Incredable Damage everywere.

Hail is also a serious threat to life and property and may have you pulling that extra cash out of your wallet paying on insurance. Here are some hail sizes

.25 this is the size of the pea and no harm is done, wouldnt worry about it no big deal
.50 this is a little bit bigger in size! this is the size of a penny, this type of hail can stain your windshield and can hurt a little if caught outside
.75 Now we are talking serious hail here, this hail is the size of nickles, I have seen this size of hail while out in the field and seen the damage it does, this hail busted windshields destroyed corn crops and allot more, lets not get any bigger.
1.00 inch hail. Woah I said lets not get any bigger, this hail size is the size of a quarter or larger better have a hard hat on bring those vehicles inside, also if hail this big hits then there is a sign of rotation in the storm and a tornado may form during this stage.
1.25 inch hail is the size of half dollars , this is a dangerous hail size and you should be hiding while this is going on and never go outside.
2.00 inch hail is the size of Golfballs! this hail is rarely experienced most commonly known and is seen in supercell tornadic thunderstorms.
3.00 inch diameter hail is very big and very dangerous and could kill people.
4.00 inch diameter hail does allot of dangerous damage such as destroy cars, houses, and even bikes and other things in the property.

What do I do when a severe thunderstorm approaches and how will I know
.1 If conditions are favorable for severe weather the storms prediction center will issue a Severe Thunderstorm Watch. This type of watch lasts about 6 hours or more before the impending severe weather threatens. Monitor Noaa weather Radio or local Media.
.2 When conditions are immanant and severe weather has been reported by fire fighter ems or even police or public or indicated by dopplar weather radar then a warning will be issued. Heres what you do when a Severe thunderstorm Warning is issued.

First Remember the saying if you hear thunder, you are close enough to being struck by lightning, seek shelter inside a strong building.
Second, Uplug all electricle appliances
Never Ever use the shower, Water is a conductor of electricity and could seriously kill you so never use the shower or any water of that matter.
Dont use the Telephone, the teleophone is followed along a series of lines and if lightning hits then it could mess your hearing and possibly could hospitalize you. Although many have been struck while using the phone and survived but thats not a gurantee you will.

Severe thunderstorms can and occasionally are the parents of tornaodes so you may also want to have candles first aid and ect.

Have a great day and lets remember SECONDS SAVE LIVES