About tornados--if you're in a city, you have sirens to warn you. What if you're driving in the

[raccoon]

middle of nowhere? How are you warned then? On the car radio like a civil defense alert?

[winter is coming]

1. If you're close enough to a town to get a signal, you'll hear the Emergency Broadcast signal,

followed by a description of what the emergency is. It's a chilling feeling to hear that tone "for real", instead of for the monthly tests.

[CBGLuthier]

2. There is the NOAA Weather Radio

Most folks will not have them in their cars of course. We know to tune into the local stations. Most of them have deals with the tv stations when it gets bad to simulcast the warnings and inform people. At least they used to, I have not listened to much radio in the past decade.

Locals know what kind of weather and what kind of clouds generate tornadoes so we know when we should be tuning into our local broadcasts.


Also, just for the curious, the cable systems here will break into any channel telling people to tune to the local channels.

[Buzz Clik]

3. If it's daylight, you can see it. At night ...

[panader0]

4. "You don't need a weatherman to know which way the wind blows"

Dylan

[HockeyMom]

5. They have sirens in the schools here

and they will go off whether or not school is in session.

[hobbit709]

6. When I see weather like that ahead, I get off the road.

[Greybnk48]

7. We have sirens out of town here, but not way out.

In the boonies you have to rely on your radio. Unlike this deadly monster from yesterday, you're advised to get out of your car and get down in a roadside ditch. This was something else.

[MineralMan]

8. Tune your car radio to the news station closest to

where you are. They will announce storm alerts. It's also useful for traffic information. You may have to use the dreaded AM band, though, to do this.

[magical thyme]

9. if you're in the country, you don't hear the sirens

that's what happened at the horse farms. The farm hand who survived in a horse's stall...he said everything went dead quiet and still. All the birds and crickets and whatever will go silent. Then he knew something was coming and to take shelter.

He said he turned as many horses loose as he could, to give them a chance. But had no time. And with that size tornado, I don't think it mattered either way. Turned loose, they will try to outrun it and will know which way to run, but it was so huge.

So loose, they are hit by debris. In the barn, they are protected from debris unless it passes to close and takes out the barn.

He said it was like in the movie Twister. Horses just sucked up and blown around.

[Gman]

10. there is an app for NOAA weather alerts

for the iPhone that I use.

[pipi_k]

17. Yep

I have that one too.

Not that Massachusetts is in the middle of Tornado Alley or anything, but it's not impossible for us to have them, much as what happened in June of 2011.

[byeya]

11. You can buy inexpensive portable radios with the NOAA weather stations - battery powered.

Some even operate off an included hand crank w/o batteries.

[Glitterati]

12. It happened to us once

And, it was very frightening.........

They take over the radio. An announcement comes on saying This is not a test. A tornado is in the vicinity. Stop your car and get into the nearest ditch. Take cover but do not remain in your vehicle. Or something to that effect........

[snooper2]

13. You see a big twister find a ditch or a hole or culvert to crawl into

If you want to die, park underneath an overpass and try to hide under the bridge

[cynatnite]

15. My mom and I did this one time when we saw a tornado. n/t

[raccoon]

18. why do you say that? Someone else posted here once not to do that. nt

[snooper2]

19. you ever see your vacuum pull dirt up from under a couch

[fishwax]

14. Highway Advisory Radio is usually on the far ends of the AM dial (530/1610)

(I know 1610 isn't the upper limit of the AM band, but this system was in place before the extension of the AM. 1610-1710 is a good place to find HAR.)

If you're in the middle of nowhere (or just in an unfamiliar area) and you get concerned, this is a good place to start. HAR provides traffic and weather information but the range is limited. Try a few frequencies close to these extremes, as the exact station differs depending on location. There is a database of these stations, searchable by state, here.

If you can't find an HAR broadcast on those frequencies, and you haven't noticed a "For traffic information, tune to ________" sign recently, I think the best bet is to switch to the FM and try to find information that way. With the range of AM radio (especially at night) it can be difficult (a) to know where a station's broadcast originates and (b) get through the band, since most frequencies will pick up a station from somewhere, especially if you're in the middle of nowhere. With FM, you can be pretty sure the station is nearby.

Also, 88.1-91.9 are reserved for non-commercial stations (public radio, academic stations, etc.), so start your search there.

[cbdo2007]

16. Yeah, listen to the radio, and look around at the sky.

[xmas74]

20. it'll cut into radio broadcast.

I've been through a few- I know.