Special 12:01am Monday Update

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The yellow-tinted counties are currently under tornado watches. Between midnight and 2a Monday, I'm especially worried about the area I've outlined in yellow which encompasses much of the Ozarks. Wind gusts to 80-90 mph and brief tornadoes are likely.

Below are safety suggestions you should implement immediately. 
  • Because of the higher than average overnight tornado risk, I strongly recommend downloading  the AccuWeather app . Be sure to "allow" location services. 
  • Making sure you have turned the emergency notification feature (ENF) your smartphone. Easy instructions below. For all of its many imperfections, it is ideal for this use. 
  • If you are in the threat area, put your (fully charged) smartphone with the AW App and the ENF turned on next to your bed. Turn on your weather radio. 
  • Insure your PC and phone are fully charged but take them off the charger before lightning arrives.
  • Put any family heirlooms (scrapbooks, etc.) into your shelter area now. 
  • Have a flashlight (check the batteries), a couple bottles of water, and diapers in your shelter area. Take your cell phone into shelter with you. Crucial medications should be taken to shelter with you. 
  • Always wear shoes into your shelter. 
Here is how to turn your smartphone into a tornado alarm. 
On an iPhone, go to "Settings" (the "gear" icon) 
and then choose notifications (arrow).

Once you have tapped Notifications, scroll down to the bottom and turn on Emergency Alerts.
While not as fast or as location-specific as NWS warnings provided by the AccuWeather App, the WEA tones will wake you up at night if the phone is next to your bed and the volume is turned up. So, you want both. Because WEA only triggers for tornado and flash flood warnings you don't have the false alarm problem that you have with many NOAA Weather Radios. Please make sure family and friends have done this.


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