Fall Is Also A Time For Severe Weather Potential
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Article from 2021 on: Fall Is Also A Time For Severe Weather Potential
STATE-WIDE–You might remember tornadoes on Nov. 10, 2002, or the tornado in Evansville in November 2005.
Indiana’s secondary severe weather season is in the fall. The ingredients for tornadoes and severe storms are somewhat more prevalent than during the summer or the winter, in the transition seasons.
“While it’s certainly not of the same magnitude of the season that we usually see in the spring, going into summer, which is our climatological peak, statistically speaking we do see a little bit of an uptick in severe weather risk this time of year,” said Joe Nield, meteorologist with the National Weather Service, Indianapolis office.
LISTEN: Meteorologist Joe Nield talks about severe weather potential
He said the fall and spring can be thought of as transition seasons, where we still have enough warm and humid days and cold air that comes in on top of that.
“The dynamics of the atmosphere tend to be stronger during those transition seasons,” he said. “Large temperature contrasts both horizontally and vertically-speaking, that tend to drive the motion in the atmosphere, the winds,” he said.
Nield said the best thing you can do for your family is to be weather-aware all the time.
“You just want to have that in the back of your mind and have a plan in place for what you’re gonna do if hazardous weather threatens,” he said.
Nield noted that the Weather Service is trying to build a “weather-ready nation”, a nation that is aware of, prepared for and responds appropriately to hazardous weather threats.
“We can’t do that without the public being educated and being ready to take action when it’s warranted,” he said.
Part of that is the adjustment of some of the terminology the National Weather Service uses to inform and warn people about severe weather. Nield said the Weather Service, for instance, is preparing to end the use of the term “advisories”.
He said that while the same product will still be used to inform the public, the terms used will be more relatable.
