Weather alert guides
Plain-English explanations of National Weather Service alerts and severe weather safety.
- Watch vs. warning vs. advisoryThe difference between a weather watch, warning and advisory, with tornado, winter storm and flood examples and what to do for each level.
- Winter weather alerts explainedWhat a winter storm warning, winter storm watch, winter weather advisory, blizzard warning, ice storm warning and extreme cold warning mean and how they differ.
- The Enhanced Fujita (EF) scaleHow tornadoes are rated from EF0 to EF5, the estimated wind speeds for each rating, how the EF scale differs from the original Fujita scale, and how often each rating occurs.
- Tornado safetyWhere to take shelter in a house, apartment, mobile home, car or school during a tornado warning, how to prepare, and what to do after a tornado.
- How to get weather alerts on your phoneTurn on Wireless Emergency Alerts on iPhone and Android, which NWS warnings trigger them, and how to program a NOAA Weather Radio with your county SAME code.