What Life Saving Skills Should You Know? #WRN #Skywarn

What Life Saving Skills Should You Know?

Learn life saving skills and share them on your social media channels by either directly copying or customizing the messages from the Life Saving Skills Social Media Toolkit. The toolkit contains preparedness messages and graphics to help protect individuals, families, and homes. Share the social media content now and make sure you: Know basic home maintenance to protect your family and home. Reduce common electrical and fire hazards around your house and property. Place natural gas detectors on every level of your home. Develop an emergency plan and discuss it with your family. Have emergency supplies in place at home, at work, and in the car. Teach children what to do when they hear a smoke alarm. Use the Life Saving Skills Toolkit today. If you missed yesterday’s webinar on the toolkit, therecording is available.

Prepare for Summer Power Outages #WRN #Skywarn

Prepare to beat the heat this summer. Heatwaves often cause power outages. Be ready in case one affects your neighborhood. Learning to prepare for power outages this summer is easy. The Ready Campaign offers the following tips: Make sure you have alternative charging methods for your phone or any device that requires power. Learn about the emergency plans in your area. Visit your state’s website to locate the closest cooling center. Build or restock your emergency kit. Include food, water, prescription medicines, flashlight, batteries, hearing aid batteries, cash, copies of important financial documents, and first aid supplies. Be prepared to stay cool if the power is off for a long time. Consider going to a movie theater, shopping mall, or library that has air conditioning. For more information on preparing for power outages this summer, visit www.ready.gov/power-outages.

#BeatTheHeat this summer

Stay safe as summer heats up. Prepare yourself for the high temperatures.  According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), sickness from the heat occurs when your body cannot compensate and properly cool you off. However, heat-related illness and death are preventable.  Before the next heat wave, or outdoor activity, follow these protective actions from the CDC and stay cool this summer: Stay in an air-conditioned location as much as possible. Drink plenty of fluids, even if you do not feel thirsty. Take several breaks from the heat, especially midday when the sun is hottest. Wear loose, lightweight, light-colored clothing, and sunscreen. Remember that you should reapply sunscreen as indicated on the package. Take cool showers or baths to cool down. Check on friends or neighbors during extremely hot days and have someone do the same for you. Never leave children or pets in cars. Check the local news for health and safety updates. Find more information on extreme heat preparedness at www.ready.gov/heat.

Don't you just hate radar indicated warnings? #Skywarn #WRN @wrnambassadors

You are sound asleep at 2 a.m.  The weather radio alarms for a tornado warning.  The warning reads this is a "radar indicated" storm.

Outside ... you went outside? ... the wind is breezy and, in the distance, there's a thunderhead with lightning.

As you stagger back to bed, grumbling what the Weather Service was thinking that caused your loss of sleep, realize there is a better way.

Skywarn

At two AM, surely there was someone awake upstream of the warning area.  Were there any reports of funnels or tornadoes or wind damage or hail?  Why were those reports not getting to the weather service?  Were there no reports?  Now the weather service has to rely on radar  but a trained spotter report takes away or adds to the nature of the warning.  

There are so many ways to get a report to the National Weather Service.  CALL them.  There number is listed on every Weather Forecast Office.  Locate your WFO by going to Weather.GOV and typing your zip code in the search box.

When you found your local weather page,  look for "your local forecast office is" and click that link.  There Skywarn and Weather Ready Nation efforts, along with the phone number is found there.

Ask them how they want Citizens to report.  Most will accept a phone call. 

When you see hail, damaging wind, flood, ice storms, etc., CALL the local office.

They also follow on Twitter and Facebook a lot.  Tag them in your post.  @NWSTulsa, for example, is the Tulsa NWS office on Twitter and Facebook.  How selfish is it of you to tag your friends while disregarding the place that can give the warning to your friends and your neighbors?

Hashtags are also a good way to use social media.  #XXwx where XX is the two letter identifier for your State, ex. KSwx 

Photos also tell a thousand words.  That hail stone looks great next to a ruler or a quarter.

Be part of your community.  Report your weather to the NWS and your local emergency manager.  Maybe we can all get a good rest if there are fewer radar indicated storms, maybe.

Steps to Prevent Vehiclular Heatstroke #LookBeforeYouLock #Skywarn

On hot days, the temperature inside your car can reach deadly levels in just 10 minutes. In 2017, 42 children died of vehicular heatstroke. Heatstroke begins when the core body temperature reaches about 104 degrees. A core body temperature of about 107 degrees is lethal. When left in a hot car, a child's temperature can rise quickly. A child's body temperature rises three to five times faster than an adult's. Help prevent vehicular heatstroke with these eight steps from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration: Never leave a child or pet in a car unattended—even if the windows are partially open or the engine is running, and the air conditioning is on. Make a habit of looking in the car—front and back—before locking the door and walking away. Ask your childcare provider to call you if your child does not show up for care as expected. Place your purse or briefcase in the back seat so you do not accidentally leave a child or pet in the car. Write a note or place a toy in the passenger's seat to remind you of the child or pet in the car. Teach children not to play in cars and store keys out of a child's reach. If you see a child alone in a locked car, get them out immediately and call 911. Remove the child from the car and rapidly cool them if they are in distress due to heat. Learn more extreme heat preparedness at www.ready.gov/heat. If you would like to help spread the word about extreme heat safety, you can visit the Extreme Heat Social Media Toolkit for resources. Download the FEMA App for heat advisories and safety tips.

Don't forget your #Skywarn safety tips