Severe Weather Safety: Knowing Where and Where Not to Take Shelter

Taking Shelter At Home:

Severe weather can occur at any point in the year, but is mostly favored during the months of April, May, and June in northern Illinois and southern Wisconsin. Again, the key to tornado survival is having a safety plan practiced and in place so that you're ready when severe weather threatens.

Your safety plan should be known by everyone in the house and practiced at least twice to three times each year.  Remember, when orchestrating a severe weather safety plan, the location of your safe place should be either on the lowest floor of the home, preferably a basement, or the innermost room. 

Such as a bathroom, an interior closet, or the space underneath a staircase.You want to have as many walls in between you and the outside as possible for maximum safety. Avoid taking shelter next to doors, windows, and exterior rooms. It's these areas in a home that are more susceptible to the fast-moving debris in the wind generated by the tornado. 

Caught on the Roads:

Now, being in a vehicle is a terrible place to be when the threat for severe weather or a tornado is present. If faced with a severe threat while on the road, your best course of action will depend on your exact location, the timing of impact, road options available, and nearby structures. 

If the severe thunderstorm activity or tornado is far enough away from your location and road options are allow, you should try to find a sturdy and firmly built structure for shelter. One thing you shouldn't do is take shelter underneath an overpass. A lot of the time people think that this is a way to minimize the damage to their vehicle and lower the risk of injury or death. This is definitely NOT the case. In fact, taking shelter underneath a bridge or an overpass exposes you to higher wind speeds. Any debris that is picked up by the wind produced by a storm or a tornado will become channeled underneath, increasing the risk for injury. 

More importantly, your parked car could block traffic or block the path of emergency vehicles trying to get to the injured. The First Warn Weather Team will continue to provide information throughout the week, highlighting severe weather terminology, safety, and ways to receive watches and warnings.  For more on severe weather preparedness, you can always visit Chicago National Weather Service.