Heads Up, Amarillo: The National Weather Service Is Upgrading Storm Warnings

Let's face it... this weekend was awful when it came to the weather and there were some downright scary moments, especially for folks at Palo Duro Canyon who had to deal with a Tornado that threw a few RVs around the park. Thankfully no one was injured. This storm definitely had the chasers like the 806 Strom Chasers group going too:

No one wants to deal with this. Unfortunately, the tornado season started early this weekend. In fact, we haven't had this early of a start to severe weather season since 2007 according to folks at the National Weather Service.

It's getting wild out here, y'all.

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One big thing that is changing is how we are getting notified for severe thunderstorms. Currently the National Weather Service issues a Severe Thunderstorm Warning when conditions are favorable for 1 inch hail or greater with winds in excess of 58 Miles per hour.

Starting April 28th, you can expect to see a few more categories incuding language like "Considerable Damage Threat" when hail is golf ball to tennis ball size and winds up to 80 miles per hour. and with winds above 80 miles per hour and baseball size hail  you're gonna see the tag "Destructive Damage Threat" and for good reason, anything this big can kill you out in the open and really do a number on your car or roof.

Because this latter category is a big deal... the National Weather Service is adding this to alerts that go out on cell phones. and here in the Amarillo area alerts for this type of storm will also automatically trigger the siren system even if no tornado or conditions favorable for a tornado are present.

Basically put if you hear the siren... get some place safe. there's not really time to figure out what the threat is... just know that if they are going off that's more than enough explanation.