Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If you see a tornado, first of all go to your basement, and within your basement to a room without windows.

Then call 911.

Do not call 911 because you SEE a tornado.

Around here, in the DC area, yes, call 911 because you have spotted a tornado. They are rare and sightings should be reported.

OP here. My neighborhood in Bethesda had a little one that blew some trees onto a house. Would we report that? I feel like we would for statistical purposes or something. That's why I started the thread, not for a large one that is obvious like the one in Gaithersburg.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The news around here sensationalizes everything!

The op is from a few days ago, but up here near Darnestown/ Poolesville, they're been spotted within the last half hour. So I wouldn't call tonights alerts sensationalizing anything.

That tornado hit my neighborhood and it’s like 10 houses down and I acted the whole time like nothings happening. I got kind of lucky

Anonymous wrote:If you see a tornado, first of all go to your basement, and within your basement to a room without windows.

Then call 911.

Do not call 911 because you SEE a tornado.

Anonymous wrote:The news around here sensationalizes everything!

That tornado looked pretty serious and not at all sensationalized.

If you see a tornado, first of all go to your basement, and within your basement to a room without windows.

Then call 911.

Yes, OP, meteorologists and emergency services are on alert when the weather has tornado or flash flood potential. There are trained weather spotters who can call in dangerous conditions, but you and anyone else can call 911 to report a tornado. Please do so, while getting yourself to appropriate cover.

Meteorology is an extremely complex math-heavy science, which will be revolutionized by AI. Stay tuned for whether AI predictions will be more accurate than traditional models for this summer's hurricane season, which promises to be a very intense one.

There is also the national weather service trained spotter program. You can sign up on the national weather service page. Just Google national weather Service, tornado spotter.

7:30pm Last night On Wednesday, June 5, in Rockville just off exit 5 at Falls Road, we saw A very clear rotation in the sky.

I was doing our dinner dishes about 730 and my ears started popping like I was in an airplane. Being from the Midwest, and having grown up around a lot of tornadoes, I immediately went to go look out the window and above our house the sky was rotating. We live a half mile north of I 270 At Rosehill.

The tops of the trees were swirling around. to answer the OP question, yes, if you see a tornado, you should absolutely report it. There is an option for the weather service to send in a storm report. Go to ww.nws.noaa.gov and look for storm report. This would be the place where you will send in your observations if you see a funnel cloud. Other things that you can send in reports about our large hail.


Depending on the circumstances, you may need to call 911 especially if there are houses being impacted or you see down wires. But absolutely above all circumstances, make sure that you are safe before making the report. The important things to note in your report will be your address, The address or intersection near where the tornado is taking place, if you see any down wires, collapsed or destroyed structures, injuries, or fatalities.

If you happen to be on a highway and there is a tornado close by pull over. Last night, the tornado went straight over to 70, and it also crossed Route 200 and route 370. Up on the county connector, the drivers took refuge under the overpass. That was a very safe place. Sometimes there just isn’t much you can do.

Back in the Midwest where I lived, The advice at least back in the 70s and 80s was that you would get out of your vehicle and lay in a low-lying ditch. But I’m not so sure that’s the safest thing to do anymore. You might have a chance in a drainage culvert but the tornado would likely just suck you out anyway. Best thing to do is to be inside of a very solid structure, In the basement! If you have no basement, go to the interior room of your house with no windows like a closet.

Today is probably going to be another crazy weather day, judging by the humidity out here this morning. There is a lot of instability in the upper atmosphere that you can already feel. Everybody be safe. signed, been there and done that from flyover country.

A tornado warning for Montgomery County expired at 8:15 p.m. Wednesday night after touching down in Poolesville and then again in Gaithersburg before moving onto Olney, according to authorities.

In the aftermath, county emergency crews were responding to collapsed buildings in Gaithersburg. As of 8:12 p.m., Pepco was reporting 44 active outages, affecting 918 customers, mostly in the Gaithersburg area.

https://moco360.media/2024/06/05/tornado-touches-down-in-poolesville-heading-toward-to-gaithersburg-germantown/

Large tornado leaves Gaithersburg, heads into Olney
Three building collapses with people trapped reported in Gaithersburg; tornado warning expires in Montgomery County

There was just one on the ground in Darnestown and in Gaithersburg and now heading to Olney. DD was driving home from work on 270 and it was pretty bad.

Anonymous wrote:The news around here sensationalizes everything!

The op is from a few days ago, but up here near Darnestown/ Poolesville, they're been spotted within the last half hour. So I wouldn't call tonights alerts sensationalizing anything.

The news around here sensationalizes everything!

Are you supposed to report it? How does the US Weather Center know when a tornado happens? Do they have a radar? I am curious if there were any near us in last night's storm.