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A watch or warning bearing the phrase is referred to as a PDS watch or PDS warning. First used by the Storm Prediction Center (SPC), a national guidance center of the National Weather Service , for tornado watches , the phrase was later applied to other severe weather watches and warnings by the agency's regional forecast offices.
The Midwest, including portions of Iowa, was under a “particularly dangerous situation tornado watch” on May 21. The PDS watch is a special label applied to watches by the National Weather ...
An example of a tornado warning polygon issued by the National Weather Service. A tornado warning (SAME code: TOR) is a public warning that is issued by weather forecasting agencies to an area in the direct path of a tornado, or a severe thunderstorm capable of producing one, and advises individuals in that area to take cover.
Past warnings. The weather service's Storm Prediction Center — whose mission is to provide "forecasts and watches for severe thunderstorms and tornadoes” — says that the term was first used on April 2, 1982 by forecaster Robert H. Johns, in conjunction with a tornado watch.
The PDS wording can be incorporated into the text of a tornado warning, either upon its initial issuance or in a "severe weather statement" providing updated information on the storm, when a considerable tornado debris signature is detected on radar or a large tornado is visually observed.
A tornado watch is typically less severe than a tornado warning and encompasses a larger area like multiple counties and states. It serves as a signal for people to prepare in case of an emergency.
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The warning is then disseminated to the public through terrestrial television and radio stations, online media, mobile app and SMS messaging through Emergency Mobile Alert (EMA); if a tornado has been sighted or indicated by radar within the warned area during the severe thunderstorm warning's duration, civil defense sirens, if present, are ...