What is a PDS tornado watch?

I couldn't believe it when I saw a link to an article titled, "What is a PDS tornado watch?" The coin collector in me was going, of course it's a Philadelphia, Denver, San Francisco tornado watch, e.g. some sort of a wristwatch. Unfortunately that turns out not to be the case...

https://www.al.com/news/2020/04/what-is-a-pds-tornado-watch.html

 

Log in or Sign up to hide this ad.

Interesting! Thanks, Sy! ~ Chris

 

PDS Particularily Dangerous Situation

 

Yep... You sent those PDS storms our way this morning. These weather folks have added so many layers to these watches/warnings that I fear some folks may get confused these days.

 

And with air traffic being very low the air is cleaner and less turbulent. That is making it very difficult to predict the weather. So, many people are paying less attention to the forecasts.

 

Randy, how are things over your way? It look threatening.

 

We are good. It appears some folks just south of us took a beating though.

 

It was an intense morning (yesterday) The tornado siren on my phone weather app went off more times than I could count. Thankfully all the really bad stuff was south and east of me. I feel really bad for the folks that were not as lucky as I was.
We did get what I call an East Texas shower, 2.5" of rainfall in my rain gauge. Some of it fell horizontally so an actual tally is anyone's best guess....

 

When a tornado watch comes up in my area, folks go out and mow the yard and watch the sky. When the rain starts we put the mower away and listen to the sky.
Most know when to go underground.

 

PDS in this case stands for “particularly dangerous situation.”
Now I understand like going to a coin show

 

When the Storm Prediction Center adds PDS to one of their watches, anyone living within the watch area should be on high alert. They only add PDS to situations where they expect an outbreak of severe weather and violent, long track tornadoes. The local NWS forecast offices issue the warnings and will add a PDS to a warning when a dangerous, confirmed tornado has been reported; not just evident on radar. I worked the last 20 years of my career contracted to the National Severe Storms Laboratory, co-located with the Storm Prediction Center. The forecasters at the SPC are the best of the best. I knew some of them personally and witnessed their dedication to keeping our citizens informed of impending severe weather. If you are ever in Norman Oklahoma and interested in severe weather, I recommend arranging a tour of the National Weather Center.

 

I'm an old Midwestern boy, and we take tornadoes seriously.

Serious advice: If you see one, stare at it for a few seconds and see if it is moving from either right to left or left to right. If it IS, it is not coming straight at you. If it is NOT moving to one side or the other, it is either moving straight away from you or straight at you. Assume the worst and seek shelter immediately!

 

I wouldn't take that advise to the bank. Tornado tracks don't always follow a straight line path. Longer track supercells can drop multiple tornadoes as the storm goes through numerous regeneration cycles.

 

Pretty cool folks. They were a big help with the movie Twister that was filmed in Oklahoma.

 

a PDQ warning = get into a storm shelter Pretty Darn Quick - stay safe out there!

 

I started working at NSSL the year the movie came out. Some of my colleagues consulted with some of the film crew. Personally, as a real meteorologist, I hated the movie.

 

Don't know why I'm feeling so snarky today, but almost made so comments that would have probably been taken the wrong way, so I'll just say, "Hi" and move on.

 

The main impact of the big reduction is air travel related to forecasting is in the accuracy of the numerical weather models. Many different types of observations are used as input to numerical weather forecasting models. Weather balloons are launched twice per day around the world and the data gathered are freely shared by all nations. In addition, add in surface, satellite, and data from commercial airlines as they travel worldwide. They fill in the gaps between the 12 hour balloon launches over land and over the oceans. Fewer flights result in fewer observations; especially over the oceans. Unfortunately, there have been news stories about forecasts being less accurate because of the reduction of aircraft observations into the models; the satellite observations have not been impacted. Yes, there has been a negative impact on the accuracy of the weather forecast models; especially at longer time scales. However, the perception that the forecasts produced by these models are no good is wrong. In forecasts out to 5 days, I doubt the impact is significant.

 

@wxcoin Yes, it is probably not significant. But, when you plan on planting and putting down fertilizer, it makes a difference if 4 days of predicted rain turn in to 4 days of drought. Or, 4 days of clear and sunny turns into 4 days of rain.

 

We just had one go through here. Fairly calm and suddenly it was 30 mph winds, black sky and rain so heavy I couldn't see past 40 feet. Lighting and thunder that shook the house. It was all over 15 minutes. Since midnight we have had 1.25 inches of rain.