JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — As severe weather season approaches it’s important to know what a severe thunderstorm warning means. It might seem simple enough of an answer for most. It means severe weather is expected, yet many may not be aware of what the technical definition is.
First, it’s important to note it has nothing to do with lightning. Lightning is dangerous and you should always remember when thunder roars head indoors. But severe thunderstorm warnings are more to do with the winds and hail in a thunderstorm
A severe thunderstorm warning means winds of 58mph or and inch in diameter of hail was expected. That is the base level of a severe thunderstorm warning. Now it does also go up in tiers but anytime there is a warning this is what you can expect somewhere in the warning area.
You might be curious why 58mph, such a random number... It’s actually 50kts, that’s nautical miles per hour but when converted its 58. Which is more than sufficient to cause damage.