We’re having tornadoes in the area tonight. Well, I think so, anyway. I read about ‘warnings’ and ‘watches’ and for the life of me can not quite remember which is which. I have not been able to remember this distinction *EVER*. I remember in first grade having trouble keeping them straight, it’s not gotten better with age. Given that they both start with “W” could we not come up with something better?
“Tornado warning” means basically that a tornado (or something like a tornado) has been visually seen. But “watch” has more of a visual connotation to it than ‘warning’. Could we not have used (or switch to using) “warning” to mean – “hey, be careful cause we have the conditions for a tornado”? Then – get this – we could use the term “sighting” to mean that a tornado (or something like a tornado had, in fact, been sighted.
This idea is probably too radical for the US, but I’d like to see this change happen some anyhow. We went from the “4 food groups” to a “food pyramid” over a generation, probably did away with the letter people, and have undergone far more strenuous cultural changes than what I’m calling for, yet have somehow managed to survive. Call your representative now and get this movement moving!
I’m sure they’ll get to it, right after the metric conversion
The letter people! Holy cow…what happened to them?