Live in East Texas? Don’t Park Your Vehicle Under a Tree Tonight

Official Weather Warnings

We make it a point to try and alert East Texans about the threat of severe or significant weather. You've heard the different types of weather warnings, such as:

• Severe Thunderstorm Warning - hail and damaging winds possible
• Tornado Warning - Gather up the pets and pillows, we're heading to the bathtub
• Significant Weather Advisory - Not quite sure what's going to happen, but it's going to be nasty and probably scare your dogs.

Wind Warnings

You have also heard the National Weather Service issue Wind Advisories.  Usually, when the forecast calls for winds gusting to 20-25 mph or more, these alerts are issued.

Well, the winds on Tuesday afternoon (February 21) are expected to gust up to 25 mph. But, overnight and then Wednesday morning, the windy conditions are expected to worsen. In fact, we could have tropical-storm-force winds between 6 am and noon.

Some weather models are showing winds gusting between 40-50 mph during that time period.

New 'Experimental' Warnings

Even though we may get winds over 39 mph, we can't actually issue a Tropical Storm Warning. And, issuing a Wind Advisory just doesn't seem robust enough to capture the force of the winds.

So, I suggest the following new warning-types might be in order:

• Don't Park Your Vehicle Under a Tree Advisory
• Secure All Trash Lids Warning
• Your Trampoline Could Become a Kite Alert
• Don't Even Bother Fixing Your Hair Advisory
• No Skirt/No Dress Warning
• Pass High Profile Vehicles as Quickly as Possible Alert

Now that I think of it, don't park your pet under a tree either.

In all seriousness, even though we've had a rather wet 2023 so far, don't start a fire. A little spark combined with 40 mph winds could be disastrous.

Get our free mobile app