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Types of Tornado Alert

|< < Prev #3267 (July 3, 2026)

Title text: I hate the unearthly sound my phone makes when the weather service issues a tornado harbinger.

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Explanation

This comic describes the idea of a tornado alert and then humorously extends it to decreasingly dangerous situations, soon reaching increasingly far-fetched warnings, which don't help to prepare for a tornado at all.

A table showing these warnings is below:

Types of tornado alerts

Alert	Description	Explanation
Tornado warning	A tornado has been detected; take shelter	This is a real alert that is issued by the National Weather Service (NWS) to alert people that a tornado is either imminent or occurring. Randall starts with the serious baseline to establish the premise before introducing increasingly absurd warnings.
Tornado watch	Conditions are favorable for tornadoes to form	Another real warning that the NWS uses. A tornado watch means that the atmospheric conditions, like instability or wind shear, are present, but no tornado has formed yet. This alert usually spans a large area for several hours.
Tornado precaution	Tornadoes happen sometimes, so be ready	This is the first joke entry in this comic. While being prepared for the event of a tornado is a good idea, it hardly deserves a dedicated alert, especially as this warning could be issued at any time.
Tornado inkling	No tornadoes yet, but we have a feeling	This entry relies on no steady ground for an actual tornado forming, only relying on suspicions. This does not justify an alert.
Tornado suspicion	Weird clouds have been observed	This one also relies on feelings and omens rather than firm ground. While the weird clouds could create a tornado, this is hardly valid just on its own - they are likely just normal clouds.
Tornado premonition	Tornado portents and omens have been observed	Similar to 'tornado inkling', this alert also just relies on hints and suspicions. The difference is that the omens for a 'tornado premonition' are based on folkloric and symbolic associations rather than on a gut feeling.
Tornado recollection	Tornadoes have occurred in the past	While this statement is factually correct - tornadoes have occurred in the past, and numerous more will occur in the future - this is always true, so an alert specifically for this would be useless. This alert could be an assumption that people seeing the alert don't know that tornadoes can form, so they need to be informed.
Tornado contemplation	Tornadoes are very big and powerful	This, like Tornado recollection, relies on the assumption that people seeing the alert don't know about tornadoes, and need to know that tornadoes are quite a deadly threat.
Tornado harbinger (title text)	I hate the unearthly sound my phone makes when the weather service issues a tornado harbinger.	The title text is a nod to a harbinger of doom. It points out that as tornadoes are quite dangerous events, tornado alert warnings could be viewed as harbingers of doom. The narrator claims their phone makes an unearthly sound when issuing tornado alerts, which emphasizes the 'doom' of it.

Transcript

[There are multiple panels showing different scenes, prefixed by some label beginning with "Tornado" and followed by a description.]

Tornado warning

[Silhouette of a tornado spraying dust on the ground. To its right is a house and a dead tree.]

A tornado has been detected; take shelter

Tornado watch

[Hairbun stands in front of a board containing two graphs (one a skew-T log-P) and points to it with her right arm. Cueball is standing, facing her.]

Conditions are favorable for tornadoes to form

Tornado precaution

[Cueball stands with his arms out.]

Tornadoes happen sometimes, so be ready

Tornado inkling

[Cueball has his hand on his chin, looking to the right.]

No tornadoes yet, but we have a feeling

Tornado suspicion

[Cueball is standing outside looking at several clouds, including a cumulonimbus.]

Weird clouds have been observed

Tornado premonition

[Cueball stands to to the left of a pole with a crossbar that has been driven into the ground, and is leaning to the right. Upon the pole two black birds are sitting, and beside the pole is a skull. In the background, more birds form the shape of a tornado.]

Tornado portents and omens have been observed

Tornado recollection

[Cueball has his hand on his chin, looking to the left. He has a thought bubble, containing the silhouette of a tornado.]

Tornadoes have occurred in the past

Tornado contemplation

[Cueball is sitting on a cube, with his arms in his lap, and facing left.]

Cueball: Wow.

Tornadoes are very big and powerful

---

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