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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 increasimgly farfetched 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
Tornado watch	Conditions are favorable for tornadoes to form
Tornado precaution	Tornadoes happen sometimes, so be ready
Tornado inkling	No tornadoes yet, but we have a feeling
Tornado suspicion	Weird clouds have been observed
Tornado premonition	Tornado portents and omens have been observed
Tornado recollection	Tornadoes have occurred in the past
Tornado contemplation	Tornadoes are very big and powerful
Tornado harbinger (title text)	I hate the unearthly sound my phone makes when the weather service issues a tornado harbinger.

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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