3267: Types of Tornado Alert

Types of Tornado Alert

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

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Explanation

This is one of 42 incomplete explanations: This page was found after a tornado recollection made an unearthly noise. Don't remove this notice too soon. If you can fix this issue, edit the page!

This comic describes the idea of graded levels of disaster alert - specifically here a tornado alert - and then 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	While weird clouds could relate to tornado formation, not all weird clouds will, so alerting people about any type of weird cloud is unhelpful.
Tornado premonition	Tornado portents and omens have been observed	In fantasy and folklore, terrible events are often preceded by unusual occurrences. Similarly, some people claim to be able to predict weather events by, for example, things like animals exhibiting certain behaviours. This is not a reliable way to predict a tornado.
Tornado recollection	Tornadoes have occurred in the past	While this statement is factually correct - tornadoes have occurred in the past, and many more will occur in the future - this is always true, so - as with the 'Tornado precaution' - 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	Simply having thought about tornadoes and their destructive power doesn't tell you anything about where and when they might form.
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, which often make terrible sounds that indicate that a cataclysmic event is on the way. Since 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 probably references the sound that Emergency Alert System makes, as it is specifically designed using tones that you would not normally expect your phone to produce, in order to ensure it gains attention.

Transcript

This is one of 31 incomplete transcripts: Don't remove this notice too soon. If you can fix this issue, edit the page!

[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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Discussion

No one commented and this was posted yesterday. YZ100 4:14, 5 July 2026 (UTC)

The wiki has been down a lot lately. 2A04:4E41:320E:C676:0:0:F10B:D676 04:27, 5 July 2026 (UTC)

Missed out "Tornado Emergency" though. 31.185.246.10 (talk) 12:56, 5 July 2026 (UTC) (please sign your comments with ~~~~)

A TORE is still a tornado warning, just with a special tag, though. 140.99.190.84 14:01, 5 July 2026 (UTC)

The Site's FINALLY Back Up! :33 216.25.182.141 15:07, 5 July 2026 (UTC)

Turns out the tornado contemplation alarm was just an old man with a lantern looking for a wise man. Fephisto (talk) 17:50, 5 July 2026 (UTC)

perhaps a "tornado harbinger" is meant to be the next level up from a tornado warning? Squishmallow fan (talk) 11:47, 10 July 2026 (UTC)
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