JOINT BASE SAN ANTONIO-RANDOLPH, Texas –
Paul Yura, a National Weather Service meteorologist, visited Joint Base San Antonio-Randolph Monday to inform base attendees about the importance of severe weather on behalf of Skywarn, an NWS program consisting of trained spotters who help report severe weather to NWS personnel.
Yura talked about thunderstorms and varying degrees of severe weather that occur as a result of them, such as flash flooding, hail, lightning and tornadoes.
While many people may cringe at the thought of floods, hail and tornadoes and the damage they can cause, a thunderstorm's most prominent feature - lightning - is something not to be taken lightly.
A 10-year average shows that approximately 40 people die every year in the U.S. from lightning strikes, with many more injured from them.
"There are hundreds - maybe even a thousand people - injured per year by lightning," Yura said. "Florida and Texas typically lead the nation in lightning deaths. It's warm year-round in a lot of places [in Texas]."
Yura reported that the three lightning deaths that have happened this year nationwide were caused because those involved sought shelter incorrectly.
"Thirty percent of lightning-related deaths happen under trees," he said. "People don't like to get wet, so where do you think they hide outdoors?"
Yura said people should never hide under trees or the tallest objects in a given area, and that "bolts out of the blue" - lightning that strikes five to 10 miles away from its source cloud - are the most powerful strikes and are a good indicator that damage doesn't always happen directly underneath a thunderstorm.
San Antonians are less familiar with tornadoes, as they tend to frequently spawn in the Texas panhandle region, which is part of the nation's tornado alley.
But the city's lack of tornado outbreaks does not make it exempt from them.
A small tornado touched down in the city on Oct. 9, 2011, and was powerful enough to damage homes, business offices and flip over a few vehicles.
The weakest tornadoes are able to produce winds strong enough to hurl debris at deadly speeds, Yura said.
With any tornado, seek shelter in a basement or in the center of a sturdy building, away from doors and windows. Put as many walls between yourself and the tornado, he said.
If you are caught outdoors away from shelter, enter a vehicle and drive to the nearest shelter if possible. If flying debris begins to hit your car, pull over, park and keep your head down away from the car windows.
The most-common severe weather presence in Texas is also its deadliest.
"Flash flooding [is] our nemesis across south central Texas," Yura said.
Some areas of the city are about 1,000 feet above sea level, and in the Hill Country the elevation rises to 1,500 feet above sea level.
The city's hilly terrain means significant water movement occurs across the land when large amounts of rain drop, especially near patches of unstable soil that can shift when drenched by water, Yura said.
Most deaths from flash flooding involved low-water vehicle crossings during nighttime.
A commonality Yura pointed out was many flash flood-related incidents involved people who drove larger vehicles, such as pickup trucks.
No vehicle is the exception to the rule when it comes to flash flood safety, Yura said.
"There is no other safety rule after you pass mine, which says 'turn around, don't drown,'" he said.
Yura said two particular flash floods that happened in San Antonio in 1998 and 2002 were both 500-year flood events, meaning they produced the amount of flood water expected to be equaled or exceeded every 500 years on average.
Their chance of occurring - 0.2 percent - presents a matter of statistics rather than a streak of bad luck; record-breaking flash flood years and other severe weather phenomena are subject to when they will happen rather than if they will happen, Yura said.
Alvin Hill, 12th Operations Support Squadron chief of weather flight operations, said the Skywarn training session was its third showing for Randolph.
Hill expected Skywarn to be back on base for future sessions.
"It's such a needed entity because the weather should be basic knowledge," he said. "Oftentimes, people in San Antonio feel sheltered from the hurricanes and tornadoes, but all kinds of bad weather can happen anywhere."
To report severe weather to the Austin/San Antonio region of the NWS, visit www.srh.noaa.gov/ewx. For more information about Skywarn and other educational material on severe weather, visit http://skywarn.org.