Weather
Craig Koplien: Weather or NotUm, Doc, Your Announcement Was WrongBy Craig KoplienDuring a recent visit to my doctor’s office, an alarm sounded throughout the building, followed by this announcement: “A severe thunderstorm warning has been issued for Waukesha County until 7pm”. Good announcement, I thought, except that it was wrong.
It turns out that a severe thunderstorm watch had been issued, not a warning. It’s not uncommon for these 2 words to be confused. And that’s a bad thing because they have 2 very different meanings. A watch means that dangerous weather might develop over the next several hours. When a watch is issued, there's no need to alter your activities, except to pay a little more attention to the weather as it could change very quickly.
A warning means that dangerous weather is occurring or is imminent. When a warning is issued you should immediately move to a place of safety. Here's a good way to remember the difference between watch and warning: Watch is the smaller word with 5 letters. Warning is the bigger word with 7 letters. The smaller word indicates the smaller problem. The bigger word indicates the bigger problem. The small, 5-letter word watch means that dangerous weather might happen. The big, 7-letter word warning means that dangerous weather is happening.
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