About Weather Warn: Eyewitness News Storm Team Weather

The Storm Team Weather Warn Web system was put in place to advise you about threatening weather or weather conditions that may develop in the area. It is a completely automated system, running 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. When severe conditions can affect you, you can rely on the Eyewitness News Storm Team to bring you the best information available, first!

Our advanced computer systems receive alerts via satellite from the National Weather Service within seconds. Any announcement from an advisory to a warning is automatically relayed to the wchstv.com web site so you get the information first. Because the area WCHS-TV8 serves is quite large, you may find information that does not directly affect the county where you live.

The National Weather Service is responsible for issuing all advisories, watches and warnings. You'll be better informed by knowing the difference between a watch and a warning.

WARNING

A warning is issued by the National Weather Service to indicate that a particular weather hazard is either imminent or has been reported. A warning indicates the need to take quick action to protect life and property. The type of weather hazard is reflected in the words of the warning statement, for example a severe thunderstorm warning, a blizzard warning, or flood warning. You will frequently see members of the Eyewitness Storm Team interrupt television programming to bring you breaking news when a warning is issued in our area. On television, you'll also see a "crawl" of text across the bottom of your screen with the latest information.

WATCH

A watch is a National Weather Service statement indicating that a particular weather hazard is possible, or that conditions are more favorable than usual for its occurrence. A watch is a recommendation for planning, preparation, and increased awareness before the storm hits, or in other words, be alert for changing weather conditions, listen for further information, and think about what to do if a dangerous storm materializes. Most often you will see notices of a watch as a "crawl" of text across the bottom of your television screen. The Eyewitness Storm Team will always take the next available opportunity to bring you up to date about watch conditions.

ADVISORY

An advisory is issued for less severe conditions and conditions you should be aware of. Many non-precipitation events such as fog, smoke, frost and moderate winds are issued as an advisory. You will always get information about an advisory during regularly scheduled Eyewitness newscasts.

CLEAR

If you see the green "Clear" indicator, it mean there are currently no warnings, watches or advisories that will affect you in our area.

You may sometimes see 2 or more colored indicators on the Weather Warn Status display if multiple statements apply to all or part of our region. If you have any questions about warnings, watches and advisories, please feel free to email the Eyewitness News Storm Team. While they may not be able to email you personally during times of threatening weather, you will usually get a reply within a few hours.

IMPORTANT NOTICE: We strive to bring you the latest information possible. However, because the National Weather Service frequently does not follow exact formats for their releases, we bring you the exact verbiage from their news release. Presentation may, at times, be technical and not in the easy to understand language that the Eyewitness Storm Team uses. While this system of presenting breaking weather news is highly automated, failures can occur at any point from the people originating the statement, multiple satellite transmissions, processing through dozens of computer systems and finally transmission from your Internet Service Provider to your home. When threatening weather moves to affect you, turn on your television to the Eyewitness News Storm Team on WCHS-TV8 and WVAH Fox 11.