ARNOLD AIR FORCE BASE, Tenn. -- September is National Preparedness Month and the perfect time to remind personnel of the severe weather threats we have here at Arnold Air Force Base.
The climate in middle Tennessee gives us two distinct severe weather seasons - fall and spring. The Arnold Engineering Development Complex Installation Office of Emergency Management is here to aid in the understanding of severe weather awareness and preparedness, including reminders and safety tips. Our goal is to protect our greatest asset - people.
Emergency Management strives to make our processes and procedures as clear as possible. Some ways we share critical information is by conducting Base Emergency Preparedness Orientation briefings for newly assigned personnel, posting information on the AEDC Spouses Facebook page, and our “AEDC ALL” weather informational emails. Knowledge is power and our best protection against all threats. Also, the AEDC Operations Center will send out important AtHoc (Mass Warning and Notification System) warning messages via computer pop-ups and texts/phone calls to personnel base and personal phones for those registered in the system. Registration in AtHoc is required for base personnel and highly encouraged for family members. This ensures we are able to reach base personnel as quickly as possible during an incident or emergency situation.
The Emergency Management Flight is in constant contact with the National Weather Service in Nashville and Huntsville, as well as the 26th Operational Weather Squadron located at Barksdale Air Force Base, Louisiana. When the threat of severe weather comes our way, utilizing our weather partners allows us to give you the most current situation updates as the threat increases.
Severe thunderstorms produce a variety of weather hazards including tornadoes, large hail, damaging straight-line winds, flooding and lightning. Severe thunderstorms producing damaging winds in excess of 60 miles per hour and large hail can be a threat to life and property. Damaging straight-line winds are much more common than tornadoes and can be just as deadly.
Those caught outdoors during a severe thunderstorm are particularly vulnerable. Boaters and campers should be especially alert to the potential of severe storms. High winds and lightning associated with severe thunderstorms can strike suddenly and can easily capsize boats and put campers at risk due to falling trees.
At any given moment, there are 1,800 thunderstorms in progress somewhere on Earth. In the United States, there are an estimated 25 million cloud-to-ground lightning strikes each year. The National Weather Service has stated that while lightning can be fascinating to watch, it is also extremely dangerous.
Tornadoes are violently rotating columns of air that extend from a thunderstorm to the ground. Tornadoes can destroy buildings, flip cars and create deadly flying debris. While Tennessee’s peak tornado season typically runs from March to June, they can happen anytime and anywhere and bring intense winds of more than 200 miles per hour.
Sixty tornadoes were confirmed in Tennessee in 2023, 46 of which were EF2 or greater.
If the National Weather Service issues a tornado or severe weather warning, the following safety steps are strongly recommended:
• Go to National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, or NOAA, Weather Radio and local radio or official social media accounts for updated emergency information.
• Follow the instructions of state and local officials.
• Go to a safe shelter immediately, such as a safe room, basement, storm cellar or a small interior room on the lowest level of a sturdy building.
• Stay away from windows, doors and outside walls.
• Do not seek shelter under an overpass or bridge.
• Watch out for flying debris that can cause injury or death.
• Use your arms to protect your head and neck.
Flooding results in more weather-related fatalities than any other thunderstorm-related hazard because many of the deaths occur in automobiles when driven through flooded roads as they are swept downstream.
Water weighs 62.4 pounds per cubic foot and typically flows downstream at 6 to 12 miles per hour. When a vehicle stalls in the water, the water’s momentum is transferred to the car. For each foot the water rises, 500 pounds of lateral force is applied to the automobile, but the biggest factor is buoyancy.
For each foot the water rises up the side of the car, the car displaces 1500 pounds of water. In effect, the automobile weighs 1500 pounds less for each foot the water rises. Two feet of water will carry away most automobiles, leading to the National Weather Service slogan “Turn Around, Don’t Drown.”
If you have any questions or would like more information, please contact the AEDC Installation Office of Emergency Management at 454-5706 or 454-7758. Additional resources are available on the Air Force “BE READY” site located at https://www.beready.af.mil/.