Read this note to learn more about a tornado watch issued for a large portion of North Carolina, including the Elon University area, through 11 p.m. on Thursday, Oct. 31.
Community message from 4 p.m. on Thursday, Oct. 31, 2019
The National Weather Service has released a Tornado Watch effective until 11 pm tonight for 28 counties in Central North Carolina, including Alamance, Guilford, and surrounding counties. Please be alert to weather reports this afternoon and evening, and if you have not yet signed up for E-Alert and LiveSafe, visit Elon’s webpage for emergency and severe weather resources at https://www.elon.edu/u/bft/police/emergency/.
These two resources feature text alerts from the university to subscribers. Other ways the university notifies the campus of severe weather include E-Net, campus emails, the outdoor sirens on the main campus, and messages posted on televisions stationed around campus.
For your general information please be aware of the difference between a tornado watch and a tornado warning.
- Tornado Watch: If a tornado “watch” is issued for your area, it means that weather conditions are favorable for a possible tornado.
- Tornado Warning: If a tornado “warning” is issued, it means that a tornado has actually been spotted, or is strongly indicated on radar, and it is time to go to a safe shelter immediately.
If a tornado warning is issued seek shelter in the following places:
- Basement or ground floor windowless interior room
- Basement or ground floor windowless closet or bathroom
- Basement or ground floor interior hallway with no windows or under a stairwell with no windows.
The university has designated shelter locations for each building which may be found at https://www.elon.edu/u/bft/police/emergency/campus-evacuation-sites/.
We typically do not alert the community to severe weather watches, but if weather conditions become severe and a warning is issued, we will update you via email, text, as well as via Today at Elon – www.elon.edu/news.
For weather updates, the university looks to the National Weather Service station in Raleigh: https://www.weather.gov/rah/
You may also consider downloading weather apps to your mobile device, such as those available from The Weather Channel https://weather.com/apps and Dark Sky https://darksky.net/app.
Today at Elon is the best source for university information and is updated regularly.
Check the website (http://www.elon.edu/news) for updates.
—
Dr. Jon Dooley
Vice President for Student Life
jdooley4@elon.edu