At the bottom of AccuWeather.com there's a tiny link titled "About Us." If you click on that link and then click on "Mission" (above the picture of the rainbow that I took of the building in 2008), you'll see this text:

On Sunday morning, a thunderstorm was observed approaching Chittenango, New York (just east of Syracuse). The storm was relatively benign on radar and no weather stations showed unusually high winds as it passed.*

The National Weather Service in Binghamton, New York issued a routine "Special Weather Statement" based on the possibility of high winds that they thought (presumably based on the aforementioned radar and reports) wouldn't meet criteria for issuance of a more important Severe Thunderstorm or Tornado Warning. It read:

"AT 906 AM EDT...NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE DOPPLER RADAR INDICATED A STRONG THUNDERSTORM CAPABLE OF PRODUCING STRONG GUSTY WINDS. THIS STORM WAS LOCATED NEAR SYRACUSE...AND MOVING EAST AT 50 MPH... THE STRONG THUNDERSTORM WILL BE NEAR... CHITTENANGO AND SULLIVAN AT 920 AM EDT..."

As meteorologists we all aspire to "save lives" and during major disasters there is evidence that we are doing so (as described in our Mike Smith's book "Warnings"), but rarely are the stories as personal as this one we received on AccuWeather.com's Facebook Page later that Sunday morning:

A story on Syracuse.com echoes what she said, adds more harrowing details and shows photos of the damage (more photos also available). The NWS has since done a storm survey that determined (archived copy) that the damage, while severe and likely caused by winds between 80 and 90 mph, was from straight-line winds and not a tornado. But that matters not to Linda, her husband, or any of the other attendees of the festival.

Linda getting to safety took several steps, one of which was the NWS issuing that Special Weather Statement to alert locals that a storm was on its way. True, it didn't reach the criteria that would have broadcast it as a warning on television or NOAA WeatherRadio, but it still reached Linda. That was because AccuWeather.com has built a mobile website accessible by nearly every type of cell phone, and we chose to broadcast all statements, not just warnings.

But most importantly, and this is the key: Linda was aware of her situation. She was thinking ahead, had a way to access weather information while mobile, and was paying attention to the approaching weather because she was at an outside event. This is crucial if you spend time outside because most of the people you are around in those types of events aren't thinking about the weather, even though it could be the difference between life and death or determine property damage.

Let Linda's story inspire you; It takes a little bit of work. Know the forecast. Watch the sky. Read any warnings or statements. Check the radar. Do all of this and you can keep yourself safe during severe weather, but it starts with you; no amount of weather data that meteorologists offer will help if you're not paying attention.

I contacted Linda for more information and this is her response, if you're interested:

*Neither the reflectivity radar image (shown above) nor the storm-relative velocity or base velocity showed high winds before the storm hit Chittenango. The Syracuse airport didn't show unusual winds either; neither did any other nearby amateur stations. Without any information that the storm could be dangerous, the NWS could not justify issuing a Severe Thunderstorm Warning before the storm hit the festival.

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