Driver escapes tornado threat in Tennessee using AccuWeather interactive radar built into her SUV touchscreen
“Using the navigation in my car, I was able to quickly pull up the radar and figure out that by going east, I was going to be able to quickly avoid the tornado and get home to shelter safely. I was very grateful to have that and navigate myself to safety quickly," Cat Johnson of Bellevue, Tennessee said.
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Cat Johnson shares her story of using AccuWeather Radar during a tornado warning.
An AccuWeather user credits the AccuWeather interactive radar built into the dashboard touchscreen of her SUV for helping her safely navigate out of harm’s way during a tornado near Nashville, Tennessee.
Cat Johnson recently contacted AccuWeather to share her experience and to thank AccuWeather’s expert meteorologists for their work to ensure that severe weather warnings are delivered faster by the AccuWeather app than any other known source, which first alerted her on her cell phone of the approaching threat.
Johnson told AccuWeather that she was shopping near Bellevue, Tennessee, on April 5 when severe storms knocked out power. Workers told shoppers that they could not take shelter inside the store.
“I was actually shopping at a local store in West Nashville, and when I was shopping, the tornado sirens started to go off. Unfortunately, the store I was in did not have adequate shelter for us, so the store employees did ask us to evacuate,” Johnson said. “After abandoning my cart, going into the parking lot, and seeing all the dark skies, my first thought should have probably been to pray.”
Johnson said she tried to call family members for updates and advice on the best way to navigate away from the approaching storm, but severe weather had impacted cell phone service in the area.
“I had to quickly try and figure out if the freeway was the safest way home, or if another back road was going to get me back home or to a safer destination,” Johnson explained. “That is where AccuWeather definitely saved the day. Using the navigation in my car, I was able to quickly pull up the radar and figure out that by going east, I was going to be able to quickly avoid the tornado and get home to shelter safely. I was very grateful to be able to have that and navigate myself to safety quickly.”
During the tense moments trying to find a way to get to safety as the storm approached, Johnson said the AccuWeather interactive radar was easy to use and provided a clear visual of the best direction to travel to escape the path of the storm.
Cat Johnson shares her story of using AccuWeather Radar during a tornado warning.
“I know that I have a quick view to see what's coming my way,” Johnson said. “I could see it from the colors on the radar that it definitely was a bad storm. Using that, I was able to see that the storm was staying kind of farther west. If I got on the freeway, that probably wasn't going to be my best option to avoid it, but if I took some of the back roads and head east a little bit, I was going to be able to avoid it and get back home quickly and safely. It definitely made me feel safer, especially as the two people I'd called, I then lost contact with as one of the cell towers was down.”
Johnson said this was the first time she used the AccuWeather interactive radar built into the dashboard touchscreen to make decisions during severe weather, but that she frequently uses features from the AccuWeather Data Suite in her SUV.
“If you have a car that has a soft top like me, it's helpful to be able to know if rain is coming,” Johnson said. “Can you take the top off the car or is it going to be a nice sunny day where the top can stay off the whole time, and you might not even need to pack any pieces in the trunk in case you hit rain on the way back.”
Johnson said she’s grateful for the AccuWeather features built into her SUV and she encourages people shopping for a new or used vehicle to check and see if AccuWeather features are available in the dashboard touchscreen.
“I think that's one thing that really sets AccuWeather apart is the alerts are always right away and they're accurate,” Johnson told AccuWeather. “You know you're getting the best information available, and you can make decisions based on where you are and what you need to do for your day… thank you guys so much.”
Johnson chose to navigate away from the storm. AccuWeather expert meteorologists encourage people to take shelter inside sturdy buildings during a tornado warning. In a situation where no safe shelter is immediately available nearby, expert meteorologists at AccuWeather recommend staying in your vehicle, secured in your seatbelt, and moving your head below the windows.
AccuWeather also provided the most advance notice, the earliest, and the most accurate warnings for a multiday severe weather outbreak in April with destructive tornadoes and life-threatening flash flooding in the region.
Contact AccuWeather today for more information about AccuWeather Data Suite, which is the most detailed, complete, and accurate global collection of weather data available.
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