What you can do to try to stay safe when a tornado hits, and also well beforehand

Record warmth this winter fueled a deadly tornado outbreak across parts of Ohio, Kentucky, Indiana and Arkansas in March. Then tornadoes killed multiple people and injured at least 35 others in Iowa. Recent twisters have even struck in places unaccustomed to them, such as one near Los Angeles in 2023 that tore apart rooftops and injured one person.

Record warmth this winter fueled a deadly tornado outbreak across parts of Ohio, Kentucky, Indiana and Arkansas in March. Then tornadoes killed multiple people and injured at least 35 others in Iowa. Recent twisters have even struck in places unaccustomed to them, such as one near Los Angeles in 2023 that tore apart rooftops and injured one person.

When a tornado takes aim at your house, and the sirens are sounding, the dogs are barking and the children are screaming, there are some last-minute precautions that could save the lives of you and your loved ones.

But experts also recommend a few simple steps to prepare well before the twister is on your doorstep. Here's a look at some tornado safety tips:

Weather radios, specialized receivers that get alerts and can sound an alarm in an emergency, are something that every home and business should have, said Rick Smith, the warning coordination meteorologist at the National Weather Service’s forecast office in Norman, Okla.

“It does feel like old-school technology, but they are life-saving devices,” Smith said.

Radios can be particularly valuable in the South, where many tornadoes strike at night when people are sleeping. “This can wake you up in the middle of the night with the alarm,” Smith said.

The National Weather Service encourages people to have multiple ways of being warned, which can include weather radios, a cellphone app or other method in case power is lost. Redundancy of methods is key, Smith said.