Weather can be deadly. The area’s No. 1 killer is flash flooding and the No. 2 killer is lightning, reported Ken Haydu, a meteorologist at the National Weather Service (weather.gov/ iln), Wilmington, Ohio.

He was telling prospective volunteers “how you can play an important role in the community by increasing lead times in getting information out" to citizens.

Listening at the March 1 Severe Weather Spotters Training Program at the Hillenbrand Inc. auditorium were 88 representatives from Batesville, Oldenburg and Holton police departments; Ripley County Sheriff's Office; Batesville, Morris and Oldenburg fire departments; Batesville EMS 10; city employees; Batesville Community School Corp.; St. Louis School; Margaret Mary Community Hospital; emergency management agencies in Ripley and Franklin counties; and the Hillenbrand Inc. Security Team.

He explained, “Your main mission is to go out and be our eyes.” The radar system Haydu uses "can't see down at the ground level." NWS combines eyewitness reports with radar to issue the best possible warnings. “When we say NWS spotters have confirmed a tornado is on the ground moving in this direction, you can bet a lot more people are going to take cover, knowing it's the real thing.”

The expert who has flown into hurricanes when he worked at the National Hurricane Center told spotters they can notify NWS of weather events by amateur radio, the Internet or e-mail.

Haydu talked about the difference between two types of messages. A watch, usually issued six hours ahead of time either by the National Weather Service or Storms Prediction Center, Norman, Okla., means conditions are favorable for an event in or near the area. A warning is more definite. A weather event is imminent or occurring in usually a county area.

Flooding follows electrical storms and rain. The main way Hoosiers die is by “driving cars across roads flooded with moving water ... you don't normally make it to the other side. A lot of you get called to help these people ... and you do a great job.”

Flash floods are the most dangerous because there’s a rapid rise of rushing water. He said drivers shouldn’t even think about entering a section of road covered in water because “you don't know how deep it is and you don't even know if the road is still there.”

“Be especially cautious at night” when water on a road is difficult to see.

“If kids are used to playing in drainage ditches, they shouldn't play there when it's flooding” because they could fall in and drown.

Lightning is the problem during a thunderstorm. “The temperature in lightning is hotter than the surface of the sun,” according to Haydu.

If a person is outdoors and sees lightning, “your car is actually a safe place as long as your elbow is not hanging out. If you're outside, it's been nice knowing you,” he joked, because lightning is so unsafe. “You have little to no protection.” The speaker advised, “Get as low down as you can be, but with minimum contact with the ground. Don't lay down.”

The definition of a severe thunderstorm has changed from seeing three-fourths-inch hail to 1-inch hail. The NWS likes to alert residents with enough time for them to put vehicles in garages to avoid damage.

Hail forms when raindrops blow up into clouds and freeze, then fall down and get tossed up again, growing bigger and bigger before dropping to earth. “There has been hail reported in the Midwest ... larger than basketballs. It's just unbelievable.”

Tornadoes seem to get all the attention, but “97 percent of our severe weather is hail, straight line winds or flash and river floods,” he pointed out. Just 3 percent are tornadic storms.

A tornado is a rapidly rotating column of air extending from a thunderstorm and in contact with the ground.

Tornadoes come in all shapes and sizes, he emphasized, which makes it tough for a spotter to decide if an event is a storm or twister. “They're all unique, like fingerprints.”

Haydu added, “Nature being what she is, you can get really large hail and not get a tornado or not have hail and get a tornado.”

About 86 percent of tornadoes are weak, with wind blowing from 65-110 miles per hour. They last less than 10 minutes, have lengths of less than 1 mile and result in 5 percent of all deaths.

On the other hand, 14 percent of all tornadoes in categories F2-F5 range from 111-234 mph. They last more than 10 minutes, have lengths from 1-60 miles and result in 95 percent of deaths.

Volunteers made a difference when an F4 tornado hit Blue Ash, Ohio, in April 1999. He remembered getting reports of a possible tornado in western Ripley County, so NWS issued a warning at about 4 a.m. for Ripley and Dearborn counties, “then for Cincinnati just as the storm strengthened. Because of spotter reports, we were able to give them a half-hour notice. That's the goal.”

If a tornado warning is issued, the meteorologist said to seek shelter in a sturdy building away from windows. “Obviously, basements provide the best protection.” If there is no basement, go to an interior room, such as a bathroom that is strong because of its plumbing structure.

Debbie Blank can be contacted at 812-934-4343, Ext. 113; or debbie.blank@ batesvilleheraldtribune.com