How to read the Tornado Outlook
The TORNADO OUTLOOK panel on the radar answers one question: does the sky over this spot have the ingredients a tornado would need? No forecast can promise a tornado — what real forecasters do is check a recipe, and that's exactly what the panel shows.
>The verdict
The lamp in the corner is a four-step ladder:
- QUIET — the recipe is missing its most basic ingredient. No storms, no tornado.
- STORMS POSSIBLE — there's energy for storms, but they'd be messy and short-lived.
- ORGANIZED STORMS — storms that form can start rotating (supercells). Worth watching.
- INGREDIENTS PRESENT — everything a tornado needs is on the table. Watch the radar and take official warnings seriously.
Each step needs all the steps below it. That's why one missing ingredient can hold the whole verdict down — and why the panel tells you what to watch for.
>The five meters
- Fuel (instability) — how much energy a rising bubble of warm air has. Measured as CAPE, in joules per kilogram. No fuel, no storm.
- Moisture (cloud base) — how low the cloud deck hangs. A low base means a tornado doesn't have far to reach.
- Engine (deep wind shear) — how much the wind changes between the ground and ~6 km up. Shear organizes a storm and makes it last.
- Spin (low-level shear) — the same idea, but in the lowest kilometre. This is the ingredient that turns rotation into a tornado.
- Spark (storm trigger) — something has to start the first storm: a front, hills, or afternoon heat. A "lid" of warm air (CIN) can hold storms down.
>The peak window
The outlook also scans the next 24 hours. If conditions get better (worse!) later — say, ingredients line up at 18:00 — the panel shows that window, so a quiet morning doesn't hide an interesting evening.
One rule above everything: official warnings always win. If MeteoAlarm issues a real warning, it appears above the outlook and that's the one to act on.