Lisa Patton is a native of Mt. Juliet, Tennessee. She currently serves as the weathercaster on News 2. Lisa and News 2’s Storm Tracker 2000 have been seen on CNN during and after the infamous April 16th tornadoes and they are both credited for saving lives when severe storms ripped through portions of Middle Tennessee. Lisa attended the University of Tennessee in Knoxville and graduated with a degree in Communications. Lisa is the one of few television weathercasters in Nashville that was born and raised in Tennessee, giving her the tremendous advantage of working in front of her hometown audience. She is recognized as one of Middle Tennessee’s most trusted and reliable weathercasters. She and her husband live in Middle Tennessee with her two daughters and son.
Q: What is the number one thing you can do in severe weather?
A: To prevent damage, we tell people to take down their lawn furniture and things that can fly into your house, but really, the best thing you can do is get a weather radio and set it to your local county code. Make sure is has SAME technology, which allows it to use localized alerts. You can find your TN county code here. We also recommend that you put in the county just west and south of you as well if you need extra time to prepare for a storm.
Q: Tornadoes are big news right now. Can you hear one coming? What are the best practices?
A: Sometimes you can hear a tornado up to a mile away, but other times you cannot hear them at all, so really do trust your weather radio and the experts analyzing the storm. A lot of people want to be casual storm chasers or capture tornadoes on their cell phones, but it’s really very, very dangerous. We do not recommend going outside to see a tornado or trying to photograph it. Flying debris is the number one cause of storm damage, and that can happen much further away than a tornado. And it’s not just tornadoes. Straight line winds can be just as damaging as an F3 tornado!
Q: If you’re driving and get caught in severe weather, what should you do?
A: Never, never drive through flooding water. If you get caught in severe winds or tornado weather, in general your car is not safe. Find a secure structure to get inside and if none is available, find a ditch or low level area to get in until the storm passes.
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