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We have an explanation for all 3276 xkcd comics, and only 41 (1.3%) are incomplete. Help us finish them!

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Types of Tornado Alert
I hate the unearthly sound my phone makes when the weather service issues a tornado harbinger.
Title text: I hate the unearthly sound my phone makes when the weather service issues a tornado harbinger.

Explanation

This comic describes the idea of a tornado alert and then humorously extends it to decreasingly dangerous situations, soon reaching increasimgly farfetched warnings, which don't help to prepare for a tornado at all.

A table showing these warnings is below:


Transcript

[There are multiple panels showing different scenes, prefixed by some label beginning with "Tornado" and followed by a description.]
Tornado warning
[Silhouette of a tornado spraying dust on the ground. To its right is a house and a dead tree.]
A tornado has been detected; take shelter
Tornado watch
[Hairbun stands in front of a board containing two graphs (one a skew-T log-P) and points to it with her right arm. Cueball is standing, facing her.]
Conditions are favorable for tornadoes to form
Tornado precaution
[Cueball stands with his arms out.]
Tornadoes happen sometimes, so be ready
Tornado inkling
[Cueball has his hand on his chin, looking to the right.]
No tornadoes yet, but we have a feeling
Tornado suspicion
[Cueball is standing outside looking at several clouds, including a cumulonimbus.]
Weird clouds have been observed
Tornado premonition
[Cueball stands to to the left of a pole with a crossbar that has been driven into the ground, and is leaning to the right. Upon the pole two black birds are sitting, and beside the pole is a skull. In the background, more birds form the shape of a tornado.]
Tornado portents and omens have been observed
Tornado recollection
[Cueball has his hand on his chin, looking to the left. He has a thought bubble, containing the silhouette of a tornado.]
Tornadoes have occurred in the past
Tornado contemplation
[Cueball is sitting on a cube, with his arms in his lap, and facing left.]
Cueball: Wow.
Tornadoes are very big and powerful


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