It’s day four of Severe Weather Awareness Week and today we focus on severe thunderstorms.

Severe thunderstorm warnings are issued by the National Weather Service if the storm is capable of producing winds of at least 58 miles per hour and/or hail at least one inch in diameter.

Though tornadoes are often what people fear most when it comes to severe weather, Dallas County Emergency Management Coordinator Barry Halling says thunderstorms can be just as damaging, if not worse.

“Severe thunderstorms can be very dangerous.  Winds of 70, 75 (or) 80 miles per hour can happen in these storms.  (Along with) straight-line winds.  Garbage cans, when they hit you, hurt just has bad in a tornado as they do in a severe thunderstorm.  So when high winds come, even 50 mile per hour winds, limbs, trees, power lines and those kind of things (come down). Maybe rain in such a way that you can’t see when you’re driving.  So you need to be mindful that even a severe thunderstorm warning can produce very bad weather.”

Other dangers with severe thunderstorms include lightning, large hail and heavy rain.

As a reminder, the Raccoon Valley Radio network’s Severe Weather Action Team provides wall-to-wall weather coverage anytime there is a severe weather warning in Dallas, Greene or Guthrie counties.