A lot of people get scared when you even say the word tsunami.  I am one of those people.  I was working the day after Christmas 2004 when we saw the big snow storm and the catastrophic tsunami in Indonesia.  After that day the world learned what a tsunami was.  In case you forgot what it is, let me refresh your memory.  It is a rise in the water level of a body of water after there is either a meteorite impact in the water, an earthquake, or an underwater land displacement.  Tomorrow the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration will be doing a test at 9:00am.  They will put out a fake warning (unless a real tsunami occurs) out for the region.  You may hear it on your NOAA weather radios, but they should mention that it is a test.  From the literature that I’ve seen, the most important thing to do during a real tsunami is to move to higher ground or away from the water’s edge.  Norfolk was one of the first cities on the East coast that was Tsunami Ready.  This means that they have a plan in place to be able to take the warnings from NOAA and implement those warnings.  I’m actually not sure if any other city in the viewing area is tsunami ready.  This is really a true form of risk management.  What is the risk of a tsunami affecting Hampton Roads?  Is there enough risk to have a plan in place?  Is there a large cost to be tsunami ready?  Lots of questions that should be debated by the community. 

     There are government centers that focus on tsunami.  They are the West Coast and Alaska Tsunami Warning Center.  Plus the Pacific Tsunami Warning Center.  To my knowledge the local National Weather Service offices would get warnings from one of those centers and then put out the local warning through it’s system.  Here’s a neat site that I found from fema for kids.  Kids Tsunami. 

Otherwise, the forecast includes some sprinkles and light showers tonight and tomorrow.  No big weather systems.   We could see a few thunderstorms on Friday, but not a wash out. 

Meteorologist: Jeremy Wheeler