Five National Weather Service offices in Wichita and Topeka, Kansas and Springfield, Kansas City and St. Louis, Missouri are participating in a severe weather warning pilot project.
"The reason why they're doing this is because folks have gotten used to the tornado warnings that have been issued for years," said our Chief Meteorologist Steve Kersh. "We tell folks a tornado could form or one has been spotted."
And he says many people have become complacent when it comes to these warnings.
"The natural instinct is for everyone to run outside and grab their cell phones and to call up friends," he said.
The National Weather Service wants to have better communication with people about the severity of storms.
This comes after the deadly tornados in Joplin, MO and Tuscaloosa, Al.
"While there was a lot of advanced warning they're thinking maybe this could help further reduce the amount of lives lost from storms," said National Weather Service Meteorologist Christine Krause.
"Tags" will be added to the ends of warnings that will include additional information that the public usually does not see.
"Let's say we issue a severe thunderstorm warning and we're expecting baseball sized hail or 80mph winds or greater," said Krause. "We can put what's called a tag at the end of it giving a description of the size of hail and strength of winds."
The pilot project will run through October of this year and it will be monitored by the National Weather Service and social scientists.
If they find it effective it will be implemented in all 122 national weather service offices across the country.
