A319
Flight Crew Air Transport Pilot (ATP)
Flight Crew Type 7410
Situational Awareness
Deviation / Discrepancy - Procedural Published Material / Policy
General None Reported / Taken
Weather
We were scheduled to deadhead. After the flight was completely boarded and ready for departure the captain asked over the P.A. that everyone deplane due to a current tornado warning in the area. As we were waiting in the terminal everyone's phones received another tornado warning. This time it was accompanied with 2 additional messages asking people to call 911 for life threatening emergencies only. After the agent started boarding the aircraft for the second time everyone's phones received another tornado warning. The agent stopped boarding and disappeared down the Jetway for several minutes. Once back he said everything was OK and continued to board. Since my phone showed the warning lasting for 30 more minutes I decided to dig a little bit deeper. The warning stated that thunderstorms nearby have the possibility to cause tornadoes. The radar showed rotation and ZZZ was in the predicted path for 30 minutes. Take cover now! Yet we couldn't because we were on the aircraft. Prior to boarding the second time many people were commenting on the fact that FAA.gov showed that ZZZ was closed for weather. Also; if one were to log onto the company portal; there was a message on the bottom of the homepage stating that ZZZ has suspended operations until tomorrow. After seeing this message I tried to call Operations Manager for clarification but was unable to get through and my voicemail was not returned. Against my better judgement I decided to get on the plane at the end of the boarding process. Just prior to departure we received our final tornado alert stating that ZZZ was in fact in the path of a possible tornado for an additional 30 minutes. I was later told that all arrivals and departures were halted with the exception of aircraft that had received special permission.As of now; of the 11 flights scheduled to fly to ZZZ1 today only 2 took off. I was not operating this flight so I cannot say for sure; but it did seem like airport operations was pushing for these special authorized flights to go. After looking at weather and the tornado reports; all I could do was tighten my seat belt and pray for the best. This time it ended up working out. However; it could have easily been a very different outcome.
Air carrier deadheading First Officer reported that flights were canceled due to tornadoes reported in the area.