'PDS' warnings were made to grab attention in tornadoes, hurricanes, and now wildfires.

The National Weather Service’s Los Angeles page screams ‘Particularly Dangerous Situation’ in hot pink letters against a gray background. It’s a rare warning aimed at seizing attention before extreme wildfire risk is predicted to start in southern California at 4 a.m. Tuesday. PDS warnings were first used to warn of tornado outbreaks in the Midwest. In 2011 three meteorologists proposed expanding their use to disasters such as ice storms, floods, hurricanes and now wildfires. One of the earliest uses of the term ‘particularly dangerous situation’ appeared in an April 1, 1983 Associated Press article about the threat of tornadoes in Texas, part of a widespread storm system that caused a blinding dust storm in west Texas.