DECATUR, Ill. (WAND) - It can be confusing to know what is considered a weather 'watch' versus a 'warning', but WAND's meteorologists broke it down for us ahead of storm season.

First, they said to make sure you have a way to receive alerts and make sure you are paying attention to what is going on when there is any abnormal weather going on. 

"A watch is where you have the ingredients, there's humidity, there's moisture, there's that cold front, behind the thunderstorms. But then the warning gets issued whenever something is happening," said WAND Meteorologist Phil Collins. 

A severe thunderstorm warning needs specific weather conditions.

"You either have hail that's at least an inch in diameter or you have 60 mile per hour plus winds" Collins said.

If or when you get that warning, you should take immediate action. 

"You should be getting down into your, you know, undercover - you should be going into your your safe area," Collins said.Â