The key to avoiding serious injury or death during a severe thunderstorm or tornado is to start well before severe weather strikes. Develop personal and community severe weather action plans, conduct drills to practice severe weather survival skills, and ensure that your local community has an adequate severe weather warning and reporting system. In addition, be familiar with the hazards that can occur in New Mexico. Learn basic severe weather safety rules and make sure to keep aware of the latest warning and forecast information.
After months of winter weather, Severe Weather Awareness Week is a good time to review thunderstorm safety rules and hazardous weather preparedness plans. It is also an opportune time to conduct severe weather drills throughout your community, at school, at work, in the hospital or health care facility, and in the home.
Emergency managers can prepare their communities for severe weather by conducting safety drills and testing local warning systems, and by ensuring local spotter groups have been organized and have received recent SKYWARN training. Annual severe weather spotter training continues across the state. It's important that your community has trained severe weather spotters. Visit our SKYWARN Page for additional information and the latest training schedule.
The National Weather Service StormReady program offers guidance on preparing communities for hazardous weather. A city or county that has met a minimum standard of severe weather preparedness will be given special recognition as StormReady.
News media and New Mexico emergency managers or anyone needing assistance in severe thunderstorm and tornado safety preparedness and planning are invited to contact one of the following offices for details:
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Northern and Central New Mexico (NWS Albuquerque NM)
Scott Overpeck - Warning Coordination Meteorologist
(505) 244-9150 Ext. 223
  
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Southwest and South Central New Mexico (NWS El Paso TX)
Jason Laney - Warning Coordination Meteorologist
(575) 589-4088 Ext. 223
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