Severe Weather Awareness Week 2017

Tornado and Severe Weather Awareness Week 2017

This week is Tornado and Severe Weather Awareness Week in Wisconsin. The National Weather Service in Wisconsin and Wisconsin Emergency Management are asking that everyone take time to go over their safety plans so that they will be ready when severe weather strikes. The time to prepare is now, before the storms hit.

On Thursday, April 20, two tornado drills will be conducted. At 1 pm, a test Tornado Watch will be issued for all of Wisconsin and will be broadcast on NOAA Weather Radio. At 1:45 pm, the NWS offices will issue a test Tornado Warning. The test warning will be broadcast as a test on NOAA Weather Radio using the real Tornado Warning code. The afternoon drill will conclude at 2 pm.

An evening drill (Warning only) will occur at 6:45 p.m. (NOTE: Milwaukee County will not be sounding sirens for this test.)

If significant severe weather were to threaten Wisconsin on Thursday, the afternoon drill would be postponed to Friday and the evening drill canceled.

Make sure you are Weather-Ready! During the awareness week, everyone should practice their weather safety plans--at home, work, and school. The time to prepare is before the storms hit.

The NWS in Milwaukee plans to have 5 main topics that we will talk about each day next week:

Monday-Mobile Home Safety
Tuesday-Night Time Safety
Wednesday-Impact Based Warnings
Thursday-Sheltering Options
Friday-Receiving Warning Information

Check back frequently this week for additional information!

For any questions, please contact Warning Coordination Meteorologist Tim Halbach at Timothy.J.Halbach@noaa.gov.