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Wildfire Smoke and Severe Thunderstorms in the East; Monsoon Thunderstorms in the Southwest

Wildfire smoke continues to impact air quality from the Great Lakes region into New England and the Mid-Atlantic today with widespread Air Quality Alerts in effect. Severe thunderstorms are expected across portions of the Ohio Valley and Lower Great Lakes into the Mid-Atlantic and Northeast, this afternoon into the evening. Monsoonal thunderstorms may bring areas of flooding to the Southwest. Read More >

NWS Jackson, KY is a member of the East Kentucky Weather Preparedness Committee, a regional subcommittee of the statewide Kentucky Weather Preparedness Committee.  The committee is made up of a diverse group of partner agencies and organizations including emergency management, first responders, public health, transportation, media, and volunteer organizations.  The committee's purpose is to work together to improve east Kentucky's severe weather preparedness.  In addition, the committee also serves as an Integrated Warning Team in which committee members work to foster improved communication, relationships, and planning for future severe weather events. 

On Wednesday April 22, KWPC-East met at the WYMT studios in Hazard, KY.  WYMT's Brandon Robinson, a KWPC-East member, gave committee members a tour of the WYMT facilities and demonstrated how the weather team puts together a weather broadcast.  Brandon spoke about how the WYMT news and weather teams use the information provided by all of the agencies in attendance and about the importance of social media in this process.  Some pictures from the tour have been included below.

We want to thank Brandon Robinson and the entire crew at WYMT for hosting the meeting and thanks to all of the committee members who were able to attend the meeting! 

For more information on how NWS Jackson, KY is working with our partner agencies and organizations to build a Weather Ready East Kentucky, please visit https://www.weather.gov/jkl/partnerships.