Severe weather season is here - are you ready?

Every year, Severe Weather Awareness Week is observed in March. This year, that week for Iowa is March 24-28, as designated by the National Weather Service, FEMA, Iowa Homeland Security and Iowa emergency management agencies.

Severe Weather Awareness Week provides Iowans an opportunity to review hazards of severe weather, with each day of the week focusing on a different severe weather event. Iowans can take this time to practice their plans for shelter, and increase their awareness ahead of any severe weather. The following are what the weekday focuses:

Monday - lightning

“Lightning is the most common thunderstorm hazard, striking the United States 25 million times each year. Annually, lightning kills about 20 people in the United States, with hundreds more severely injured,” the NWS in Des Moines said in a press release.

Tuesday - tornadoes

“On average, 50 tornadoes are recorded in Iowa each year. The least likely thunderstorm hazard also carries the greatest potential impact,” the release said.

Wednesday - preparedness

The statewide tornado drill will be held at 10 a.m. on Wednesday, March 26. Weekly outdoor warning testing in Osceola has also begun, with sirens sounding at 9 a.m. on Thursdays. Remember - outdoor sirens are intended to notify those who are working outside or doing recreational activities to seek shelter and look at other forms of communication.

Thursday - hail and wind safety

“Severe thunderstorms are defined as containing wind gusts of 58 mph or higher and/or hail of 1 inch diameter or greater. Although occurrences can be any month of the year, they most typically occur April through July.”

Friday - floods

During floods, water levels and the water’s flow rate can change quickly. The NWS encourages Iowans to be aware of quickly changing conditions, avoiding floor waters and evacuating as soon as water starts to rise. A person can be knocked off of their feet in as little as six-inches of fast-moving water and become trapped.

The NWS additionally encourages using Severe Weather Awareness Week to review your plans on what to do when severe weather strikes as Iowa’s weather season beings.

Local preparedness efforts

Osceola police chief Marty Duffus reminds the public of two important terms to be mindful of during the months when severe weather is most likely to happen - a weather watch and a weather warning.

“Two important terms apply to spring and summer severe weather. The first term is watch. A weather watch means that conditions are favorable to have severe weather. It does not mean that severe weather is occurring or is imminent. We do not set off the sirens for a watch condition.

“The most important term, of course, is warning. When a warning is issued, it means severe weather, either tornado, hail or high winds, has occurred or is expected to occur here. When a tornado warning is issued by the National Weather Service for Osceola, the sirens are activated and will blow for three minutes. After three minutes they shut down.

“If we haven’t received the weather yet but the warning still exists for us, we will again activate the sirens to blow. Unfortunately, our sirens do not have an all-clear tone. Therefore, it is important for you to keep abreast of weather alerts by using our free NIXLE notification service and to news and weather reports on either radio or television,” Duffus said.

Interested persons can sign up for NIXLE by texting 50213 to 888777 for text alerts, or visiting www.nixle.com and setting up an account for email alerts.

Another option to stay in tune for the potential of severe weather is to sign up for Alert Iowa by visiting Smart911′s website - https://www.smart911.com/ - and follow the instructions.

Resources

In addition to NIXLE and Alert Iowa, Ready.gov offers free tips for different disaster and emergency situations, which can be found at: https://www.ready.gov/be-informed. The National Weather Service’s website, https://www.weather.gov/ also offers educational resources.

Clarke County Emergency Management’s Facebook page provides local updates for weather year-round.