Severe Weather Awareness Week Is March 22nd Through The 26th.

Oskaloosa, Iowa – With it officially being Spring in Iowa, the browns of Winter will give way to green grass, flowers, farmers working the fields, and warmer breezes.

Those warm breezes will also bring with it the chance for severe weather.

When the chance for severe weather is possible, the National Weather Service (NWS) will begin many times by issuing a watch.

According to the National Weather Service, a watch is “Severe thunderstorms are possible in and near the watch area. Stay informed and be ready to act if a severe thunderstorm warning is issued. The watch area is typically large, covering numerous counties or even states.”

If severe weather does develop, the National Weather Service will then issue a warning. A warning is when “Severe weather has been reported by spotters or indicated by radar. Warnings indicate imminent danger to life and property. Take shelter in a substantial building. Get out of mobile homes that can blow over in high winds. Warnings typically encompass a much smaller area (around the size of a city or small county) that may be impacted by a large hail or damaging wind identified by an NWS forecaster on radar or by a trained spotter/law enforcement who is watching the storm.”

The National Weather Service in Des Moines will be holding a non-traditional Test Tornado Watch and Tornado Warning. Instead, the office will utilize the NOAA Weather Radio Weekly Test and their social media platforms for the test on Wednesday, March 24th at 11 am. “We encourage all to review your communication plan and “practice” your severe weather drill.”

Locally, Mahaska County Emergency Management will be participating in the statewide drill on Wednesday. “We will incorporate the siren testing as well during that time,” says Jamey Robinson, Mahaska County Emergency Management Administrator, with the weather permitting.

Mahaska County is recognized as a ‘StormReady’ community.

“StormReady encourages communities to take a new, proactive approach to improving local hazardous weather operations and public awareness,” said Jeff Johnson with the Des Moines office of the National Weather Service. “It takes a lot of work; they have to go through a fairly rigorous application process, followed by dispatcher training for the dispatchers of required spotter training, visits to our office (National Weather Service in Des Moines), and other things that the county needs to show, particularly in the area of communication and dealing with severe weather as it happens to get this recognition,” Johnson said as he presented the StormReady signs to Robinson.

The National Weather Service will be hosting several storm spotter webinars in the following month.

Basic Spotter Training:
Wednesday, March 24th @ 1P – https://attendee.gotowebinar.com/register/2701003502915634188
Wednesday, March 31st @ 7P – https://attendee.gotowebinar.com/register/8956400031240288012
Tuesday, April 6th @ 7P – https://attendee.gotowebinar.com/register/893819803223997196

Advanced Spotter Training:
Monday, April 19th @ 7P – https://attendee.gotowebinar.com/register/5429729679289372940