Although we still see piles of snow and ice as we look out our windows, warmer temperatures will eventually win out.
With the arrival of summer comes the potential for different kinds of severe weather. As this season arrives, state safety officials recommend that all residents establish a plan and practice tornado and severe thunderstorm drills to become familiar with safety actions.
This week, April 15-19, is Minnesota’s Severe Weather Awareness Week -- a campaign designed to inform and prepare the public and encourage the proper protective actions to reduce the loss of life and damage to property when threatened by the state’s severe weather.
Each day of the week focuses on a different type of hazardous summer weather. Monday was dedicated to severe storms, lightning and winds; Tuesday, to weather alerts and warnings;
Wednesday was all about floods and flash floods. Today, Thursday, is tornado drill day, and tomorrow the focus will be on heat waves.
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The main event of Severe Weather Awareness Week is the annual statewide tornado drills.
These drills are scheduled for 1:45 p.m. and 6:55 p.m. today, April 18. At those times, sirens and NOAA Weather Radios will sound in a simulated tornado warning. The first drill is intended for institutions and businesses, while the evening drill is intended for second shift workers, and especially famlies.
For more info on severe weather and ways to prepare, visit http://dps . mn.gov/divisions/hsem/weather-awareness-preparedness.
A version of this editorial was originally published in the Park Rapids Enterprise, a Forum Communications publication.
