Severe Weather Awareness Week

Gov. Terry E. Branstad has proclaimed March 21-25 as Severe Weather Awareness Week in Iowa.  The Iowa Department of Homeland Security and Emergency Management (HSEMD), the National Weather Service (NWS), and Iowa’s local emergency managers have again joined together to promote severe weather awareness and family preparedness.

For each day during Severe Weather Awareness Week, a different subject will be featured:

Tuesday – Weather warnings
Wednesday – Tornadoes
Thursday – Family preparedness
Friday – Flash floods

The annual tornado drill was originally scheduled for Wednesday, March 23, at approximately 10 a.m., but has been postponed until Thursday because there is the potential for severe weather on Wednesday.

On Thursday, March 24, there will be a test tornado watch issued at 10 a.m. for Iowa (and Nebraska). The test watch will tone alert on NOAA All Hazards Radio. At 10:15 a.m., the Quad Cities National Weather Service office will issue test tornado warnings for their Iowa counties. The test warning will alert on NOAA Weather radio. At 10:30 a.m., all Iowa NWS offices issues a Severe Weather Statement to terminate the test warnings. At 11 a.m., the test tornado watch will expire.