The National Weather Service in Paducah is ramping up its Spring Severe Weather Safety Campaign as Severe Weather Awareness Month kicks off in March, nationally.
Governor Andy Beshear signed a proclamation Sunday designating March 1-7 as Severe Weather Awareness Week in Kentucky with a statewide Tornado Safety Drill set for Wednesday.
National Weather Service Warning Coordination Meteorologist Rick Shanklin says the priority of their Spring Severe Weather Safety Campaign is to educate the public about the hazards of severe thunderstorms, including tornadoes, flash flooding, damaging thunderstorm winds, and large hail.
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As far as severe weather tips, he says most importantly you need to ensure you have a way to get alerts and warnings.
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Secondly, you need to have a plan and take action.
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Shanklin says a statewide Tornado Safety Drill will be held Wednesday morning, a time for everyone to utilize your action plan.
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At that time, outdoor warning sirens will sound across Kentucky, weather alert radios will activate, and television and radio stations will broadcast the EAS alert, along with mobile devices.
As we previously reported in January, the National Weather Service in Paducah showed Christian County led the way in Tornado Warnings with 107 issued since January 1990. Stoddard County, Missouri came in second with 87 warnings issued, with Hopkins County and Bollinger County, Missouri tied in third with 84 warnings.
Trigg County had 79 Tornado Warnings during that same period, while Caldwell County had 55, Todd County had 52, and Lyon County had the least in the area at 46.
Click here for weather safety tips, helpful links, and resources. Additional tornado safety information is also available at http://weather.gov/wrn/spring-safety, ready.gov/tornadoes and www.weather.gov.
