Indiana Severe Weather Preparedness Week

March 14 is the beginning of the Indiana Storm Preparedness Week and to kick thing off here's a short post about what you can do to prepare.

The National Weather Service (NWS) puts on Spotter Training presentation across Indiana and hopefully you are able to attend one that is put on near your home. I recently attended the Monroe County presentation in Bloomington during the February Bloomington Amateur Radio Club meeting on March 2nd. Dave Tucek an Indianapolis NWS meteorologists told the 100 or so people gathered about forecast Outlooks, Watches and Warnings and how to use that information to prepare yourself and family in the event that severe weather develops. He talked at length about how to interact with NWS either by phone or social media which is playing an increasingly important role in storm spotting and helping the NWS stay informed about what is happening on the ground. I highly recommend attending a Storm Spotter Training session and one is coming up in Brown county on April 24th at the Brown County Law Enforcement Center 55 State Road 46 E, Nashville, IN (map) where you are able to get all the facts and details directly from a National Weather Service meteorologist.

Here's a link where you can check all upcoming sessions NWS Indianapolis Spotter Training

Two interesting and informative products that the Indianapolis NWS produces that are the

Hazardous Weather Outlook
Local Forecast

With a little investigation and browsing you can discover that here much more that the National Weather Service provides including detailed online Severe Weather Skywarn training where you can take online quizzes to test your comprehension of the material.

Check out the 4 modules listed below here http://www.weather.gov/lmk/spottertraining

Module 1 - Introduction
Module 2 - How The Weather Works
Module 3 - Storm Spotting
Module 4 - Information Exchange

Each day during the Indiana Severe Weather Prepardness I will blog about activities going on that day. Here are the topics the posts will cover

Sunday: Kick-Off: Discuss partners' roles in severe weather
Monday: Severe Weather Outlooks and Watches: Partners' roles at the outlook and watch stages of an event
Tuesday: Warnings: Taking action when warnings are issued (Statewide Tornado Drill Day)
Wednesday: Response: Partners' roles in responding to disasters (real-time response)
Thursday: Recovery: Partners' roles in the recovery process (days/weeks/months after disaster)
Friday: Weather Ready Nation: How we are working to build a Weather Ready Nation
Saturday: Wrap-Up: Importance of preparedness and action during threatening hazards

Please read the Preparedness Week brochure for details. Click here (6.6MB pdf) for a kids' activity booklet from the Indiana Department of Homeland Security.

What should you do at each step as severe weather threatens:

Think READY (outlook), SET (watch), GO (warning)!
Outlook (hours to days in advance)
Watch (minutes to hours in advance)
Warning (event is threatening now)?

NWS Indianapolis Storm Spotter Training in Brown County

The Indianapolis National Weather Service relies on trained volunteers to supplement radar information during a severe storm or tornado event.

This program is open to the public and will provide information about severe thunderstorm development and identification of important features as well as safety tips and more.

 

6:30pm Tuesday, April 24th 2018
Brown County Law Enforcement Center
55 E State Road 46
Nashville, IN

This is a FREE training and NO pre-registration is required

For more information contact: Brown County Emergency Management at (812) 988-2063 Or by email This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.