Obtaining Severe Weather Alerts from the Right Source
Sunday, October 21st, 2018 -- 9:47 AM
-When severe weather strikes, you should always know where to turn to in order to get the right information on what kind of weather is coming your way.John Ross, Clark County’s Emergency Management Director, has noticed some confusion by county residents regarding where they can get that information. John explained what sources you should turn too.
“One of the best sources, in my opinion, is the NOAA All Hazards Radios. When the National Weather Service activates the Emergency Alert System with weather information, if you have one of those in your home, have it program and turned on, you will get that information directly at the same time as that Emergency Alert System takes place.”
“Absence one of those radios in your home, local radio, local television stations often participate in the Emergency Alert System, so you’ll hear those warnings on your local sources of media. National Weather Service website in La Crosse, and surrounding offices, will provide that information and update it on their webpages as well, which is another good source.”
“Wireless emergency alerts. Cell phone apps, which are available are another good source of information. Clark County currently has the Nixel system in place where we can do emergency notification by telephone. We also have an option that people can register their cell phone to receive text messages or calls on their cell phones. We do have some of the alerts set to automatically rebroadcast via text such as a tornado warning. People can sign up for that service on the Emergency Management page on the Clark County website. Fill in the blank, it’s just a couple of boxes, and you can be signed up and, at any point, you can opt out. There’s actually some flexibility there as to how you would receive the alerts if you sign up for that program. So, I would encourage people to take a look at that as well.”
“Another source of warning would be the outdoor warning sirens. The key word there is OUTDOOR. They are not designed or intended to alert you while you’re inside your house or place of work or school. They are meant to be an outdoor warning device. If that siren sounds, you should immediately seek shelter and then utilize one of the other sources of information we discussed to determine what the exact hazard is, what the threat is and what actions to take.”
John reminds residents that if you’re watching cable/satellite TV or listening to satellite radio, you won’t get local weather alerts.
“Your cable providers, your satellite providers are not going to have that same Emergency Alert System activation as immediate. You wouldn’t want to rely on that. So, if there is threatening weather, I would encourage people to tune to local TV and radio stations to have the best opportunity to receive that information in as timely a manner as possible. Again, using some of those other sources as well will be to your benefit. I would encourage people to have multiple sources of information. That way, if there was some sort of technology failure or, for some reason, the alert didn’t get broadcast on one of the others as timely as it should, you’d have that back up.”
John reminds residents that you should take all warnings seriously, no matter where you get them from.
“People should know the difference between a watch and a warning. A watch means conditions are favorable for a type of hazard that the watch is issued for in and near the watch area. It’s kind of a ‘heads-up’ to pay attention, be ready to act as you need to. Whereas the warning means that threatening condition is either occurring or imminent. With things such as severe thunderstorms, they can spawn tornadoes without any warning. If the sky is threatening and the information is received, the time to act is right then.”
“Don’t wait around because you don’t know how much time you have to react. But take the warning seriously. Don’t wait around because the time you spend waiting for additional confirmation, or for your own visual confirmation as to what hazard is coming, that may put your safety at risk as far as having enough time to seek the appropriate shelter.”
John ended our interview by reminding people what they can do to be prepared for severe weather.
“The things that we like to talk about are to make a plan, have an emergency supply kit and be informed. Have that plan with your family. Know where you’re going to go and what you’re going to do in the event of an emergency. Have that emergency supply kit so that if you are stuck at home for several days as a result of the storm, or whatever the hazard is, you have those basic supplies and needs to cope with that until such time as you can go to an alternate place to stay or services are restored. And, again, like we talked about, be informed. Know where you’re going to get the information from. Know what you’re going to do if that hazard does approach.”
“We are ending the normal end of the year as far as severe weather, but that does not mean that we can’t still experience severe thunderstorms, tornadoes, flash flooding, large hail, those high wind events. We’ll soon be moving into winter. Winter brings its own set of hazards to be aware of including extreme cold, heavy snow, ice storms, power outages are among the things that we have to be wary of here in Wisconsin.”
“The biggest things is to have those discussions, have that kit, know what your going to do, know where you’re going to go, know how you’re going to get in contact with family and loved ones in the event you’re separated so everyone knows that you’re okay and people can be accounted for. Take the hazards seriously. A lot of times, people can take the attitude of ‘it won’t happen here and if it does happen here, it won’t be that bad.’ As we’ve seen recently, the events are becoming larger. They’re becoming more extreme. They’re impacting multiple areas of our country. We need to take this seriously and, not to create fear or unnecessary stress, but to allow people to be as prepared as they can be to build that community resilience so that we can respond appropriately and come through as best as possible in the event that one of those hazards does impact our area.”
Again, John doesn’t want to cause fear, and he knows these conversations can be difficult, but it is very important you have them and be prepared. If you’d like to learn more about what you can do to be prepared for severe weather year round, you can head to the Clark County Emergency Management Department’s website.
Feel free to contact us with questions and/or comments.