Severe Weather Preparedness Week

I haven't forgotten about Severe Weather Preparedness Week.  I hope you have not either.  It is important for and your family.  Lots can be said about severe weather and to be honest, it seems like it always happens to someone else.  Maybe we are inconvenienced now and then with the power going out and sometimes a few limbs blow down in the year.  But now and then it might not be exactly that easy...

Since 1950, Howard County has seen 15 tornadoes. That averages out to three per decade.  Of those two have produced fatalities and nearly half have resulted in injury.  Of course mother nature doesn't care about averages.  You need to be prepared each and every day.

The single most important thing you can do to protect yourself and your family is to have a weather radio.  Today many people call them an All Hazards radio.  You can find them an electronics retailers, grocery stores, and discount stores.  If you don't have one, get one.  Make sure you have it set up and that it has fresh batteries.  Storms happen at all hours and any more it seems most fatalities happen at night.  You don't want to be sleeping when the storm hits.

Also don't forget to have some plan of action for safety at home or at work.   You need to know what to do before you have to do it. 

I also want to urge you to sign up for severe weather alerts for your cell phone.  Many TV stations have alerts free.  Here is a quick list...

Channel 8 Cell Phone Alerts
Channel 6 Cell Phone Alerts
Channel 13 Cell Phone Alerts


There are other options too.

Weather USA Alerts
The Weather Channel
Accuweather

For me, I personally use Storm Now which has one of the most reliable and customizable alert systems available.  However it does cost two dollars per month. 

If you are a into weather, I might suggest a subscription to WeatherTap which has an excellent set of forecast tools and includes some mobile alert options too.  This service is $7.95 a month.

I also want to stress lightning safety.  So many times I see people casually ignore thunder and even visible lightning.  If you are outdoors, take cover.  I just recently heard a very sad story about someone who had her whole family touched by lightning.  Needless to say that story reinforced the importance of going indoors when you hear thunder and staying indoors for 30 minutes past the last lightning strike.

As always, remember Kokomo-Weather will be working to alert you to severe weather with as much advance notice as possible.  Let's have a safe severe weather season.

(More information coming soon...)