Northwest Iowa — This is Severe Weather Awareness Week in Iowa.
The National Weather Service is focusing on five different topics this week. One of them is tornadoes. The Annual Statewide Tornado Drill was Wednesday morning, March 29th, and tornado sirens sounded in several towns around 10:00 a.m.
Warning Coordination Meteorologist Peter Rogers with the National Weather Service Office in Sioux Falls says one reason for the test is to make sure the sirens and other equipment work. But that’s only part of it.
Rogers says you need to plan what you would do if a tornado warning is issued. But people aren’t always at home when severe weather strikes, so people should actually have several plans in place for different situations.
Rogers also reminds people to listen to the content of watches and warnings, as they are certainly not all the same. Tornado warnings are issued for everything from a single small tornado to huge or multi-vortex storms, and the advice from the Weather Service may be different, depending on the situation.
For more information about staying safe before and during a tornado, click here.
