Northwest Iowa — With the winter weather front and center, it may not be on our minds yet, but the State of Iowa and the National Weather Service want you to think about the type of severe weather that we normally associate with summertime. This week is severe weather awareness week in Iowa.
National Weather Service Warning Coordination Meteorologist Peter Rogers with the Sioux Falls forecast office tells us what that means.
As has been the case for several years, the weather service is going to focus on one severe weather topic every day, Monday through Friday this week. Monday’s topic is one that is part of all thunderstorms, not just severe thunderstoms — and that’s lightning.
Again, the weather service says the rule is to listen for the thunder to stop and then wait a half an hour after that before resuming any outdoor activity.
The topics for the rest of the week will be tornado safety on Tuesday, preparedness on Wednesday, hail and wind safety on Thursday, and flood safety on Friday. There will be a statewide tornado drill on Wednesday morning and tornado sirens will sound in several communities.
