United Group Insurance

Statewide Tornado Drill Today (Wed., 3/25)

News, Weather

March 25th, 2015 by Ric Hanson

A statewide Tornado Drill will take place this morning in Iowa and Nebraska. The drill is part of Severe Weather Awareness Week, and is designed to inform residents on what they should do if a tornado threatens your area. Tdrill

Here is the schedule for today:

9:50 AM – The Storm Prediction Center (SPC) coordinates with Iowa/Nebraska National Weather Service (NWS) offices about a test tornado watch for Iowa and Nebraska.
10:00 AM – SPC issues Test Tornado Watch for Iowa and Nebraska.  Each Iowa/Nebraska NWS offices will issue test Watch Coordination Notification messages.  Test watch will be toned alerted on NOAA All Hazards Radio.
10:10 AM – NWS Sioux Falls and Omaha issue test tornado warnings for their Iowa counties.
10:15 AM – NWS Des Moines and Quad Cities issue test tornado warnings for their Iowa counties.
10:20 AM – NWS La Crosse issues test tornado warning for their Iowa counties.
10:30-10:35 AM – All Iowa NWS offices issues a Severe Weather Statement to terminate the test warnings.
11:00 AM – Test tornado watch expires.

Here are some terms you should be familiar with:
A Tornado Watch is issued by the National Weather Service when conditions are favorable for
the development of tornadoes in and close to the watch area. Watches are generally issued for the duration of 4 – 8 hours, well in advance of the actual occurrence of severe weather. During the watch, people should be prepared to move to a place of safety if threatening weather approaches.
A Tornado Warning is issued by the National Weather Service when a tornado is indicated by radar or sighted by spotters. People in the affected area should seek safe shelter immediately.
A Tornado Emergency is issued by the National Weather Service. It is not a new warning, but is used to highlight a confirmed tornado which is expected to be strong and violent. A Tornado

Emergency means that significant, widespread damage with a high likelihood of numerous fatalities is expected to continue.
Tornadoes have occurred during any time of the day across Iowa and in each month of the year. However, they are most likely to form in the late afternoon and early evening hours during the months of April, May and June.For more information about tornadoes in Iowa, see the climate section of the National Weather Services’ website: weather.gov/desmoines