An overview of what the weather professionals and MKE County Executive David Crowley said at the event for Tornado and Severe Weather Awareness Week, which is this week.
— Julien Johnson (@jujuelz_is) April 10, 2024
There will be a tornado warning siren test Thursday across Milwaukee County at 1:45pm & 6:45pm. @620wtmj pic.twitter.com/kiASFpJvjV
GREENFIELD, Wis. — Weather professionals joined Milwaukee County Executive David Crowley to provide the community with tips for severe weather situations in the county for Tornado and Severe Weather Awareness Week.
“The best way to keep yourself, your loved ones, and your neighbors safe… is to have a plan and practice that plan,” Crowley said.
He said no matter if it’s a fire, thunderstorm, tornado, or anything in between… a plan should always be prepared, and the perfect time to practice that plan is during a drill, such as the two scheduled for Thursday at 1:45pm and 6:45pm.
Deputy Director of the Milwaukee County Office of Emergency Management Chris McGowan told WTMJ what Milwaukee County residents should be doing during the tornado sirens warning test.
“We encourage all the citizens to take this time to evaluate their own individual plans as well as any work plans and school plans for tornadoes and these type of severe weather events,” he said. “Families please take a look at your internal plans. Communicate them to your children and other members of your household.”
McGowan said families should go over what their communication plans are for when a tornado strikes and everyone is not home.
“We do not know when these tornadoes will strike,” he said. “Have communications with your children about how do contact each other, where do we go… Are there family members that will come and try to reunite with you to be able to recollect that family?”
For Milwaukee County, the tornado alerts will play on the old overhead sirens as well as other forms of technology such as smartphones and radio. Other communities, however, are beginning to go away from the overhead sirens in favor of only using the phone alerts.
McGowan told WTMJ why Milwaukee County will continue use both the overhead sirens and the phone alerts.
“Because of the disparity within our community, we’ve decided to focus on those methods of communicating to our citizens,” he said. “[We want to be] making sure that even the citizens that do not have cell phones, have adequate notification of impending storms.”
He also explained what the original purpose of having tornado sirens were.
“The tornado siren system is not intended to alert citizens that are within their home or at night when they are sleeping,” he said. “It is expressly meant for notifying citizens that are out in the day, outdoors, so they can seek shelter when a tornado is coming.”
McGowen also said that when any type of tornado or storm warning happens, even if skies might be clear or a report contradicts the initial warning, that weather could still hit any part of the surrounding area. He used lightning storms as an example.
Chris McGowan – Deputy Director, Milwaukee County Office of Emergency Management on how quickly weather can move and still hit any area in the vicinity.
— Julien Johnson (@jujuelz_is) April 10, 2024
According to the National Weather Service, lightning can travel 10 to 12 miles from a thunderstorm. @620wtmj pic.twitter.com/9Jmx4AA2VC
“Lightning can travel sideways a great distance and still strike from a long ways away,” he said. “So even though it may seem like you’re a very long distance from a lightning storm, you still have a very strong risk of getting hit by lightning.”
American Red Cross CEO Mark Thomas told WTMJ that when any type of disaster strikes, the situation develops much quicker than people may realize.
American Red Cross CEO Mark Thomas describes how fast weather situations develops and the actions people must take in those severe weather situations.@620wtmj pic.twitter.com/VVXgHcXFjK
— Julien Johnson (@jujuelz_is) April 10, 2024
“It’s not a time for negotiation, the storm is coming,” he said. “You want to be decisive and you want to move quickly… don’t assume that everyone understands what they’re doing… if you see one of your family members that’s frozen or panicked or you have a family member that’s not moving quickly enough… assist them.”
Wisconsin has weekly and monthly tornado EAS tests.
