May 21, 2003 — Approximately 500 Americans lose their lives to severe weather and floods annually. On average, 10,000 thunderstorms; 2,500 floods; 1,000 tornadoes and 10 hurricanes impact the United States each year. Potentially deadly weather could impact every person in any area of the country.

Through partnerships with other government agencies, private weather companies and broadcast meteorologists, the NOAA National Weather Service fulfills its mission to disseminate public forecasts and warnings to meet the nation’s increasing needs for weather, water and climate information. However, making accurate weather forecasts and getting the warnings out is only part of the solution to saving lives and property each day.

The NOAA StormReady program, is a great example of outreach and grassroots engagement with local communities that helps the NWS fulfill its mission to protect life and property and enhance the nations’ economy. StormReady began in Tulsa, Okla., back in 1999 as a local effort to educate residents about storm safety. The program is designed to complement what communities may already be doing with regard to emergency preparedness. Being strictly voluntary, StormReady provides communities with clear-cut advice through collaboration and partnerships with local NWS Field Offices, state and local emergency managers, the media and the public. StormReady helps create communities that are better prepared for the threat of severe weather throughout the country.

Stephan Kuhl, national warning coordination meteorologist and StormReady program manager at NWS headquarters in Washington, D.C., said “StormReady will strengthen a community's ability to receive and use severe weather watches and warnings from the NWS. NOAA Weather Radios with tone alert alarms are the surest way to protect your friends and family from severe weather. We encourage people to equip their homes, schools, businesses and public places with this lifesaving device. NOAA Weather Radios should be as common as smoke detectors.”

Kuhl added, “Just like communities, families also need to be prepared by having an action plan for severe weather. Through StormReady, we hope to educate people about what to do when severe weather strikes, because it is ultimately each individual’s responsibility to protect themselves. StormReady is an outstanding program and the NWS hopes it continues to grow across the country. As of May 2003, there are 556 communities across the nation that have been designated as StormReady by the NWS.”

To be recognized as StormReady, a community must:

• Establish a 24-hour warning point and emergency operations center;
• Have more than one way to receive severe weather forecasts and warnings and to alert the public;
• Create a system that monitors local weather conditions;
• Promote the importance of public readiness through community seminars; and,
• Develop a formal hazardous weather plan, which includes training severe weather spotters and holding emergency exercises.

During hazardous weather, critical NWS severe weather information comes into both the emergency operations center and 24-hour warning point. This information can be received in various ways. Under StormReady, a community must have at least four distinct ways to receive NWS warning information.

StormReady guidelines also require that emergency managers have several ways to disseminate these critical life-saving NWS severe weather warnings to their communities. Local warnings can be communicated via outdoor warning sirens and/or mobile vehicles equipped with sirens. Emergency managers may also have the capability to override TV and radio broadcasts through the Emergency Alert System.

At a minimum, NOAA Weather Radios with tone alert and/or Specific Area Message Encoding capability, must be located at four sites within StormReady communities including: emergency operations centers, 24-hour warning points, city hall and all school superintendent offices. In addition to being in homes and offices, it's recommended that NOAA Weather Radios also be at the following locations: courthouses, libraries, schools, day care centers, movie theaters, hospitals, senior citizen homes, recreation facilities, sports arenas, public utilities, fair ground and other sites where the general public may gather.

Hydrometeorological Monitoring is another part of the StormReady program. Via the NWS Web site, TV, commercial radio, two-way radio, radar data via the Web and instruments to measure local weather conditions; key responders and the public can monitor and identify threatening weather and flood situations.

Through StormReady, warning coordination meteorologists at 122 NWS field offices across the country, provide local community weather preparedness safety talks. These talks are geared at teaching people to be prepared — before severe weather strikes! Local emergency managers are required to visit their local weather service office at least once every two years. The NWS Skywarn storm spotter program also trains emergency managers, dispatchers, other first responders and the general public on how to stay vigilant by identifying features in clouds that usually preclude the occurrence of severe weather. Trained Skywarn storm spotters report hazardous weather conditions to their local NWS offices.

On November 10, 2002, a devastating F4 tornado ripped through Van Wert County in northwest Ohio, destroying many of the city's homes and businesses, including the Van Wert Cinema. Fortunately for the residents of Van Wert, the county was designated as StormReady by the NWS in January 2002. Alerted by a NWS Tornado Warning from the Fort Wayne, Ind., NOAA Weather Radio transmitter, the Van Wert County Emergency Manager notified the Cinema manager and his staff, who evacuated more than 50 adults and children from the theater just minutes before the powerful tornado tore off the building’s roof and tossed cars into the screen and front seats where kids and parents had been watching “The Santa Clause 2.”

For their heroic efforts, the NOAA National Weather Service presented the first-ever StormReady Community Hero Award to the county for establishing the StormReady program in their community and saved countless lives. The Van Wert Cinema's assistant manager also received the NOAA Weather Service Public Service Award for moving the people in the cinema to safety.

Similar to StormReady, the NOAA NWS also has a program called TsunamiReady that promotes tsunami hazard preparedness as an active collaboration between federal, state and local emergency management agencies, the public, media and the NWS tsunami warning system. This collaboration supports better and more consistent tsunami awareness and mitigation efforts among communities at risk. The main goal of TsunamiReady is the improvement of public safety during tsunami emergencies.

Relevant Web Sites
NOAA StormReady Web site

NOAA TsunamiReady Web site

NOAA National Weather Service

NOAA HONORS VAN WERT HEROES FOR SAVING LIVES THROUGH STORMREADY

NOAA Skywarn Program

NOAA WEATHER RADIO: THE VOICE OF THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE

NOAA Weather Radio Web site

Media Contact:
Curtis Carey, NOAA National Weather Service, (301) 713-0622