2024 Severe Weather Preparedness Week

The 2024 Severe Weather Preparedness Week will be observed March 4-8.

Weather Alert radios will be tested at 11am Wednesday, March 6. The test will be sent to Weather Alert Radios and the Emergency Alert System as a Routine Weekly Test. This will replace the usual Wednesday weekly test of Weather Alert radios.

The main themes for Severe Weather Preparedness Week are:

--Be prepared for tornadoes no matter what time of year. In 2023, tornadoes were experienced in Illinois in nine months. There were several significant events, one in the middle of winter and two at the start of spring. January 3, 2023 had nine tornadoes. The March 31, 2023 event had 37 tornadoes in Illinois. The April 4th event involved nine tornadoes with four injuries reported in one of the twisters.

--Structural wind damage can occur without a tornado. On June 29, 2023 Illinois was hit by a derecho packing winds of 80MPH to 115MPH.