April 17th Marks the Start of Minnesota’s Severe Weather Awareness Week

(KNSI) — The last couple of weeks’ rapid changes in weather should remind everyone of what Mother Nature can do as Severe Weather Awareness Week begins.

Monday’s focus is watches and alerts.

Chanhassen-based National Weather Service Warning Coordinator Todd Krause says it’s important to understand what each alert tells you. A watch says all the ingredients are there for severe weather, cover a wide area and are for a longer period. A warning means severe weather is happening at that moment or will be soon.

Krause explained to KNSI News the week starts with watches and warnings “because the most important thing is to be aware of how you can actually hear about a warning. It does no good to be issuing tornado warnings if you are completely unaware that there’s a tornado on the way. So, making sure that you have multiple ways of getting warnings is critical.”

Krause says everyone should have at least three ways to get a warning. “That could include NOAA weather radio. That could include making sure you’re paying attention to radio and another medium, making sure you’ve signed up for alerts through some subscription service on the internet or through the county or city.”

Local governments decide how and when to activate their warning sirens. They will normally sound for about three minutes and then go silent, but they are meant to be heard outside, not inside. A mock tornado watch and warning will be issued on Thursday so families can plan what to do in an emergency at school, at work and at home.

Learn more here.

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