Severe Weather Awareness Week, March 3-9, 2013

North Carolina’s Severe Weather Awareness Week is March 3-9, 2013

Statewide Tornado Drill for 2013 Will Take Place on Wednesday, March 6, at 9:30 AM EST

The National Weather Service is proud to be promoting North Carolina’s Severe Weather Awareness Week, which will take place during the week of March 3-9, 2013. During this week, we are asking members of the community to Be a Force of Nature and better prepare for severe weather threats in our area. There are three main components of the Be a Force of Nature theme:

Daily Public Information Statements

As a committed leader for weather-readiness, each day during the awareness week the NWS will be highlighting ways individuals can Be a Force of Nature by knowing the risk, taking action and serving as an example.

Daily Topics:

Sunday: Introduction
Monday: Know your risk
Tuesday: Develop an Emergency Plan
Wednesday: Build a Kit
Thursday: Hear the Warning with NOAA Weather Radio - Get the Alert
Friday: Be an example - Get involved
Saturday: North Carolina Severe Weather Threats

Statewide Tornado Drill

North Carolina’s annual statewide tornado drill for 2013 will take place on Wednesday, March 6, at 9:30 AM EST. Every school, business, work place, and family across the state is strongly encouraged to participate in the statewide tornado drill.

Here are some key points to remember about the drill:

The drill will be broadcast on NOAA Weather Radio and the Emergency Alert System via the Required Monthly Test (RMT). There will not be an actual Tornado Warning issued.
This drill and RMT will take the place of the usual weekly NOAA Weather Radio Alert test (RWT). That is, there will not be a weekly radio test done between 11 AM and Noon on that day.
Most NOAA Weather Radio receivers (including the Midland WR-100 that many schools have) do not sound an audible alert for the RMT product, but instead, may have a blinking light on the display to indicate that an RMT was received. As such, when the RMT for the statewide tornado drill is initiated at 9:30 AM on Wednesday, March 6, 2013, there's a good chance that your NOAA Weather Radio will not sound an alarm.
Since your NOAA Weather Radio may not sound an alarm at the time the RMT is issued, you will want to do one of the following: simply plan to start your tornado drill own your own at 9:30 AM; or, you can manually turn on your NOAA Weather Radio receiver and simply listen to the audio broadcast to hear when the RMT is issued, which will mark the beginning of the statewide tornado drill.
There will be no followup statements issued by the NWS to mark the end of the statewide tornado drill. It will simply be over when your group, school, business, organization, or family feel that you have adequately practiced your tornado shelter procedures.
If there is actual severe weather occurring on the morning of March 6, 2013, the statewide tornado drill will be postponed. The alternate date for the drill is Friday, March 8, 2013 at 9:30 AM EST.

Severe Weather Safety Resources

Please use these links to help you with your severe weather planning and safety education.

FEMA's severe weather preparedness page: https://ready.gov/severe-weather
Be Informed: https://www.ready.gov/be-informed
Make a Plan: https://www.ready.gov/make-a-plan
Build a Kit: https://www.ready.gov/build-a-kit
Get Involved: https://www.ready.gov/get-involved
Ready North Carolina: https://readync.org
NOAA Weather Radio: http://www.nws.noaa.gov/nwr/
Wireless Emergency Alerts: http://www.nws.noaa.gov/com/weatherreadynation/wea.html
Weather-Ready Nation

Other useful information

Please use these links for more information about North Carolina's Severe Weather Awareness Week, or to learn more about how you can contribute to the Be a Force of Nature initiative.