A Guide to Developing a Severe Weather Emergency Plan for Schools

Purpose and General Layout

The purpose of this guide is to provide assistance to school administrators and teachers in designing a severe weather emergency plan for your school. While not every possible situation is covered by the guide, it will provide enough information to serve as a starting point and a general outline of actions to take. The majority of material focuses on thunderstorms and the hazards these storms produce: lightning, hail, tornadoes, and flash floods. Thunderstorms can occur suddenly, with little warning. Since winter weather is another hazardous weather situation special information is also provided. To ensure safety of all, emergency actions must be taken quickly when severe weather threatens. This will become more apparent in Section 1 - Understanding the Danger: Why an Emergency Plan is Needed.

Once you comprehend the scope of the problem, you can begin to address how to reduce the potential hazards. Section 2 - Designing Your Plan, details more specifically how to get your weather information, how teachers and students can be alerted to the emergency, and under what circumstances should actions be taken to reduce the danger. Safety is always the foremost concern. The ultimate goal is to "quickly inform teachers and students anywhere on the school grounds of the threat of severe weather and to move them as quickly as possible to pre- designated shelters." This section also discusses school bus actions in severe weather.

For any plan to work efficiently, it must be practiced. It is recommended that schools conduct semi-annual drills and that severe weather safety instruction be a part of this phase. It is important to understand why certain actions are being taken, to know the weather terms that are being used, and to know what visual clues can signal you to potential dangers ahead. Section 3 - Thunderstorms, Severe Weather Spotting & Detection, will provide some basic severe weather background on how thunderstorms evolve, what signals to watch, and how the National Weather Service (NWS) detects and tracks severe weather.

The appendices in this guide are loaded with reference materials to assist you in both designing your plan and gathering educational materials for severe weather instruction. There is a list of weather watch, warning and advisory criteria; a glossary of weather terms; safety tips for the various types of weather hazards (not just thunderstorms); a list of NOAA Weather Radio Frequencies and coverage map; a list of primary Emergency Alert System broadcast stations; FIPS codes for specific county notification; and a list of Bureau of Disaster Services contacts if more assistance is needed.

Who will Design Your Plan?

Before you begin, it is recommended that one person be designated as the "Severe Weather Administrator" for your school district. Such a person may be a teacher or administrator with an interest in weather who is willing to attend local NWS spotter training programs (no fees, held bi-annually). The administrator would also be responsible for developing the plan and working with the local school board, administrators, and teachers to implement the plan.

Besides an administrator for the school district, we suggest each school have a "Severe Weather Coordinator." The coordinator would be responsible for daily weather monitoring, scheduling and conducting the semi-annual drills, notifying the district office of potential deficiencies in the overall plan, attend local NWS spotter training programs (no fees, held bi-annually), and ensure students are weatherwise.