By: Steven Pfaff
Warning Coordination Meteorologist
The 2018 Severe Weather Preparedness Week runs from Sunday March 4 through Saturday March 10, 2018. The peak of the NC and SC severe weather season is right around the corner, and now is the time to prepare!
In addition to making a severe weather safety plan, the National Weather Service strongly encourage everyone to participate in the Statewide Tornado Drill. For NC – the drill will occur on Wednesday March 7, 2018 at 9:30 AM. For SC – the drill will occur on Wednesday March 7, 2018 at 9:00 AM. Every school, business, work place, and family across the Carolinas is strongly encouraged to participate in the drill.
Emergency Managers – please share the following Tornado Drill information with your school administrators. Schools will need to check that their radios are working properly, and now is a good time to change the batteries in them.
Important drill information for each state:
For SC: The drill will be conducted as a Test Tornado Warning (T.TOR). As a result all NOAA Weather Radios will alarm/alert of the test around 9:00 AM.There will be no follow-up messages issued after the original Test Tornado Warning.
For NC: The drill will be broadcast as a Required Monthly Test (RMT). There will not be an actual Tornado Warning issued and no follow-up statements after the RMT is sent.
Many NOAA Weather Radio receivers (including many the schools may currently have) do not sound an audible alert for the RMT product. Instead, they may have a blinking light on the display to indicate that an RMT was received. As such, when the RMT for the NC drill is initiated at 9:30 AM on Wednesday March 7, 2018, there is a 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:
– 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.
– Or, simply plan to start your tornado drill on your own at 9:30 AM.
If there is actual severe weather occurring on the morning of March 7, 2018, the statewide tornado drills will be postponed. The alternate date for the drill isFriday, March 9, 2018.
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