News Flash

Owatonna Fire Department is joining the Minnesota Department of Public Safety and the National Weather Service in promoting general weather safety this week for Severe Weather Awareness Week. This is the perfect time for residents to practice their preparedness for the variety of severe weather hazards that occur in Minnesota.

Each day of Severe Weather Awareness Week highlights an important weather safety topic:

• Monday: Alerts and Warnings
• Tuesday: Severe Weather, Lightning, and Hail
• Wednesday: Floods
• Thursday: Tornadoes (with statewide tornado drills)
• Friday: Extreme Heat

To kick off the week, here are a few simple ideas on how to be prepared for severe weather:

• Sign up for weather alerts
  • Personal and local weather alerts are available from a variety of sources, including weather.com, accuweather.com, KAAL-TV, WCCO, KARE11, KSTP, FOX9
  • Alerts for Steele County residents are available through the Steele County Emergency Notification System. Citizen Alerts are not only for severe weather, but other emergencies that local officials want residents to be aware of
• Learn more about outdoor warning sirens
  • Warning sirens are operated by each county and maintained by each city and/or county
  • Sirens normally sound for 2-3 minutes and are activated based on weather warnings issued by the National Weather Service. There is no such thing as an "all clear" siren.
  • The outdoor warning sirens are not meant to be heard indoors – they are for alerting residents who may be outdoors and have no other way to receive alerts that severe weather is approaching
• Have a working NOAA weather radio 
  • Weather radios receive alerts from the National Weather Service, not only for warnings, but also watches. They are available for purchase online or at most local retail stores.
• Understand the difference between advisories, watches, and warnings: 
  • Advisories are issued with less hazardous weather conditions, but severe weather may still pose significant safety risk or travel problems.
  • Watches are issued with weather conditions that are favorable for a hazardous weather event. Residents should stay alert to changing conditions and be prepared to shelter or evacuate.
  • Warnings are issued when dangerous weather is occurring or imminent. Residents need to take protective action immediately.

More information is available on the Homeland Security and Emergency Management (HSEM) and National Weather Service websites.