Missouri’s 2020 statewide tornado drill will be held on Tuesday, March 3, 2020 at 10 a.m. The City of Willow Springs will be participating in the tornado drill by activating the city’s storm sirens at that time. In case of severe weather on the day of the drill, it will be moved to Thursday, March 5 at 10 a.m. This is an opportunity for Missourians to practice their sheltering plans and ensure readiness in case of a severe weather emergency while at home, work or school.
Each year, the National Weather Service chooses the date of Missouri’s statewide tornado drill. The drill is generally held during the first two weeks of March.
Severe weather can strike at any time in Missouri, making it important for all of us to be prepared to find the most secure shelter available no matter where we are. The statewide tornado drill is an excellent opportunity for Missourians to practice their sheltering plans and ensure readiness in case of a severe weather emergency. The statewide drill provides schools, businesses and families with an opportunity to test their planning and readiness to be able to quickly seek appropriate shelter in case of a real severe weather emergency. By practicing and increasing readiness across the state, Missourians will feel confident and prepared in the event of actual severe weather emergencies.
At 10:00 a.m. on the day of the drill, NOAA Weather Radios will alert listeners that the tornado drill has begun. Outdoor warning sirens will also sound across Missouri. At this time, participants should practice taking cover in their designated shelter. Sirens are an outdoor warning system designed only to alert those who are outside that something dangerous is approaching.
For alerts indoors, every home and business should have a NOAA Weather Radio. NOAA Weather Radio is like a smoke detector for severe weather, and it can wake you up when a warning is issued for your area so you can take appropriate action. NOAA Weather Radios are available at electronics stores across the country and range in cost from $25 to $100 or more, depending on the quality of the receiver and number of features. The NWS does not endorse any make or model of receiver.
What to Look for in a NOAA Weather Radio
- The most desirable feature is an alarm tone. This allows you to have the radio turned on but silent, listening for a special tone that is broadcast before watch and warning messages that give immediate information about a life-threatening situation.
- Specific Area Message Encoding (SAME) technology, a feature available since the mid-1990s, can provide detailed, area-specific information. Unlike other NOAA Weather Radios, the SAME feature will filter out alerts that do not affect your immediate area.
- It should operate on batteries during times when electrical service may be interrupted. Look for radios with an AC adapter and battery compartment.
- The radio should be tunable to all seven NWR frequencies. For the latest list of frequencies and transmitter locations, check the NOAA Weather Radio website.
- The hearing and visually impaired can receive watches and warnings by connecting weather radio alarms to other kinds of attention-getting devices, such as strobe lights, pagers, bed-shakers, personal computers, and text printers.
The Willow Springs Storm Shelter is located at the high school, 215 West Fourth Street and will be opened when the eminent threat of a tornado in our area is detected by the National Weather Service. City Administrator, Beverly Hicks stated, “We start monitoring weather issues as they cross into Missouri by staying informed in real time by the National Weather Service in Springfield, Missouri, using their NWS live chat website. We monitor wind speeds, rainfall potential and possible tornadic activity early by live radar and getting minute-by-minute details from other emergency management directors by surrounding counties and cities. Storm sirens in Willow Springs are activated when Howell County has been placed under a tornado warning or when an adjoining county has identified an actual tornado and the storm puts the Willow Springs community at risk due to the line and direction of the tornado. We want to give our community as much time as we can, so they have time to prepare for eminent weather.”
