Politics & Government

Tornado Warnings Set to Drone Tuesday, Wednesday

Tuesday's drill part of awareness week for National Weather Service in Illinois.

There is no cause for alarm if you hear a tornado warning at 10 a.m. on Tuesday. It is part of a statewide tornado drill the National Weather Service is conducting to mark Severe Weather Preparedness Week in Illinois. The service’s regularly scheduled signal test is still planned between 11 a.m. and noon on Wednesday.

The National Weather Service will issue a tornado warning via its radio signal, and many municipalities were expected to test their own emergency systems.

Earlier:

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Tornadoes are the most destructive storms that occur in Illinois, according to the National Weather Service’s website.

Mindy Ward, director of community relations for , said the district would not participate in the drill for several reasons including that they follow the state mandate and conduct drills throughout the year.

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Ward added that the students were in the middle of the Illinois Standards Achievement Test, or ISAT, testing this week, which is not the best time to go about this kind of drill.

In 2011 there were more than 1,700 tornadoes nationwide, according to the National Weather Service’s website. During the same period Illinois had 73 tornadoes, above the 30-year average of 46. Illinois ranks fifth in the nation in tornado frequency per square mile.

A series of tornadoes on Feb. 28 and Feb. 29 from Kansas and southern Missouri eastward into southern Indiana, southern Illinois and Kentucky, and tornadoes in the Ohio and Tennessee valleys on March 2, have contributed to a “fast and early start” in 2012, according to the National Weather Service’s website. In Illinois most tornadoes occur from April to June, during the mid-afternoon to early evening hours.

A tornado watch means severe thunderstorms and tornadoes are possible in your area in the next few hours, according to the National Weather Service’s website. A tornado warning means a tornado has been spotted by a storm spotter, or an “intense rotation that will likely produce a tornado has been detected by Doppler radar.”

Here are some safety tips from the National Weather Service:

  • In a home, go to the basement and get under the stairwell, or under a heavy piece of furniture. If there is no basement, go to an interior closet, hall or bathroom on the lowest floor and stay away from windows. Cover your head with pillows or sofa cushions.            
  • In schools, hospitals, churches and office buildings, go to small interior rooms or interior halls on the lowest floor. Long corridors with doors or windows on the end can act as wind tunnels. Stay away from windows. Avoid large open areas with free span roofs such as gymnasiums and cafeteria. 
  • In steel and concrete high rise buildings, it is not necessary to get to the lowest floor, but go to interior halls, bathrooms or closets.  Stay away from windows.
  • In shopping centers, avoid large open areas and glass. Seek shelter in bathrooms, small interior spaces and behind counters. Do not attempt to escape in your vehicle.

Abandon mobile homes and vehicles for a nearby, reinforced building. As a last resort lie flat in a ditch. Do not seek shelter under an overpass.

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