It’s hard to imagine right now, with our extended warm and dry weather, but the region is about to enter into our Fall Severe Weather season, and the National Weather Service in Paducah is telling people to get prepared now.
This week is Fall Severe Weather Awareness Week, and the National Weather Service hosted a preparedness event in Van Buren, Missouri to inform folks on what resources are available and give tips on how to be prepared for severe weather. Warning Coordination Meteorologist Christine Wielgos says the main thing that makes fall-time weather so dangerous is that the events often happen at night, due to the sun setting earlier in the day. She says for night-time events, it’s so vital to have a way that receive warnings that will wake you up.
She also advises to not just check the weather one time on Monday and then not check back—during the fall season, it can be tricky to forecast severe weather, meaning things can change fast.
Wielgos says it’s also important to make sure you don’t give in to ‘weather fatigue’, saying that the one time you let your guard down could be the one time the worst happens.
Go ahead and give the whole family a refresh on your severe weather plans, especially any children, and make sure you have multiple ways to receive severe weather alerts, such as a battery-operated weather radio, alerts to your phone, your favorite local news station and more.
It’s also a good idea to make sure you’re sheltering areas has extra essentials such as water, phone chargers, any required medications, important documents and more, in the event you’re stuck in one place for an extended time.
The National Weather Service in Paducah will be posting educational information on their Facebook page over the coming days, so stay tuned to that page for more.