![StormReady Logo](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/95/StormReady_Logo.svg)
StormReady is a community preparedness program in the
United States
The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...
that encourages government entities and commercial gathering sites to prepare for severe storms. The program, sponsored by the United States
National Weather Service
The National Weather Service (NWS) is an Government agency, agency of the Federal government of the United States, United States federal government that is tasked with providing weather forecasts, warnings of hazardous weather, and other weathe ...
, issues recognition to communities and sites across the country that demonstrate severe weather readiness. The program is voluntary, and provides communities with clear-cut advice from a partnership with the local National Weather Service Office, state and local emergency managers, and the media. The program has been credited with saving the lives of more than 50 movie-goers in
Van Wert County
Van Wert County is a county located in the U.S. state of Ohio. As of the 2020 census, the population was 28,931. Its county seat is Van Wert. The county was created in February 12, 1820 and later organized on March 18, 1837. It is named for I ...
,
Ohio
Ohio () is a state in the Midwestern region of the United States. Of the fifty U.S. states, it is the 34th-largest by area, and with a population of nearly 11.8 million, is the seventh-most populous and tenth-most densely populated. The sta ...
in
November 2002. As of June 1, 2011, there were 1,752 StormReady sites in 50 states.
History and background
The United States experiences, on average, about 10,000
thunderstorm
A thunderstorm, also known as an electrical storm or a lightning storm, is a storm characterized by the presence of lightning and its acoustic effect on the Earth's atmosphere, known as thunder. Relatively weak thunderstorms are someti ...
s, 5,000 floods, and 1,000
tornado
A tornado is a violently rotating column of air that is in contact with both the surface of the Earth and a cumulonimbus cloud or, in rare cases, the base of a cumulus cloud. It is often referred to as a twister, whirlwind or cyclone, altho ...
es, as well as an average of 2 deadly
hurricanes
A tropical cyclone is a rapidly rotating storm system characterized by a low-pressure center, a closed low-level atmospheric circulation, strong winds, and a spiral arrangement of thunderstorms that produce heavy rain and squalls. Depend ...
, each year. Some 90% of all presidentially-declared
disaster area
A disaster area is a region or a locale that has been heavily damaged by either natural, technological or social hazards. Disaster areas affect the population living in the community by dramatic increase in expense, loss of energy, food and serv ...
s are weather-related, leading to around 500 deaths per year and nearly $14 billion in damage.
StormReady was initiated in 1999 in
Tulsa
Tulsa () is the second-largest city in the U.S. state, state of Oklahoma and List of United States cities by population, 47th-most populous city in the United States. The population was 413,066 as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census. ...
,
Oklahoma
Oklahoma (; Choctaw language, Choctaw: ; chr, ᎣᎧᎳᎰᎹ, ''Okalahoma'' ) is a U.S. state, state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States, bordered by Texas on the south and west, Kansas on the nor ...
, in an area which has experienced a number of severe tornadoes; there has been at least one tornado in the Tulsa area each year since 1950. Its sponsors saw formal recognition as a way to increase cooperation among the various agencies responsible for disaster preparedness.
The program was originally called StormWise; in 2002, the StormReady logo and name became officially registered
trademark
A trademark (also written trade mark or trade-mark) is a type of intellectual property consisting of a recognizable sign, design, or expression that identifies products or services from a particular source and distinguishes them from others ...
s of the National Weather Service. The program has increased its scope at a steady rate ever since.
Walt Disney World
The Walt Disney World Resort, also called Walt Disney World or Disney World, is an entertainment resort complex in Bay Lake and Lake Buena Vista, Florida, United States, near the cities of Orlando and Kissimmee. Opened on October 1, 1971, th ...
received the recognition in 2006. The sites in June 2011 comprised 874 counties, 721 communities, 72 universities, 10
Native American tribal nations, 37 commercial sites, and 36 military/government sites.
A
Tsunami
A tsunami ( ; from ja, 津波, lit=harbour wave, ) is a series of waves in a water body caused by the displacement of a large volume of water, generally in an ocean or a large lake. Earthquakes, volcanic eruptions and other underwater explo ...
Ready program has been instituted using many of the same criteria. There are currently 84 TsunamiReady Sites in 10 states, Puerto Rico and Guam and 144 StormReady Supporters
Recognition
To be officially StormReady, a community or site must:
* Establish a 24-hour warning point and emergency operations center;
* Have redundant communications systems to receive severe weather forecasts and warnings and to alert the public.
* Create a system that monitors local weather conditions;
* Promote the importance of public readiness through community seminars;
* Develop a formal hazardous weather plan, which includes training severe
weather spotter
Weather spotting is observing weather for the purpose of reporting to a larger group or organization. Examples include National Weather Service (NWS) co-op observers and Skywarn storm spotters.
Storm spotters
A storm spotter is a specific type ...
s and holding emergency exercises.
At a minimum,
NOAA Weather Radio
NOAA Weather Radio NWR; also known as NOAA Weather Radio All Hazards is an automated 24-hour network of VHF FM weather radio stations in the United States (U.S.) that broadcast weather information directly from a nearby National Weather Serv ...
s (NWRs), with tone alert and particularly
Specific Area Message Encoding
Specific Area Message Encoding (SAME) is a protocol used for framing and classification of broadcast emergency warning messages. It was developed by the United States National Weather Service for use on its NOAA Weather Radio (NWR) network, and w ...
(SAME) capability, must be located at four sites within StormReady communities including emergency operations centers, 24-hour warning points, city hall, and all school superintendent offices. In addition to being in homes and offices,
NOAA
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (abbreviated as NOAA ) is an United States scientific and regulatory agency within the United States Department of Commerce that forecasts weather, monitors oceanic and atmospheric conditio ...
recommends that NOAA Weather Radios also be at the following locations: courthouses, libraries, schools, day care centers, movie theaters, hospitals, senior citizen homes, recreation facilities, sports arenas, public utilities, fairgrounds, and other sites where the general public may gather.
The National Weather Service (NWS)
SKYWARN
Skywarn (sometimes stylized as SKYWARN) is a program of the National Weather Service (NWS). Its mission is to collect reports of localized severe weather in the United States. These reports are used to aid forecasters in issuing and verifying sev ...
storm spotter program trains emergency managers, dispatchers, other first responders such as police officers and firefighters, and the general public on how to stay vigilant by identifying features in clouds that usually preclude the occurrence of severe weather. Trained SKYWARN
storm spotters
Storm spotting is a form of weather spotting in which observers watch for the approach of severe weather, monitor its development and progression, and actively relay their findings to local authorities.
History
Storm spotting developed in the ...
report hazardous weather conditions to their local NWS offices;
amateur radio
Amateur radio, also known as ham radio, is the use of the radio frequency spectrum for purposes of non-commercial exchange of messages, wireless experimentation, self-training, private recreation, radiosport, contesting, and emergency communic ...
operators are also invited to participate.
An advisory board, composed of NWS Warning Coordination
Meteorologist
A meteorologist is a scientist who studies and works in the field of meteorology aiming to understand or predict Earth's atmospheric phenomena including the weather. Those who study meteorological phenomena are meteorologists in research, while t ...
s and state and local emergency managers, reviews applications from municipalities and visits the locations to verify the steps made in the process to become StormReady. StormReady communities must stay freshly prepared, because the designation is only valid for three years.
Funding
The National Weather Service does not fund the program in forms other than review and recognition. One of its goals is to help local emergency managers justify costs and purchases related to supporting their hazardous weather-related programs. It does, however, issue a sign that communities may display.
Success
A tornado struck and destroyed a movie theater in Van Wert County on November 10, 2002, about 28 minutes after a
tornado warning
A tornado warning ( SAME code: TOR) is a severe weather warning product issued by regional offices of weather forecasting agencies throughout the world to alert the public when a tornado has been reported or indicated by weather radar within the ...
was issued. Media coverage of the event emphasized that the theater was screening the film
Santa Clause 2 - there were a number of children at the show.
The first StormReady Community Hero Award was presented to
Van Wert County
Van Wert County is a county located in the U.S. state of Ohio. As of the 2020 census, the population was 28,931. Its county seat is Van Wert. The county was created in February 12, 1820 and later organized on March 18, 1837. It is named for I ...
Emergency Manager Rick McCoy, County Commissioner Gary Adams, and
Van Wert City Mayor Stephen Gehres for establishing the county's StormReady program with the NWS. Van Wert Cinemas assistant manager Scott Shaffer was given the NWS Public Service Award for ushering moviegoers to safety after hearing the warning; he had attended a meeting sponsored by local emergency management agencies, and was able to direct the theater patrons to the safest areas within the building.
See also
*
2002 Veterans Day Weekend tornado outbreak
The 2002 Veterans Day weekend tornado outbreak was an unusually severe and expansive severe weather event across portions of the Central and Eastern United States from the evening hours of November 9 into the early morning hours of Veterans ...
Footnotes
References
*
*
* {{cite interview
, url = http://www.boxoffice.com/boxoffice_scr/boxoffice_story.asp?terms=2049
, accessdate = 2007-03-04
, subject = Scott Shaffer
, interviewer = Kim Williamson
, title = Tornado Heroism: Theatre Manager Scott Shaffer Honored by State for Life-Saving Actions at Van Wert Cinemas
, date = 2003-02-02
, publisher = boxoffice.com
, url-status = dead
, archiveurl = https://web.archive.org/web/20061218212045/http://boxoffice.com/boxoffice_scr/boxoffice_story.asp?terms=2049
, archivedate = 2006-12-18
Disaster preparedness in the United States