Statewide Tornado Drill Planned for Tuesday

LEXINGTON, Ky. (March. 7, 2011) - At approximately 10:07 a.m. EST Tuesday, March 8, the National Weather Service (NWS), partnering with Kentucky Emergency Management, Kentucky Weather Preparedness Committee and Kentucky Broadcast Association will issue a tornado warning test message. Warning sirens will sound at this time across Kentucky communities, weather alert radios will activate and television and radio stations will broadcast the test alert message. Weather radios will activate in University of Kentucky buildings and the tornado siren on south campus will sound.

UK's Office of Emergency Management is encouraging members of the UK community to take this opportunity to familiarize themselves with designated shelter areas in the buildings they frequent. These areas have been identified as the safest areas in each building and are marked with green “Severe Weather Shelter” signs. You can also find these shelter areas by going to the UK Campus “StormReady” website and entering a building name. Additional information on what to do if a Tornado Warning is issued can be found in the Emergency Response Guide located on the Office of Emergency Management website. 

In addition, several local and national severe weather resources are available
on the Internet. For instance, the UK Agricultural Weather Center developed the following severe weather website for all students and employees on campus during the UK Campus “StormReady” certification process: http://weather.uky.edu/radar/ky_lmk.shtml. A statewide version of this website is available at http://weather.uky.edu/radar/Severeweather.html. These weather products are available 24/7.

UK Alert notifications will not be part of the drill Tuesday. UK Alert notifications are sent by UK Police when an actual Tornado Warning is issued by the National Weather Service for Fayette County. Now is an excellent time to review and update your UK Alert account. To review and update your account simply log in to myUK and click the UK Alert tab in the Employee Self-Service or Student Services tab.

If inclement weather is in the forecast on March 8, the Statewide Tornado Drill will be rescheduled.

Governor Steve Beshear signed a proclamation designating March as Severe Weather Awareness Month in Kentucky. The tornado safety drill is one of several local readiness activities in conjunction with the proclamation.