April 18, 2008                                     CONTACT:    Scott Camps, Emerg Svcs  Mgr

                                                                                    St. Louis County Sheriff’s Office

Duluth, MN   218-625-3960

For Immediate Release:

Severe Weather Awareness Week in Minnesota

April 21^st – 25^th, 2008

The week of April 21^st through 25^th, 2008 is “Severe Weather Awareness Week in Minnesota”. The goal is to educate Minnesotans on the need to prepare their own emergency plans for tornadoes and severe weather, and to encourage the exercising of those plans. Each day of the week will feature a specific topic such as “Thunderstorm, Hail, Straight-line Winds, and Lightening”, or “Severe Weather Warning Systems”.

Minnesota will be conducting a statewide Tornado Drill on Thursday, April 24^th, 2008.  The traditional afternoon statewide drill will be conducted at 1:45 p.m.  The National Weather Service will initiate the process by issuing a statewide "mock tornado watch" at 9:00 a.m.  A "mock tornado warning" will be issued and disseminated beginning at 1:45 p.m.  The statewide drill will conclude at 2:00 p.m. 

This year has been quite active with several severe weather systems nationwide.  The unfortunate results have included a number of deaths and injuries, in addition to substantial property damage.  Following appropriate safety actions could help save lives, prevent injuries, and protect property.  The Minnesota Homeland Security/Emergency Management located at the following website, www.dps.state.mn.us/dhsem/hsemhome.asp , and the National Weather Service Office in Duluth found at www.crh.noaa.gov/dlh/ , both provide excellent preparedness information.