Severe Weather Awareness Week 2012

Severe Weather Awareness Week
February 19-24th, 2012

Images of Severe Weather

Governor Robert Bentley has declared February 19-24th, 2012 as Severe Weather Awareness Week in Alabama. The National Weather Service, the Alabama Emergency Management Agency, and other supporting organizations, ask for your help in providing the public with information about severe weather safety. Advance planning and increased awareness will help residents of Alabama survive these deadly storms.

For an electronic version of the Alabama All Hazards Awareness Booklet click here.

These are just a couple of images from the historic 2011 where parts of central Alabama received extreme severe weather damage. The picture on the left is EF-3 damage in Marengo County on April 15th, 2011. The picture on the right is a home damaged by an EF-4 tornado on Lake Martin, just one of the 30 tornadoes on April 27th.

Severe Weather Awareness Week Schedule

Mon, Feb 20th	Tues, Feb 21st	Wed, Feb 22nd	Thurs, Feb 23rd	Fri, Feb 24th

Severe Thunderstorms	Lightning	Tornado Safety	Flooding & Flash Flooding	NOAA Weather Radio All Hazards

"Tornado Safety Drill" on Wednesday, February 22. In Alabama, we do not conduct a statewide tonado drill. However, we encourage everyone to conduct their own safety drill on Wednesday, Feb 22nd. This "tornado safety drill" will be accomplished in conjunction with our weekly NOAA All-Hazards Radio Test that will be run at a special time of 9 am. An actual tornado warning WILL NOT sound, but this is an excellent opportunity for schools, civic organizations and businesses around central Alabama to practice what they would do in the event of a tornado warning.

Severe weather can happen at any time. Here are some events from 2011.

4 Tornadoes on February 28th: A low pressure system developed in the Southern Plains, eventually tracking across the Tennessee Valley, well to the north of Alabama.Embedded in the line were storms that developed supercellular structures, a few of which spawned tornadoes and many areas of straight line wind damage.

Widespread Wind Damage and One Tornado: A line of thunderstorms, which had been fairly weak as it moved through Mississippi, intensified as it crossed over the Mississippi-Alabama State Line. Multiple segments of the line caused straight line wind damage throughout portion of the Birmingham county warning area.

Tornado Outbreak of April 15th: As part of a system which wreaked havoc across the eastern half of the United States on April 14th-16th, 30 tornadoes developed across central Alabama.

Historic Tornado Outbreak of April 27th

For a more comprehensive list of severe weather events, click here.

National Weather Service Weather Forecast Office