Alabama Severe Weather Awareness Week
February 19-24, 2006


A storm is coming...are you ready?

Governor Bob Riley has proclaimed February 19-24, 2006, as Severe Weather Awareness Week in Alabama. The National Weather Service, Alabama Emergency Management Agency, and other supporting organizations, ask 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.

Educational activities will be held throughout the week to help people prevent injuries and deaths from tornadoes, damaging winds, flash floods, lightning, and hail. Each day of the week focuses on a specific type of severe weather or on the warning and drill system.
  Severe Weather Awareness Week Schedule
We'll focus on the SKYWARN Storm Spotter Program and Emergency Managers Weather Information System (EMWIN).
We'll look at Severe Thunderstorms to begin the work week. Damaging winds from severe thunderstorms are much more frequent than tornadoes in the Mid-South. These straight line winds can reach over 100 miles an hour and can be devastating.
We'll focus on lightning, one of the underrated killers. All thunderstorms have lightning, and this hazard can be deceptively deadly.
Tornado Safety will be the emphasis. Over and over again, people survive tornadic weather by knowing weather safety rules and taking appropriate and timely actions. In place of the Tornado Drill of previous years, a special NOAA Weather Radio All Hazards weekly radio test will be conducted 9:30 AM. State, county, and other interested agencies are encouraged to participate and help everyone learn life saving procedures and information.
Thursday's focus is on the hazards of Flooding and Flash Floods. Flooding is the number one weather killer in the United States.
NOAA Weather Radio All Hazards and Emergency Alert System Day.

This the perfect time of the year to check your preparedness plans. Make sure your NOAA Weather Radio has fresh batteries in it. Make sure you have a means of receiving severe weather information. Make sure you know what you should do if threatening weather approaches.


Additional Information:
from the 2006 Alabama Severe Weather Awareness Week Booklet
In Adobe PDF format (free download)

  • About Severe Weather Awareness Week
  • Messages from the National Weather Service and Alabama EMA
  • 2005 - Alabama's Record Breaking Tornado Year
  • Severe Weather Awareness/Preparedness
  • Thunderstorms
  • Lightning
  • Damaging Wind and Hail
  • Tornadoes
  • Map: Tornadoes by County in Alabama 1950-2005
  • Chart: Tornadoes by Month and Hour in Alabama 1950-2005
  • Flood Types
  • Flood Safety and Preparedness
  • Storm Spotters
  • NOAA Weather Radio
  • Safety After the Storm
  • 2005 Severe Weather Review
  • Contacts For More Information
  • NWS on the Web
  • Entire Booklet (~15.0 MB)

    Other Information
  • Alabama Tornado Database
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