A Recognition Program for County and Community Hazardous Weather Preparedness

National Weather Service
Weather Forecast Office, Tulsa, OK

1. Introduction

Many laws and regulations have been created to help local emergency managers deal with hazardous material spills, search and rescue operations, medical crises, etc., but there are relatively few uniformly-recognized standards dealing with the specifics of hazardous weather response operations. Recognizing this need, the National Weather Service (NWS) Weather Forecast Office (WFO) in Tulsa, Oklahoma, designed a pilot program to help cities, counties, and towns implement procedures to reduce the potential for disastrous, weather-related, consequences.
 
 

In 1999, the pilot program became a national initiative, with support from local, state and national emergency agencies throughout the United States.

The StormReady criteria are intended to:

1. Improve the timeliness and effectiveness of hazardous weather warnings for the public.
2. Provide detailed and clear recommendations by which local emergency managers might establish/improve effective hazardous weather operations.
3. Help local emergency managers justify costs and purchases related to supporting their hazardous weather-related program.
4. Reward those local, hazardous-weather mitigation programs that have achieved a desired performance level.
5. Provide additional Community Rating System points, as assigned by the Insurance Services Organization (ISO), for those communities already participating in the National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP). This could lower flood insurance premiums for NFIP policyholders.
6. Provide an “image incentive” to counties, cities, and towns that can identify themselves as being “storm-ready.”
7. Encourage the enhancement of hazardous weather preparedness programs in locations adjacent to or near “StormReady Communities/Counties.”

2. The StormReady Program Criteria

2.1. Criterion 1: Communications & Coordination Center

The key to disaster management is effective communication. This is especially true in weather emergencies where rapid changes may permit only short lead-time warnings that require an immediate, educated response.

1. 24-Hour Warning Point. To receive recognition under the StormReady Program, an applying agency will need to have a 24-hour warning point that can receive NWS information and provide local reports and advice. Typically, this might be a law enforcement or fire department dispatching point. For cities or towns without a local dispatching point, a county agency could act in that capacity for them. The warning point will need to have:
• 24 hour operations.
• Warning reception capability.
• Warning dissemination capability.
• Ability and authority to activate local warning system(s).
2. Emergency Operations Center. Agencies serving jurisdictions larger than 2,500 people will need an emergency operations center (EOC). The EOC will need to be staffed during hazardous weather events and, when staffed, would assume the warning point’s hazardous weather functions. The following summarizes the weather-related roles of an EOC:
• Assumes weather-related duties of warning point, when staffed.
• Activated based on predetermined guidelines related to NWS information and/or weather events.
• Staffed with emergency management director or designee.
• Warning reception capability.
• Ability and authority to activate local warning system(s). Must have capabilities equal to or better than the warning point.
• Ability to communicate with adjacent EOCs/Warning Points.

2.2. Criterion 2: National Weather Service Warning Information Reception

Warning points and EOCs each need multiple ways to receive NWS warnings. The StormReady Program criteria for receiving NWS warnings in an EOC/WP require a combination of the following, based on population:

1. NOAA Weather Radio receiver with Specific Area Message Encoding (NWR-SAME): Required for recognition, if within range of transmitter.
2. NOAA Weather Wire drop: Satellite downlink data feed from NWS.
3. Emergency Management Weather Information Network (EMWIN) receiver: Satellite feed and/or VHF radio transmission of NWS products.
4. Statewide law enforcement telecommunications: Automatic relay of NWS products on law enforcement systems.
5. Amateur Radio transceiver: Potential communications directly to NWS office
6. Pagers: From a provider not directly tied to a local system such as EMWIN.
7. Television: Local network or cable TV.
8. Local Radio (Emergency Alert System - LP1/LP2).
9. Other: For example, active participation in a state-run warning network.
10. National Warning System (NAWAS) drop: FEMA-controlled civil defense hotline. NAWAS is presently limited in its use and is slated to be eliminated soon.

While receipt of warnings is crucial to the success of any EOC or warning point, there should also be a means of monitoring weather information, especially radar data. To obtain StormReady Program recognition, each EOC/WP (based on population) should have some combination of the following recommended means of gathering ancillary weather information:

1. Oklahoma’s First-response Information Resource System using Telecommunications (OK-FIRST) or similar state-supported radar data acquisition system.
2. Locally owned and operated weather radar.
3. Local network or cable TV.
4. Dedicated radar data feed from NEXRAD vendor or local TV station.
5. Internet access to radar data.
6. Instruments to provide a measure of local conditions and/or hydrologic conditions. For example, mesenetwork sites and/or ALERT gauges. However, these cannot be the sole means of satisfying Criterion 3.

Once NWS warnings are received, or local information suggests an imminent weather threat, the goal of the local emergency officials should be to communicate with as much of the population as possible. Receiving StormReady recognition will be contingent upon having one or more of the following means of ensuring timely warning dissemination to citizens (based on population):

1. Outdoor warning sirens.
2. Cable television audio/video overrides.
3. Other locally-controlled methods like a local broadcast system or sirens on emergency vehicles.
4. A community program that subsidizes the purchase of NWR-SAME receivers, provided a NOAA Weather Radio signal can be received.
5. At least one NWR-SAME receiver in each government-owned building that is accessed by the public, such as schools, hospitals, and administrative buildings (provided a signal can be received). Local ordinances are recommended to ensure this.
6. Counties Only: A County-wide communications network that ensures the flow of information between all cities and towns within its borders. This would include acting as a warning point for the smaller towns.

Public education is vital in preparing citizens to respond properly to weather threats. An educated public most likely will take steps to receive weather warnings, recognize potentially threatening weather situations, and act appropriately to those situations. Agencies seeking recognition in the StormReady Program will need to:

• Conduct or facilitate safety talks for schools, hospitals, nursing homes and industries (number of talks per year will be based on population).
• Accomplish weather-related safety campaigns which include publicity for NOAA Weather Radios where coverage exists.

No program can be successful without formal planning and proactive administration. To be accredited in the StormReady Program:

1. Approved hazardous weather action plans will need to be in place. These plans will need to address, at a minimum, the following:
• Warning point procedures.
• EOC activation and procedures.
• Storm spotter activation criteria.
• Storm spotter roster and training record.
• Criteria for activation of sirens, cable television override, and/or local systems activation.
• Annual exercises.
2. EOC/warning point staff and field personnel will need to attend NWS storm spotter training sessions at least every other year. All jurisdictions larger than 40,000 people will need to host/co-host a spotter training session every year.
3. To facilitate close working relationships, the community/county program leader will need to visit the supporting NWS office at least every other year. NWS officials will commit to visit accredited counties, cities, and towns annually to tour EOCs/warning points and meet with key officials.

Recognitions are now for 3 year periods, with reapplication for recognition necessary.  Recognitions do not expire during the re-recognition process.

Recognitions for counties are for the county government only and not the communities in the county unless otherwise stated.
 
 

3. Contacts

For further information on this program, contact either of the following at 918-832-4115:

Steve Piltz
Meteorologist in Charge
Tulsa NWS Weather Forecast Office
steven.piltz@noaa.gov

George Mathews
Warning Coordination Meteorologist
Tulsa NWS Weather Forecast Office
george.mathews@noaa.gov

 

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