The week of April 29th has been designated, “Severe Summer Weather Awareness Week,” for the entire state of North Dakota.  This annual event is intended to remind the public of the dangers associated with severe summer weather including:  lightning, high winds, large hail, flash floods and tornadoes. All of which, can cause severe property damage, personal injury, and even death.

As part of the awareness week activities, Stutsman County will conduct a tornado exercise that will begin at about 11:15 a.m. Wed May 1. The exercise will simulate what occurs locally when a tornado warning is issued by the National Weather Service.

The tornado exercise will be testing internal notification procedures county-wide along with siren activation capabilities.  Sirens will be activated in many area communities including the Cities of Jamestown, Buchanan, Cleveland, Medina and Streeter.  In most communities, sirens will be activated for approximately 3 minutes.

Because the National Weather Service will not directly be involved with the exercise, the simulated warning will not be broadcast through the National Weather Service all-hazards weather radio system.  Also, the Emergency Alert System (EAS) for local AM/FM radio stations and cable television providers will not be activated. The Stutsman Alert’s notification system powered by Everbridge also will not be activated for this test.

However…the local CSi Cable interrupt system WILL be tested at approximately the time of the Tornado Drill activated by the Jamestown Law Enforcement Center in Jamestown.

The most common reason a community’s warning sirens are activated is to warn the public of a possible tornado.  However, sirens could also be activated to alert the public of other types of events that could be a danger to the community.