Practice makes perfect: statewide tornado drill Feb. 8 (FL)

[JonathanBelles]

If a tornado were to strike tomorrow, would you be prepared? Would you know what actions to take? In Florida, tornadoes strike all too often. Planning and practice are keys to tornado safety. Whether at home, school or business, everyone should have a plan in place for severe weather. The tornado drill gives Floridians a chance to test their plans and determine whether or not they are prepared. This is especially true in schools.

A very important part of Florida Hazardous Weather Awareness Week is the statewide tornado drill, Wednesday, Feb. 6. On the morning of the drill, all participants should consider themselves under a Tornado Watch. A watch means you should monitor the weather and be prepared to go a safe place in the event of a warning. At approximately 10:10 a.m., the National Weather Service will issue a practice tornado warning. The warning will be broadcast on NOAA Alert Radio as a weekly test message.

By 10:30 a.m., an “all-clear” message will be issued. Public and commercial broadcasters are encouraged to participate by broadcasting these messages immediately. For the Florida Panhandle counties within the Central time zone, all drill activities will be repeated one hour earlier (9:10 a.m. Central Standard Time).
In real life, you must listen for the watch and warning messages and determine the threat to your area. Then you should decide which protective actions to take. Important: When in doubt, take immediate protective action!

Plans may vary depending on the number of adults present, how vulnerable your location is, communications and a host of other factors. All Floridians should use the tornado drill to develop and practice their plans. Being prepared saves lives!

If actual severe weather threatens Florida on Feb. 6, the drill will be postponed until Friday, Feb. 8.

2008 Statewide Tornado Drill TIMELINE
Wednesday, February 6, 2008
School districts, private schools, preschools and daycare centers are urged to participate in the drill.

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I havent seen this before. Interesting idea. I wonder if I will get a warning other than on the TV or radio.

[CrazyC83]

IMO, drills should be held in August or September at the beginning of the school year. The fact is that there is no tornado season.

[ohiostorm]

In Ohio, drills are usually done at the beginning of March.

[JonathanBelles]

It has now been postponed until the 8th.

[AJC3]

IMO, drills should be held in August or September at the beginning of the school year. The fact is that there is no tornado season.

Here in Florida, the State EMO has deemed that it's best to have the tornado drill (which is just one part of hazardous weather awareness week) just before we head into the period when Floridians are at their greatest risk from being killed by a tornado. That's the rationale for having the drill in early February.

http://www.srh.noaa.gov/mlb/images/gif/fldthmth.gif

Keep in mind that the graph does not include deaths from the Feb 1998 and 2007 outbreaks.

There's also a yearly statewide hurricane drill for state and Federal agencies, and as you might expect, that typically occurs in mid to late May or early June...

http://www.srh.noaa.gov/mlb/images/gif/fldthmth.gif

[Cyclone1]

Our drill was a few days ago.

[sarcasm] It was sooo realistic... [/sarcasm]

"Attention teachers and students, we will now have our tornado drill, please walk outside into the wind-tunnel-like stair well and go to the bottom floor now please."

Had there been an actual tornado, all the students on the top floor would have been sucked out of the building on our way to the stair well...

"Theres a tornado, get into the hallway now" would make a LOT more sense to me...

[Squarethecircle]

Our tornado drills are very solemn, conducted in complete silence, and would be issued if there was a tornado within 6 miles.

[Coredesat]

School tornado drills make me laugh...when I was in middle school, they actually expected us to line up and proceed to the safe area in an orderly fashion. Never mind the fact that we'd likely all be injured or dead by the time we got there. Also, the safe area was a large room with a high ceiling - a major no-no when evacuating for a tornado warning!

It was the same in high school...even though high school students don't line up and proceed out of the building in an orderly manner during fire drills or anything else (we just got up and walked out)...

[JonathanBelles]

I was sleeping when it happened, so I have no idea if it happened or not. My mom said they did nothing on the TV.

[Brent]

School tornado drills make me laugh...when I was in middle school, they actually expected us to line up and proceed to the safe area in an orderly fashion. Never mind the fact that we'd likely all be injured or dead by the time we got there. Also, the safe area was a large room with a high ceiling - a major no-no when evacuating for a tornado warning!

It was the same in high school...even though high school students don't line up and proceed out of the building in an orderly manner during fire drills or anything else (we just got up and walked out)...

Same here. It was so silly...

We used to have them probably twice a year I guess(at least). Only had 1 that was the real thing I think.