NOAA's National Weather Service Weather Forecast Office

El Paso County is StormReady!

Meteorologist In Charge William Fortune speaks about the StormReady Program

A ceremony was held at the El Paso County Sheriffs office on September 15th, 2004, to officially recognize El Paso County as StormReady. By meeting guidelines set forth in the StormReady program, communities and counties are able to develop an action plan to respond to all types of severe weather. This makes El Paso County one of the 8 counties in Colorado which is Storm Ready. (As of September 2004). One success story of the StormReady program can be found in Van Wert, Ohio.

MIC William Fortune presents El Paso County Sheriff Terry Maketa with StormReady Signs for the County

To be officially StormReady, a community must:

• Establish a 24-hour warning point and emergency operations center
• Have more than one way to receive severe weather warnings and forecasts and to alert the public
• Create a system that monitors weather conditions locally
• Promote the importance of public readiness through community seminars
• Develop a formal hazardous weather plan, which includes training severe weather spotters and holding emergency exercises.
  

Depending on the size of the population, a program is then fine-tuned and put into place.

For more information on the StormReady program, visit:

http://www.stormready.noaa.gov/