Tomorrow will be the statewide tornado drill and everyone in Greene County is encouraged to practice their respective plans for when a tornado warning is issued.

Greene County Emergency Management Coordinator Dennis Morlan says the severe weather sirens in all of the communities will be activated at 10:15am on Wednesday, when the National Weather Service issues a tornado warning. Then the sirens will sound an “all clear” at 10:35am. Greene County Sheriff Jack Williams says those that can activate the sirens are any law enforcement or fire official, along with Morlan and the National Weather Service. He points out what the criteria is for activating the sirens.

“We activate the sirens with any 60-miles-per-hour or greater straight line winds or any radar or (weather) spotter located tornado or funnel cloud.”

He adds that this year they will be using the same criteria for all communities to activate the sirens and only the portions of the county that are in awarned area will have their respective area sirens activated instead of the entire county.

Morlan says during this week all of the sirens will be checked in the county through Unplugged Wireless. In the past, the E-911 Board has paid for the system evaluation.

Also during the statewide tornado drill, Raccoon Valley Radio will be conducting our mock Severe Weather Action Team coverage during the drill to review how we continue to bring severe weather coverage during the spring and summer months.