Introduction to Severe Weather Week

PUBLIC INFORMATION STATEMENT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE BOULDER CO
600 AM SUNDAY APRIL 13 2008

...THUNDERSTORM SEASON IS UPON US...ARE YOU READY...
SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS IN 2008 WILL PRODUCE TORNADOES...FLASH FLOODS...HAIL... KILLER LIGHTNING...AND WIND DAMAGE. DO YOU KNOW HOW TO STAY SAFE DURING THUNDERSTORM SEASON? GOVERNOR RITTER HAS PROCLAIMED THIS WEEK...APRIL 13TH TO APRIL 19TH AS COLORADO SEVERE WEATHER AWARENESS WEEK. NOW IS THE TIME TO LEARN MORE ABOUT SEVERE WEATHER IN COLORADO...DEVELOP SEVERE WEATHER PREPAREDNESS PLANS...AND TEST VITAL COMMUNICATIONS.

CAN WE LEARN LESSONS FROM THE PAST SEVERE WEATHER EVENTS? EACH YEAR FOR THE PAST 20 YEARS THERE HAVE BEEN AN AVERAGE OF 50 TORNADOES IN COLORADO...3 PEOPLE KILLED BY LIGHTNING...AND ANOTHER 15 INJURED BY LIGHTNING. ONE YEAR AGO...ON MARCH 28 2007 THE TOWN OF HOLLY WAS STRUCK BY A VIOLENT TORNADO...CAUSING DAMAGE IN THE MILLIONS OF DOLLARS, MULTIPLE INJURIES AND TWO FATALITIES. THESE WERE THE FIRST TORNADO FATALITIES SINCE 1960 IN COLORADO.

THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE OFFICES WHICH COVER COLORADO WILL ISSUE A SERIES OF PUBLIC INFORMATION STATEMENTS DURING THE WEEK COVERING THE FOLLOWING TOPICS:

...ON MONDAY...WATCHES AND WARNINGS
...ON TUESDAY... TORNADOES AND TORNADO SAFETY
...ON WEDNESDAY...WIND AND HAIL HAZARDS
...ON THURSDAY...FLOOD AND FLASH FLOOD SAFETY
...ON FRIDAY...LIGHTNING AND LIGHTNING SAFETY
...ON SATURDAY...A REVIEW OF THE WEEK

SAFETY INFORMATION, WATCHES, WARNINGS, FORECASTS, PAST WEATHER AND MUCH MORE INFORMATION IS AVAILABLE AT YOUR LOCAL NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE WEB SITES:

WWW.WEATHER.GOV/DENVER NWS DENVER WEB SITE WWW.WEATHER.GOV/PUEBLO NWS PUEBLO WEB SITE WWW.WEATHER.GOV/GOODLAND NWS GOODLAND WEB SITE WWW.WEATHER.GOV/GJT NWS GRAND JUNCTION WEB SITE

NOAA National Weather Service Weather Forecast Office