Severe weather doesn’t have a schedule, but there are several ways you can receive notifications for when a severe thunderstorm, tornado, or flood watch or warning is issued.

The National Weather Service is observing Severe Weather Awareness Week in Iowa, and Washington County Emergency Management Coordinator Marissa Reisen says a severe thunderstorm or tornado watch is issued when storms are possible and they usually cover several counties, “Within a few hours of being impacted by the storm a watch will usually be issued. A warning on the other hand might not be issued until the storm’s on top of you. It depends [on] how they develop, how fast they pop up because a lot of summer storms we see they just kind of come out of nowhere and we don’t always know just how bad it’s going to be until it hits.”

Reisen advises not to just rely on Washington County’s outdoor warning system, as it is meant to alert those who are outside during a storm, and is only used for tornadoes. Reisen encourages residents to sign up for Alert Iowa, a free service which sends severe weather alerts via text message, phone call, or email. She also offers to help anyone with signing up with this service, or programming their weather radio if they have one. You can receive notifications for when the KCII Severe Weather Action Team is providing live coverage of a severe thunderstorm or tornado warning for Washington County by downloading our mobile app, and hear more about Severe Weather Awareness Week during today’s Halcyon House Washington Page on air and at kciiradio.com.