PRESS RELEASE

National Weather Service Office

La Crosse, Wisconsin March 26, 2008

IOWA SEVERE WEATHER AWARENESS WEEK

APRIL 7 - 11, 2008

• Flash Flooding hit parts of northeast Iowa hard in 2007.

• Did you know the average number of tornadoes per year in Iowa since 1980 is 47?

• In 2007, Iowa had 42 tornadoes reported.

Is your school, care facility, business, home prepared?

Are your communities prepared?

In order to educate and/or remind residents of Iowa about the dangers of severe weather, the Iowa Emergency Management Division and the National Weather Service are again sponsoring Severe Weather Awareness Week, along with a statewide Tornado Drill. Here are the details…

Severe Weather Awareness Week

April 7-11, 2008

Tornado Drill Day

Wednesday, April 9^th (10-11AM)

A Internet web page has been created for severe weather preparedness at:

weather.gov/lacrosse/?n=severeprep

Topics that will be covered include:

•Severe Weather Definitions • Iowa Tornadoes

•Lightning dangers • Flash Flooding

•Types of Severe Weather • NOAA Weather Radio

•Damaging Wind • Large Hail

The test Tornado Warnings will be issued using the Emergency Alert System (EAS) TOR code.

NWS La Crosse will issue our test warning at 10:20 a.m. on Wednesday, April 9^th.

If I can be of any assistance in promotional efforts or you would like to conduct an interview, feel free to give me a call at (608) 784-8275 Ext.726 or call our media telephone number if you'd like to talk with one of our other meteorologists. I can also be reached via e-mail at todd.shea@noaa.gov.

Sincerely,

Todd Shea

Warning Coordination Meteorologist

NWS La Crosse, WI