Spring officially starts at 12:48 a-m on 3/20/08.  I'm sooo ready for the weather to warm up and stay warm.  However, that also means severe weather is a certainty.  We've already seen a number of severe storms in Kansas over the last few weeks... including a storm with a confirmed tornado in Sumner County.  That only serves as a reminder that it can happen anytime, anywhere.

I'm a little late in talking about this.  Severe weather awareness week was last week, but it's never too late to begin thinking about what you need to do to be prepared for a weather disaster.  Believe me, it CAN happen to you.  It's kind of like saving money... It's never too late to start!

1.  First and foremost, if you don't have one, buy a NOAA Weather Radio for your home or office.  Do it today!  They are not all that expensive anymore and they are pretty easy to program.  With the latest technology, you can program the radios to only go off if your county is involved in a watch or warning.

2.  Come up with a plan to gather your family in one spot away from your home in the event your home is destroyed or damaged.  This is good not only for severe weather, but if you had a fire also.

3.  Prepare a disaster kit that includes a 3-day supply of water and food that won't spoil.  Include a change of clothing for everyone in the family, blankets and sleeping bags, a first aid kit, flashlights and batteries.  What about your prescription medications?  Put some of those in there, too.

This is only a very small list of things you can do to be better prepared for a disaster.  Do your own investigating.  There are numerous things you can find on the Internet regarding severe weather safety.

One of the biggest confusions that I hear people talking about is the difference between a watch and a warning.  A watch is issued when conditions are favorable for a certain type of incident.  Watches are generally issued for 6-8 hours at a time and for large areas.  Sometimes they even include multiple states.  A warning is issued when the severe weather event is actually happening.  Warnings are for much smaller areas and include the exact areas a storm will affect.

Another relatively new thing involving severe weather is the polygonal warning system.  In the old days, the National Weather Service could only issue weather warnings for entire counties.  That meant, even though it was obvious that a storm might only affect the southeastern part of Sedgwick County, for instance, the entire county would be placed under a warning even though people clear across the county were in no danger.  Now, the polygonal warnings may include parts of more than one county, but you can guarantee that the areas under the warning really do need to take cover.

However, the tornado sirens in Sedgwick County are not controlled by the National Weather Service.  They are controlled by the Sedgwick County Emergency Management office.  So that means, at this point, when a tornado warning is issued for any part of Sedgwick County, the sirens across the entire county are sounded.  To make things a little bit more confusing, some of the smaller cities like Derby and even McConnell Air Force Base control their own sirens within their city limits.  This may be different for other counties in the state, but Sedgwick County is what I'm most familiar with.

I hear all the time from people who claim they had no warning of a storm before it hit.  In fact, I heard people talking about it just last week in Atlanta where a tornado ripped through downtown.  That's hogwash in this day and age.  There was a weather watch issued very early that afternoon that included the city of Atlanta.  And there was also a tornado warning issued several minutes before the tornado slammed into downtown Atlanta.  The bottom line is, it's your responsibility to stay informed about the possibility of severe weather, especially in this part of the country.

All of us certainly never want to think about getting hit by a tornado, but take it from somebody who has lived through one and nearly lost everything, it CAN happen to you.  So be prepared for it.