The interactive workshop seeks to teach residents about how to recognize and respond to severe weather and available tools that can help identify severe weather. “It’s always good to be aware of weather,” said Waletzko. “It’s always good to know how to respond and when to seek shelter.” The primary goal of the workshop is to reinforce situational awareness: Be aware of what’s happening around you and what you should do.
According to Waletzko, June and July are the two months when severe weather is most likely to occur; not just heavy rain and hail, but also thunderstorms and tornadoes. It’s important to know when to take shelter, what makes for a good shelter and how long to stay inside the shelter. It’s also key to know what you should keep in your shelter.
June has the highest average number of tornadoes at 9.5. In June of 2010, Minnesota saw 71 total tornadoes, with 48 occurring on a single day (June 17), causing three deaths including one near Almora in Otter Tail County. July is the second-highest tornado month with an average of 7.1 and May is third highest with 4.3.
“Spotting Severe Storms & Other Weather Safety Tips” won’t just be a lecture or verbal conversation, though. “We’ll have lots of pictures and videos,” says Waletzko. “We want a back-and-forth discussion. We’ll give basics but we want to hear questions about weather and safety.”
They’ll also be talking about the 1919 cyclone, including conditions leading up to it and the resulting impacts, along with how they would respond if it were to happen today. “We have more resources now,” Waletzko says, “but the city responded very well considering what they had at the time.”
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