With the conclusion of Severe Weather Awareness week last week, the City of Osceola will begin its weekly testing of our Tornado sirens on Thursday, April 5, 2018, at 9 a.m. Testing will occur every Thursday morning at 9 a. m., until November.
Two important terms apply to spring and summer severe weather. First, term is WATCH. A weather watch means that conditions are favorable to have severe weather. It does not mean that severe weather is occurring or is imminent. We do not set off the sirens for a watch condition.
The most important term of course, is WARNING. When a warning is issued it does mean that severe weather, either tornado, hail, high winds, has occurred and is expected to occur here. When a tornado warning is issued by the National Weather Service for Osceola the sirens are activated and will blow for three minutes. After three minutes they shut down. If we haven't received the weather yet but the warning still exists for us we will again activate the sirens to blow. Unfortunately, our sirens do not have an all clear tone. Therefore, it is important for you to keep abreast of weather alerts by using our free NIXLE notification service and to news and weather reports on either radio or television.
Speaking of Nixle, this is an excellent time to encourage you to sign up for this notification service. It’s FREE! And it is available to everyone who has a cell phone to receive texts on or to anyone who has an email account. To sign up simply text 50213 to 888777. That’s it. You can go on Nixle.com and set up an account to add your email address as well. It is FREE and it’s secure. No one here at the police department can see your number or email.
Remember weekly tests will resume on Thursday, April 5, 2018, at 9:00 a.m.