March weather deserves our attention

By Staff
An old adage says that when March comes in like a lamb, it will out like a lion. Or maybe it's the other way around…we've never been very good at remembering old adages.
Either way, the point remains that March can produce some very unpredictable weather. Winter is on the way out, and spring is approaching, and with the change comes unstable conditions and the potential for severe storms.
Recently, the National Weather Service concluded its spring "Severe Weather Awareness Week," in conjunction with local authorities.
Each year in the United States, tornadoes cause 70 fatalities and injure 1,500 people. They can produce wind speeds up to 200 miles per hour and travel on the ground with widths of up to a mile.
It pays to heed storm warnings and pay attention to local weather reports.
Remember, a tornado watch means that conditions are favorable for a tornado to form, but a tornado warning means a storm has actually been spotted in your area. At that point, take shelter in the smallest, most centrally-located room of your home away from windows.
Our local emergency management agency, under the direction of Carol Frederick and deputy director Roy Gober, does a great job of working to keep us all as safe as possible from severe weather. They work long hours at the EMA center any time severe weather is threatening and keep the local warning siren system in good shape to give us advance warning of severe weather.
In this time when we urge you to be more aware of severe weather, we also thank them for working hard to keep us safe.
Let's have a safe spring and look forward to more pleasant weather in the weeks to come.