BEATRICE – It’s Severe Weather Awareness Week in Nebraska….and a statewide tornado drill is scheduled for Wednesday morning.


The observance gives citizens, schools, businesses, medical facilities and the like, a chance to practice safety plans, or at least think of what you would do when severe weather hits.


"I think you see parents having more conversations with kids about looking up in the sky, looking at clouds. But also, where should they go in the event of inclement weather when mom and dad are still at work...and they're just getting home from school, too."


This week, National Weather Service officials have been focusing on different severe weather threats each day…..such as lightning, tornadoes, hail and high winds and flooding…all of those relevant to Nebraska and the Midwest. During this year’s observance, it comes at a time the National Weather Service is facing budget cuts from a new administration.


Gage County Emergency Manager Lisa Wiegand says that’s already being felt, with cancellation of storm spotter training sessions.  "We did have a storm spotter training scheduled for April. It was a reschedule from that extreme cold weather, if you remember. And, that was the right thing to do, but the funding has been limited and so we got word from the National Weather Service that they are cancelling the remainder of those storm spotter trainings."


Wiegand said emergency managers are also concerned about how budget cuts will affect services through FEMA…which covers part of the cost of having full-time local emergency management. 

Nebraska has experienced a variety of severe situations this year, from strong winds to floods, to blizzards.
"Last week's storms....we all woke up thinking, why did we cancel school? And yet, by eleven o'clock in the morning that experience was just now hitting Gage County. Those decision makers, especially in the school systems with scheduling and events and cancellations....they're made for a reason. But, we rely on the National Weather Service and those meteorologists to give us those predictions."


Businesses, schools and medical providers will conduct drills on Wednesday, to be ready for severe weather. The Gage County Courthouse has one at 4 p.m.  During Wednesday’s statewide weather drill, Wiegand said outdoor warning sirens will be tested, but residents also need other ways to find out about severe storms.


"Those sirens are meant to be outdoor warning signs, so if you're inside, you may not hear them. It's great if you do, but you have to have some type of redundancy of getting your messages."  Among the options…a weather radio… broadcast radio….television or a smart phone.