Office of Emergency Management

Prepare for the Severe Weather season!

Severe weather season typically begins in the month of March in Michigan. This year though, we have experienced severe weather events in February. With the season already underway, we are rolling out our severe weather preparedness information ahead of the official Michigan Severe Weather Preparedness Week, March 19-23, 2024.

The first reminder, have mulitple ways to recieve important weather information!

An important note about Outdoor Warning Sirens in Kalamazoo County - Outdoor warning sirens are designed to warn people that are outside of buildings and homes. The siren locations are NOT condensed enough to be a reliable means of warning inside buildings or homes. Additionally, many areas of the county DO NOT have outdoor warning sirens. The outdoor siren location map for Kalamazoo County can be found here. Outdoor sirens are owned and maintained by the local cities, villages, and townships. Kalamazoo County Emergency Management or county government does not own or activate outdoor sirens. Some of the local agencies activate their sirens by manual switch or radio signal upon a tornado warning for that area, while others are activated by Central Dispatch. Most sirens are tested on the first Saturday of every month at 1pm. This is a good time to venture outside to observe if you can hear the sirens from your location. 

We highly recommend NOT relying on outdoor sirens as your only means of weather warnings. Your cell phone will automatically activate with a Wireless Emergency Alert (WEA) if you are in a Tornado Warning zone! Also, a weather alert radio is a very reliable means of receiving multiple types of weather watches and warnings, as well as community alerts such as a hazardous materials incident. Every home and business should have at least one weather alert radio! See more information on the NOAA Weather Radio site. 

Understand the weather hazards common in Michigan and safety tips:

Understand the terminology of weather alerts, Watches and Warnings:

Our home National Weather Service office is in Grand Rapids, and our neighboring office is Northern Indiana. These are the official sites we use when monitoring our severe weather potentials and issuance of advisories, watches, and warnings. Check their websites for up to date forecasts and severe weather outlooks.

Much more severe weather and general preparedness information can be found at MI Ready, the American Red Cross, and Ready.gov

Follow the Kalamazoo County Emergency Management Facebook and X / Twitter pages for severe weather information and updates as well!

Kalamazoo County Emergency Management is a

Posted: Thursday, February 29, 2024