A
Guide to Developing a Severe Weather Emergency Plan for Schools
Purpose
and General Layout
The purpose of this
guide is to provide assistance to school administrators and teachers in designing
a severe weather emergency plan for your school. While not every possible situation
is covered by the guide, it will provide enough information to serve as a starting
point and a general outline of actions to take. The majority of material focuses
on thunderstorms and the hazards these storms produce: lightning, hail, tornadoes,
and flash floods. Thunderstorms can occur suddenly, with little warning. Since
winter weather is another hazardous weather situation special information is
also provided. To ensure safety of all, emergency actions must be taken quickly
when severe weather threatens. This will become more apparent in Section
1 - Understanding the Danger: Why an Emergency Plan is Needed.
Once you comprehend
the scope of the problem, you can begin to address how to reduce the potential
hazards. Section 2 - Designing Your Plan, details more
specifically how to get your weather information, how teachers and students
can be alerted to the emergency, and under what circumstances should actions
be taken to reduce the danger. Safety is always the foremost concern. The ultimate
goal is to "quickly inform teachers and students anywhere on the school
grounds of the threat of severe weather and to move them as quickly as possible
to pre- designated shelters." This section also discusses school bus actions
in severe weather.
For any plan to
work efficiently, it must be practiced. It is recommended that schools conduct
semi-annual drills and that severe weather safety instruction be a part of this
phase. It is important to understand why certain actions are being taken, to
know the weather terms that are being used, and to know what visual clues can
signal you to potential dangers ahead. Section 3 - Thunderstorms,
Severe Weather Spotting & Detection, will provide some basic severe
weather background on how thunderstorms evolve, what signals to watch, and how
the National Weather Service (NWS) detects and tracks severe weather. At the
end of this guide, (Appendix J) weather brochures on
thunderstorms, lightning, tornadoes, flash floods, winter weather and spotting
techniques are provided for additional education on safety measures.
The appendices in
this guide are loaded with reference materials to assist you in both designing
your plan and gathering educational materials for severe weather instruction.
There is a list of weather watch, warning and advisory criteria;
a glossary of weather terms; safety
tips for the various types of weather hazards (not just thunderstorms);
a list of NOAA Weather Radio Frequencies and coverage
map; a list of primary Emergency Alert System broadcast
stations; FIPS codes for specific county notification;
and a list of Bureau of Disaster Services contacts if more assistance is needed.
Who will Design Your Plan?
Before you begin,
it is recommended that one person be designated as the "Severe Weather
Administrator" for your school district. Such a person may be a teacher
or administrator with an interest in weather who is willing to attend local
NWS spotter training programs (no fees, held bi-annually). The administrator
would also be responsible for developing the plan and working with the local
school board, administrators, and teachers to implement the plan.
Besides an administrator
for the school district, we suggest each school have a "Severe Weather
Coordinator." The coordinator would be responsible for daily weather monitoring,
scheduling and conducting the semi-annual drills, notifying the district office
of potential deficiencies in the overall plan, attend local NWS spotter training
programs (no fees, held bi-annually), and ensure students are weatherwise.
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