National Weather Service Rolls in Severe Summer Weather Awareness Week

FARGO, N.D. (KVRR) — It’s the week of spring showers and thunderstorms, and the National Weather Service wants to prepare you for the various weather events that areas may experience during this season.

“We don’t want people caught out in the storm with lightning coming or getting pelted with hail. And so we want to be ready, we want to be prepared, and this is just an awareness to know that hey, weather happens in this part of the world, and we need to be ready for it,” said Jim Kaiser, Warning Coordination Meteorologist at the National Weather Service in Grand Forks.

North Dakota Governor Kelly Armstrong proclaimed the week of April 28th to May 2nd as Severe Summer Weather Awareness week. Each year, the week is chosen by the state to coordinate with the start of the summer weather season.

“The state just wants to be able to kind of bring preparedness topics to the public and make sure that people are prepared for when weather happens. Typically, the end of April, we have an awareness week for summer weather. Often we don’t get money thunderstorms before May,” said Kaiser.

This week in particular, parts of North Dakota into Minnesota are experiencing rainfall with thunderstorms. And according to Kaiser, this week helps bring awareness of what to do, especially after the transition from the winter to warmer climate.

“Always have a source of information. Whether your cell phone, your car radio, and having multiple sources right, if your cell phone dies, you want to be able to still get that information when you’re at the lake, when you’re doing activities. Then have a plan when you are in those locations, and maybe those thunderstorms are in the forecast. So you know what you’re going to do if and when the weather does turn,” said Kaiser.

You can visit the National Weather Service site for more information.