National Weather Service - Lincoln encourages everyone to be severe weather prepared
Annual Statewide Tornado Drill will be held at 10:00 am CST on Tuesday March 1st.

[March 03, 2016]   LINCOLN - During the past year, the state of Illinois encountered 69 tornadoes, hundreds of reports of wind damage and large hail, and two MAJOR flood events (one from June into July, and the other from late December into January). These high impact severe weather events resulted in 18 fatalities across the state - 14 of which were a result of the devastating floods.

NOAA puts a lot of emphasis on tornado safety, and rightly so, since Illinois ranks 5th in the nation for the most tornadoes per square mile. However, we need to put just as much emphasis on the dangers of flooding, lightning, and severe thunderstorm wind gusts.

As a reminder, the Annual Statewide Tornado Drill will be held at 10:00 am CST on Tuesday March 1st. The NWS will issue an actual Tornado Warning, with TEST wording throughout the warning, for every county in the state to test the Emergency Alert System (EAS). In the event of hazardous weather in the state on March 1st, the test will then be postponed until Wednesday March 2nd at 10:00 am CST.

2016 Severe Weather Fact Sheet to print and share  pdf

[Chris Miller, Warning Coordination Meteorologist, National Weather Service]