March 25-31 has been designated Severe Weather Safety Week, and Wednesday has been selected as Tornado Awareness Day.

Severe Weather Safety Week has been designed to educate the public about emergency warning procedures and appropriate safety precautions. It also will include testing of emergency warning systems.

On Tornado Awareness Day, tornado warning signals throughout the state of Ohio will be activated at 9:50 a.m. This test will not require any evacuations or action taken by the university or students.

Kent State, Kent and Franklin Township have an emergency outdoor warning system that provides an immediate notification of possible emergencies such as tornadoes. These alarms are tested on the first and third Wednesday of each month.

Each building on campus also has a Mass Notification System. When it is activated, it will sound an alert tone followed by information and instructions regarding the warning.

According to www.weathersafety.ohio.gov , tornado season runs from April through July, and tornadoes typically occur between 2 p.m. and 10 p.m. Tornadoes develop from severe thunderstorms and are capable of great destruction due to wind speeds of 250 mph or more.

Kent State’s Emergency Guide says when a tornado watch is issued, a person should monitor local media for information and look for approaching storms.

If a warning is issued, the emergency guide says to seek shelter immediately.

The emergency guide can be found at Kentwired.com

Ohioans can tune to WPND-AM (1620), WNIR-FM (100.1) or WKSU-FM (89.7) for weather updates and statuses of emergency situations.

Contact Caitlyn Callahan at [email protected].