Spencer, IA (KICD)—Wednesday is the third day of Severe Weather Awareness Week in Iowa and will focus on the main thing many think of when it comes to severe storms…tornadoes.

We know tornadoes can be strong and deadly, but we are also continuing to learn more about how they form including the fact that they can occur in a number of different of environments. Northwest Iowa learned there really is no safe time of year in which tornadoes cannot occur with the December 2021 outbreak that led to more than half a dozen local touchdowns, but Meteorologist T.J. Gunkel from the National Weather Service in the Quad Cities further proved this when he had to issue warnings for a tornadic supercell over Southeast Iowa in mid-January.

Many communities will be sounding outdoor warning sirens at ten o’clock Wednesday morning and families and businesses are encouraged to practice their safety plan as part of the Statewide Tornado Drill. We at the Spencer Radio Group will also be doing a brief cut-in to programming at that time and doing a weekly test of the Emergency Alert System.

Gunkel told KICD News at the Severe Storms and Doppler Radar Conference last week January tornadoes are extremely rare in Iowa considering this was the first occurrence in 56 years.