No, the Entire State of Kentucky Wasn’t Under a Tornado Warning

When I looked up and saw counties across the entire state of Kentucky being outlined in red a little after 9 a.m., I thought, there is no severe weather in the Bluegrass State today. Then I thought, it is probably their statewide tornado drill. That was the case.

Three offices participated in the drill this morning, including Paducah, Louisville, Jackson KY , Charleston WV and Wilmington OH. A test Tornado Warning has sent out by Louisville, Charleston, Jackson and Paducah. Wilmington (Cincinnati) sent out a Special Weather Statement.

Because the code in the warning was set to test, some TV station crawl systems did not carry the warning, but that is how the drill was done in past years, the NWS in Louisville said.

The purpose of a tornado drill of course is to make sure everyone can get the warning, so it requires lots of coordination between broadcasters, emergency management and the NWS.

Statewide tornado drills used to be done in Alabama as part of severe weather awareness week. That practice was stopped several years ago.

It seems we get plenty of practice from real events anyway! One of those events will occur tonight. We will have frequent posts throughout the day. The new SPC severe weather outlook will be out shortly and we will have an update.

Category: Headlines