Full Notification

Good afternoon,

I felt I would put out an email due to Thursday’s weather today so some of you could plan for the afternoon and evening. Keep in mind the following is relative and could change a bit.

1- We are in an extreme fire danger area due to relative humidity being low and strong winds. Tomorrow’s situation looks to be a bit rough if fires do occur. We will most likely be placed at least in a fire weather watch then possibly in a red flag warning. Will wait and see on this. THERE IS “NO” STATEWIDE GOVERNOR DECLARED BURN BAN IN EFFECT. 47 COUNTIES HAVE DECLARED THEIR OWN COUNTYWIDE BANS. GARFIELD COUNTY IS “NOT” ONE OF THEM. Some media outlets are making mis-statements and I wanted to clear this up as of the current time.

2-There is a threat for severe weather here tomorrow as a strong storm system pushes towards the area. The dry line will push through Garfield County sometime between 12 and 4 pm. The NWS is thinking that storms may fire along the I-35 corridor but because of timing issues, they feel the counties to the west should be on alert in the event all parameters come together before the dry line moves through here. All of our storm teams are aware of this and will be available in the event we need them. The main threats, and this will be the norm for the Spring season, will be large hail, damaging wind gusts to 70 mph, and isolated tornadoes. Keep in mind that there is no guarantee for any of this tomorrow but everyone should be prepared to take precautions just in case. After the dry line pushes through, the cold front will follow a few hours later shifting the winds to the northwest at 15 to 30mph. It will be much cooler on Friday. Keep up with the latest from the NWS at the following.. http://www.srh.noaa.gov/oun/enhanced.php

3- Many of you know that I keep preaching about planning and preparedness. Most people out there really don’t have any kind of plan whether it involves planning for storms, fires, burglars, etc. Thought I WOULD THROW THE BURGLAR THING IN THERE TO MAKE SURE YOU ARE PAYING ATTTENTION.  Seriously, it is very important that you make these plans and exercise them with your family. There is nothing worse, for instance, that you have a fire at your house in the middle of the night and you can’t get to your children’s room. If you have a plan in place, the kids will know to get outside and meet somewhere and then if they aren’t there, hopefully emergency services are there quickly and they can do their jobs. Kids are smarter than they act sometimes but as a parent, you need to be smarter. Practice and discuss escape routes on your property with the whole family!

Also, whether you have a storm shelter or not, register that shelter or location of where you take cover with us so in the event you are trapped, our search and rescue personnel can get to you quickly. It will save a lot of time digging through the rubble if we have a better idea where you might be. You can use this hyperlink to do this. No excuses now !!!
http://www.gcem.org/pauline.htm


PLAN, PREPARE, AND PRACTICE. We want you to stay around awhile.

Have a great day and stay safe.

Mike


Mike Honigsberg, Certified Director
Enid Emergency Management
Office-580-249-5969