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This week is Severe Weather Awareness Week, and the Department of Public Safety and the National Weather Service are promoting information to the public about how to be safe in severe weather and what people can do to be prepared in case of an emergency. 

According to the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources, Minnesota experiences an average of 29 tornadoes per year, but in 2021 the state experienced 64, including 22 on Dec. 15 alone. The year 2010 had the most tornadoes on record with 113. In both of these years, tornadoes brought devastation to Freeborn County.

We encourage families, schools and businesses to take this week as an opportunity to assess your own emergency preparedness plans. See what you can do to make them stronger, and make sure everyone in your family, workplace or school understands the plans. 

Also check with the places your family spends time, such as churches, schools, stores and sports facilities to see what their plans are. Talk about what your family would do if you were not together during the disaster.

Statewide tornado drills will take place at 1:45 and 6:45 p.m. Thursday — the first for schools and businesses and the second for families and additional workers in the evening. 

Though technically Minnesota’s severe weather season has not yet begun, we all know that severe weather can strike at any time, as was evidenced by the tornadoes that struck the area in December.