StormReady is a National Weather Service Program that started in 1999. The program was designed to help communities with the communication and safety skills needed to save lives and property during severe weather. For more information about the StormReady Program in general, you can visit the StormReady website here.

The National Weather Service Office in Wilmington, NC has an area of responsibility running from southeastern North Carolina to northeastern South Carolina.  Most of these counties and their county seats have already been recognized as StormReady.

 The Wilmington, NC Office is now  launching an ambitious campaign to extend this level of weather-readiness to all of the schools within its area of responsibility. There is perhaps no greater potential weather disaster than one that impacts a school full of children. In much the same way that StormReady saved the lives of 50 movie goers in a single Ohio theater during a tornado outbreak (read more here), the StormReady for Schools program could save the lives of dozens or even hundreds of students.

Tornado damage to a classroom in Xenia, Ohio (Photo Courtesy Tim Marshall)

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