Florida Tech Earns ‘StormReady’ Status from National Weather Service
Designation an Indication of University’s
Preparation for Severe Weather
MELBOURNE, FLA. — Florida Tech has earned the National Weather Service’s StormReady designation, an indication of the university’s outstanding preparation for severe weather.
The program encourages communities to take a new, proactive approach to improving local hazardous weather operations by providing emergency managers with clear-cut guidelines on how to improve their hazardous weather operations.
Being StormReady means Florida Tech is better prepared to save lives from the onslaught of severe weather through advanced planning, education and awareness, the National Weather Service noted. To be officially StormReady, a community must:
- Establish a 24-hour warning point and emergency operations center
- Have more than one way to receive severe weather warnings and forecasts and to alert the public
- Create a system that monitors weather conditions locally
- Promote the importance of public readiness through community seminars
- Develop a formal hazardous weather plan, which includes training severe weather spotters and holding emergency exercises
“This success is clearly a result of the vision, leadership, hard work and commitment by you and your Department of Security staff,” David Sharp, meteorologist-in-charge, and Scott Spratt, warning coordination meteorologist, at the National Weather Service office in Melbourne said in a letter to Security Director Frank Iannone announcing Florida Tech’s achievement. “FIT students and faculty should take great pride in being part of a university that has achieved this recognition.”
Florida Tech is the 22nd university in Florida to achieve StormReady status. Other StormReady organizations on the Space Coast include Brevard County, Kennedy Space Center and the city of Indian Harbor Beach.
Learn more about the StormReady program in Florida at https://www.weather.gov/stormready/fl-sr.
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