Capital City earns Weather Service’s StormReady designation

JACKSON — The Capital City is the newest Mississippi community to earn the National Weather Service’s StormReady designation.

Mississippi now has 24 counties, 15 communities, four state universities and three government sites designated as StormReady.

StormReady is a nationwide program of the National Weather Service that helps communities protect their citizens during severe weather and encourages communities to take a proactive approach to improving local hazardous weather operations.

To be recognized as StormReady, a community must: establish a 24-hour warning point and emergency operations center; have multiple ways 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; and, develop a formal hazardous weather plan, which includes training severe weather spotters and holding emergency exercises.