FOX 17 – Spring is here and warmer weather this week means the potential for severe weather.
Starting Friday, April 7, Kent, Ottawa and other Michigan counties will begin their monthly siren tests. The sirens will sound for anywhere between one and three minutes. The tests are on the first Friday of every month, at Noon, until November.
Kent County officials say that there were 16 tornadoes confirmed in Michigan last year, which is just slightly higher than average, which is 15. The National Weather Service has reported that 2017 has started out way ahead of schedule for thenumber of tornadoes in the U.S. and Michigan has already seen fourtornadoes in 2017 from a February 28 outbreak.
Kent County officials say that if you don’t hear sirens on April 7 at noon, you should contact your local township or city office. Also, some Michigan communities are testing their alerts on Wednesday, April 19 at 1:00pm, but Kent and Ottawa are doing theirs on April 7.
The forecast for Friday in West Michigan is for calm weather conditions, so when you hear the sirens, there will be no cause for alarm.
