MADISON, Wis. — Wisconsin Emergency Management and the National Weather Service are teaming up for a tornado drill across Wisconsin on Thursday, but sirens won’t sound everywhere.
Sirens in parts of the state sounded at 1:45 p.m. and are set to do so again at 6:45 p.m.
The agencies are encouraging people to participate and act as if the drill was a real tornado warning.
Sirens did not sound Thursday afternoon in at least parts of Dane County, which J. McClellan from the county’s emergency management department said was intentional.
The sirens, he said, are designed to get people to check other sources — alerts on their phones or from local broadcasters, for example — but since the National Weather Service did not send emergency alerts, information would not be as readily available about why the sirens were sounding.
In addition, Dane County tested its sirens at noon on Wednesday as part of its regular test, which McClellan said was successful.
Tornadoes are not unusual in Wisconsin; 23 happen on average each year across the state. Last year, 41 tornadoes touched down in the state.
While twisters usually touch down during the spring and summer months, they are not limited to that time period. In mid-December, multiple tornadoes touched down in the state, becoming the latest twisters ever for a calendar year in Wisconsin.
The state has already recorded one tornado — an EF-1 that hit an area south of Stoughton last month — so far in 2022.
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