This week marks Severe Weather Awareness Week in central Georgia. Many people in the area ask why we observe severe weather awareness week in February. It's a simple answer - not only is severe weather possible year round, but the prime opportunity for severe weather occurs in the Spring and Summer months, which are just a few weeks away. Now is the time to prepare.

Severe Weather Awareness Week provides a great chance to learn about severe weather, actions to take when severe weather strikes and review your families preparedness plan.

Here is the week's schedule:

Monday - Family Preparedness
Tuesday - Thunderstorm Safety
Wednesday - Tornado Safety (Tornado Drill)
Thursday - Lightning Safety
Friday - Flooding

The week's highlight will be a region-wide tornado drill on Wednesday, February 6th at 9 a.m. A special test message will be issued by the National Weather Service and can be used to test your preparedness and your alert device.

As noted above, Tuesday's topic is Thunderstorm Safety.

In central Georgia, the biggest threats from thunderstorms are strong, and potentially damaging, winds and large hail. Reports of large hail peak in April while damaging winds tend to peak in July.

Part of thunderstorm safety is knowing when to expect storms. In addition to watching our team of meteorologists here at WGXA, you should also follow our forecasts for information on watches and warnings when they are issued. Knowing the difference between watches and warnings is critical.

A watch is issued when conditions are favorable for severe weather to develop. Watches are usually issued a few hours in advance of the severe threat in order to give you advanced notice. Watches will typically cover many counties at once.

A warning is issued when severe weather is occurring. When placed under a warning, you should take action to protect life and property. A warning will typically last 30 to 45 minutes and include a smaller area, usually based on very specific counties that a storm is currently threatening.

You should strongly consider purchasing a NOAA Weather Radio so that you will have a way to be notified immediately when watches and warnings are issued. Through a partnership with WGXA and Midland Weather Radios, you can purchase a great NOAA Weather Radio at any Walgreen's stores in central Georgia.

Once a storm is threatening, if you are inside, you should seek shelter in an interior room or basement and work to stay away from windows. While a severe storm may not always produce a tornado, the safety tips are similar since severe storms can down large limbs and trees.

If you find yourself outside when a storm threatens the area, you should work hard to seek shelter in a sturdy structure.

Not all thunderstorms are severe, but all thunderstorms are dangerous. For a storm to be classified as 'Severe', it must produce winds in excess of 57 miles per hour and hail greater than 1 inch in diameter. If these conditions are not met, a warning will not be issued. Having said that, all thunderstorms are dangerous because they produce lightning, which in itself, does not make a storm severe. Follow this rule: "When thunder roars, go indoors!" Even though you may not be able to see lightning, if you can hear thunder, you are close enough to be struck.

Following these rules will keep you safe when severe weather threatens.

Fore more information on Thunderstorm Safety, consider visiting this link: http://www.srh.noaa.gov/ffc/?n=swaw_thunder

We'll discuss tornado safety on Wednesday.