By WIBW's Sarah Motter
COFFEY CO., Kan. (WIBW) - The National Weather Service will make changes to its Severe Thunderstorm Warning alerts.
Coffey Co. Emergency Management says the National Weather Service will make changes to its Severe Thunderstorm Warning alerts on July 28.
According to CCEM, any warning that includes expected winds of 80 miles-per-hour or greater or baseball size hail or larger will trigger the Weather Emergency Alert for the impacted area once.
For residents, CCEM said this means the warning area expected to be impacted by the severe weather will get an emergency alert on their cell phone, regardless of whether they signed up for the Coffey Co. Public Notification System. It said this would be similar to the flood messages that residents receive during flash floods.
According to CCEM, a WEA is a free text emergency message that agencies can broadcast from cell towers to any enabled mobile device in a local area. It said residents do not subscribe to receive these messages as they are automatically sent. It said there is an option to opt out of messages, but it is not recommended.