Be alert; get text alerts for bad weather

Text alerts that warn of severe weather can give people precious advance notice. Consider adding them to the other weather warnings you monitor when storms threaten.

Some severe storms strike with little warning. The more advance notice options that people can avail themselves of, the better.

Television, radio stations and weather radios are useful to monitor when severe weather threatens. Watching the skies and listening for warning sirens are additional ways to keep current about changing conditions.

So is the text alert system offered through Sauk Valley Media’s website.

On the evening of June 29, a severe storm hit the Dixon area. Dixon Police Chief Danny Langloss, who doubles as the city’s Civil Defense director, wrote a guest column last week that described how the city’s weather warning system functioned during the storm.

Langloss wrote about how he was alerted to changing conditions through SVM text alerts sent to his cellphone. The first alert told of a thunderstorm warning. The second alert told of a tornado warning.

Langloss had that knowledge in his arsenal of information as decisions were made.

After the experience, the chief reminded the public that the warning sirens are only for tornadoes. He encouraged residents and businesses to buy NOAA weather radios to receive information about dangerous weather.

“In addition, I suggest you register for the saukvalley.com text alert system. You can customize what you want to receive, and notification is immediate,” Langloss wrote.

We second the motion.

In Lee County, about 2,600 people already are signed up to receive text alerts for severe weather warnings. Whiteside County has about 2,800 signed up, followed by Ogle with about 900, Carroll with about 300, and Bureau with about 200.

We encourage people to heed Langloss’ advice: go to saukvalley.com, click on the “txtAlerts” link at the top of the page, sign up, and give yourselves more time to seek shelter from the storm.