SHEBOYGAN — A Tornado Warning caused confusion in Southeast Wisconsin when the National Weather Service mistakenly sent it out as an “emergency alert” Monday morning.
The National Weather Service sent the alert out as part of Severe Weather Preparedness Week.
The National Weather Service issued this statement:
“A tornado warning was issued by NWS Sullivan in preparation for a statewide severe weather drill on April 18.
The intent was to issue a test tornado warning. The wording in the warning and in the public information statement issued indicated that it was a test tornado warning.
Unfortunately, we issued this warning with a vtec code of “O” for operational instead of “T” for text. The warning did not go to NOAA weather radio, but it did go out as a live tornado warning through most of the digital vendor services.
There was no threat of a tornado, and we apologize for the confusion and inconvenience that this caused.”
The Commercial Mobile Alert System is a partnership between the Federal Emergency Management Agency, the Federal Communication Commission and the cell phone industry. It is intended to enhance public safety by complementing the Emergency Alert System that sends warnings via television and radio.
The system is expected to be used most often by the National Weather Service to alert residents of dangerous weather.
