After a tornado watch in Alachua County on Wednesday morning, the National Weather Service honored UF as a StormReady school.
The university worked for years to efficiently receive and transmit alerts for severe weather to the Gator community, said Angie Enyedi, a meteorologist with the NWS in Jacksonville, Florida.
During the Spring Break Safety Fair, Enyedi awarded university officials with a StormReady plaque. The university’s official designation occurred at the end of last year, but the ceremony was held in conjunction with this year’s Florida Severe Weather Awareness Week.
University Police Chief Linda Stump-Kurnick, who is also the assistant vice president of public and environmental safety, posed for a picture with the plaque.
She said it’s a strong symbol of UF’s partnership with the NWS on both an educational level and a reactive level.
StormReady is a nationwide program that audits universities, businesses and sometimes counties to gauge their preparedness for severe weather, Enyedi said.
Florida State University and the University of Central Florida have already received the designation, Enyedi said, but UF’s certification is the first of its kind in Northeast Florida.
Kenneth Allen, the director of emergency management at UF, said staff and faculty need to stay alert.
“I would encourage everybody at the University of Florida – as this week demonstrates – to kind of be weather aware, to understand the weather hazards we face, make sure they have a good way to receive warnings,” he said.
Contact Martin Vassolo at mvassolo@alligator.org and follow him on Twitter @martindvassolo.
