Good Friday morning!!

We are going to be a bit cooler but it will still feel pretty steamy out there so continue to stay aware of conditions and pace yourself while outdoors. The reason I continue to harp about this is because I don’t want anyone to have those heat issues whether it be exhaustion or stroke. I have seen both and experienced the first one to a low degree. It will affect you for many years so again, PACE YOURSELF and stay hydrated. The winds will be fairly light so keep that in mind too. Weekend highs will be around 85-90 degrees and overnight lows in the 70’s. Winds will average around 5-10 mph.

As stated a few weeks ago, we have updated our GCEM.ORG website. We are tweaking several areas and will continue to do so as documents are updated. We hope to have this accomplished by the middle of next week. We will be adding several new features along with a different radar and weather view which will include information from the Oklahoma Mesonet. I feel this will enhance the weather side of the site. Once we get the gcem.org website where it needs to be, I will be coordinating with City of Enid website folks and updating the emergency management part of that website. Never a dull moment.

Monday, August 7th at 12 noon we will conduct a storm siren test. We have 41 sirens here in Enid and not enough personnel to let us know if a siren in any particular area is working properly. That said, MARK YOUR CALENDAR, check with your neighbors and see who may be around that day and have them let us know whether the siren near them worked properly. We have an aging system and some sirens are slowly giving up. Parts are hard to come by on the old thunderbolts and we eventually will have to replace them. No budget for that yet!! I would ask that when we test these on the 7th, email me at either of the following email addresses and let me know that status. Here they are mhonigsberg@enid.org or mike.honigsberg@gcem.org  Either one will get your message to me along with if you have our GARFIELD COUNTY EM app, send me a DAMAGE REPORT with that information.

Storm sirens are OUTDOOR WARNING DEVICES. If you happen to live near one, you may hear it while in your home or business. When it’s raining hard, the wind is blowing , and thunder is loud, you will most likely NOT HEAR them in your home or business. Please keep this in mind. I will have more information on possible additional testing in future emails. Feel free to comment back and let me know your thoughts. Again, these are OUTDOOR devices.

Finally, I stated something similar a few weeks ago concerning apps and anything you rely on that is on your phone. Everything on your phone is dependent either on Wi-Fi, the internet, or your phone carrier and their systems. Any one of which if there is a glitch in the system somewhere, you may not get a warning, a text, an email, or whatever. Remember this when we are under the gun, so to speak, for an accident, a weather warning, or whatever. As we unfortunately become more technologically advanced, the easier it is for things to go wrong. Don’t place blame on any particular system but understand why that information never reached you. Where were you? What type of building were you in? How strong was your signal. And many more questions. Radio, phone, over the air television, and many other systems have limitations. Always remember that. When we, them or whomever hits send, it’s out of our hands.

Have a Super Weekend!!

MIKE