St. Joseph residents will soon see new signs up around town identifying the city as as National Weather Service Storm Ready Community.

“What it means is we’re somewhat prepared as a community if we have Tornadoes, or severe weather come up,” said St. Joseph Fire Department Captain George Albert. “A lot of it deals with our notification.  How we notify people about the weather, educating the public on storms and how to be prepared for those.”

This year the city applied for the recognition with the National Weather Service.  Albert said officials with the National Weather Service reviewed the city’s severe response plan and equipment before approving the city as a Storm Ready Community.

“If we actually have a tornado, weather warnings and watches that come in and we’ve told you to take cover that’s the biggest thing,” said Albert.

Even with the recognition the city is continuing to make improvements to its weather system with the addition of a new tornado siren.

“It’s being donated to us and it’s going to add into the coverage of our area,” said Albert.

He said the new siren has been installed near the area of Riverside Road and 36 Highway and should be fully operational in a matter of weeks. In total the City of St. Joseph now has 22 tornado sirens and two private sirens for use in the event of an emergency.

Albert said the Storm Ready Community signs will be installed within the next three weeks.