While Santa is hard at work checking the oil on the sleigh and getting last minute packaging issues taken care of, we had better start talking about how friendly Nebraska can be in the winter. Sure, there have been some great years where the kids ran outside with their new toys and left us to sit by the tree on Christmas watching television, but then there were those other years...the ones when we couldn't find the car...or the dog...or the house.

Winter Weather Preparedness Day came and went without so much as a whimper (it was November 5th in case you are wondering) and so here at KRVN we want to just declare the month of December as Winter Weather Awareness Month. Over the next few weeks, we will talk about what you know, what you THINK you know, what you forgot, what you ignore and what you never knew.  We're gonna make you better prepared for winter.

The first step in being prepared for winter is knowing what winter actually IS. Vocabulary plays a big role in education. If you don't understand what we are saying on the radio, you cannot be prepared for when it hits.

Familiarize yourself with these terms to help identify a winter storm hazard:

Freezing Rain
Rain that freezes when it hits the ground, creating a coating of ice on roads, walkways, trees, and power lines.

Sleet
Rain that turns to ice pellets before reaching the ground. Sleet also causes moisture on roads to freeze and become slippery.

Winter Storm Watch
A winter storm is possible in your area. Tune in to NOAA Weather Radio, commercial radio, or television for more information.

Winter Storm Warning
A winter storm is occurring or will soon occur in your area.

Blizzard Warning
Sustained winds or frequent gusts to 35 miles per hour or greater and considerable amounts of falling or blowing snow (reducing visibility to less than a quarter mile) are expected to prevail for a period of three hours or longer.

Frost/Freeze Warning
Below freezing temperatures are expected.
 

Now that you know the WORDS, it is time to start being smarter.

Last weekend my daughter had an accident in her truck. She was between Kearney and Gibbon out on Highway 30.  If you remember the weather last weekend, we had a wicked wind that started to blow at about 10 o'clock in the morning. My daughter had left for Kearney early that morning, checking the forecast temp which was actually not that bad! Not aware that we were going to have the wind or that she was going to have an accident, she left home with nothing but a sweatshirt on and gym shorts.

As you can imagine, she was quite cold by the time I arrived at the scene. She had stood next to the vehicle speaking to the police for 20 minutes in shorts and a sweatshirt. 20 minutes outside she had not planned on.

Folks, tomorrow when you wake up, take a look at the expected temperatures and then check the forecast for wind. Don't look at the morning forecast, look at the DAY forecast. This past Black Friday we saw COUNTLESS people running in and out of warm cars and warm stores with no jackets at all! It made me wonder how many had somehting in their car if suddenly their schedule was drastically changed.

What's in your car? Maybe you don't need gloves and a hat and a scarf right now, but is there on in your car just in case? Do you have a blanket in the car?

In our next lesson, we'll talk more about how prepared you are to journey Nebraska roads this winter...