The National Weather Service has forecast “scattered strong to severe thunderstorms” as a possibility for Wednesday, March 11 as the tumultuous spring weather season continues.

And Warren County public safety officials want county residents to be aware of the ways they can receive storm-related notifications and updates.

“To be clear, the all hazard sirens are up 100%,” McCorrison said. “NOAA weather radios are up and WEA alerts still work on cell phones.”

WEA, or Wireless Emergency Alerts, allow public safety agencies to issue geographically targeted, text-like messages regarding imminent threats, according to the Federal Communications Commission.

NOAA weather radios are widely available for less than $50.

Weather-related notifications are a particular challenge now as some storm notification systems at the state and federal level are not currently operational.

“Moving into storm season we are very limited in our ability to augment the NWS (National Weather Service) in alerting the public.” Public Safety Director Ken McCorrison said.

According to the state, the CodeRED alert system through readypa.org, utilized by 911 and the public to provide storm notices, was taken offline by a cyber attack last year and is still not operational.

Additionally, the FEMA app is currently down to funding-related issues pertaining to the Department of Homeland Security.