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Nobody can stop weather from happening, Eric Seymour pointed out Tuesday. He works as a warning coordination meteorologist with the National Weather Service. While you can’t stop a storm, you can have an emergency plan in place on how to react. And that’s why Seymour was at the Prince Edward County board of supervisors meeting on Tuesday, May 13, honoring the county, the Town of Farmville, Longwood University and Hampden-Sydney College for completing the NWS StormReady program. 

“The StormReady program is designed to help localities get themselves ready for when severe weather occurs,” Seymour explained. “We know we can’t stop weather when it’s coming. Weather is going to do what it’s going to do. But we can do things to help mitigate the damage that occurs.” 

He added that emergency officials from the town, county and two schools have been working with the National Weather Service to get their plans in place. The idea is to make sure that when something happens, they’re not trying to figure out what to do, they know what they’re going to do. 

Prince Edward and the StormReady program 

Seymour explained the StormReady program is supposed to help improve the timeliness and effectiveness of hazardous weather warnings. The National Weather Service also takes a look at the emergency program and offer recommendations on how to improve the area’s hazardous weather operations. The two schools, along with Prince Edward County and the Town of Farmville, started their application in October 2024. 

There’s a few things a community has to do before being certified as StormReady. First, they have to set up a 24-hour warning point and operations center. Second, you need to have more than one way for residents to get severe weather warnings and forecasts. Third, you have to create a system that monitors weather conditions locally. Fourth, you have to develop a hazardous weather plan, including training weather spotters and holding emergency exercises. Finally, you have to encourage people to be prepared through community seminars. The schools, county and town completed all that work and so on Tuesday, they were recognized for their efforts by Seymour and the National Weather Service.