Menominee County residents urged to prepare for severe spring storms

Storms in Wisconsin can build fast, and Menominee County households are being urged to use Severe Weather Awareness Week to lock in shelter plans before the next warning hits. The Menominee Indian Tribe of Wisconsin put the campaign on its homepage and directed residents to Wireless Emergency Alerts and Nixle, a sign that the most immediate risk is not abstract weather talk but the chance of losing power, cell service or safe travel in the middle of a fast-moving storm.

That message carries extra weight in Keshena, Neopit, Zoar and the surrounding reservation communities, where rural roads, scattered housing and outages can make a storm harder to ride out than it would be in a larger city. The practical takeaway is simple: know where to shelter, make sure more than one alert source is turned on, and check that phones, chargers and communication plans are ready before the weather turns.

The statewide campaign ran April 13 through April 17, and the tornado drills are set for Thursday, April 16, at 1:45 p.m. and 6:45 p.m. Wisconsin Emergency Management said storms can develop quickly and with little warning, while the National Weather Service says Wisconsin averages 23 tornadoes a year. Most strike from mid-afternoon into early evening, especially around 6 to 7 p.m., and June brings the highest number of documented tornadoes.

Those numbers make the drill timing more than symbolic. The average Wisconsin tornado lasts 7 to 10 minutes, travels 4 to 6 miles and is about 120 yards wide, a brief but destructive window that can overwhelm anyone who waits too long to act. Wisconsin recorded 39 tornadoes in 2025, and the state’s record was 62 in 2005.

Menominee County has felt that danger before. An F3 tornado crossed into the county near Legend Lake on April 27, 1984, damaging dozens of homes and cabins along with barns, garages, sheds and several hundred acres of forest. County officials also said an F-1 tornado swept through portions of Menominee County on July 23, 2025, when Menominee County Dispatch activated the siren system as storm danger became clear.

Long-term local data show severe weather is not frequent, but it remains a real threat. Menominee County averages about 0.9 severe-weather days a year since 2010, down 38% from the 1990s, yet the county still has a history of damaging wind, tornado and flash-flood conditions. The tribe’s use of Nixle for geographically targeted emergency alerts, including outages, evacuations, floods, fires and contamination incidents, gives residents another warning layer at a time when elders, mobile-home residents and families on remote roads can least afford to be caught without one.