Weather Service expects a dry summer for northern and central Indiana communities

He said the NWS anticipates some precipitation on Sunday in northern Indiana communities, and that’s it for the month of June.

Just because the summer will be dry, however, doesn’t mean Indiana will not see any severe thunderstorm outbreaks like earlier this week, Holsten said.

Thursday night, several southern Indiana counties, including Crawford, Harrison, Orange and Washington, were placed under a tornado warning. Grant County also faced a tornado watch earlier this week.

Though tornado season is typically thought to be in the spring, Holsten said tornadoes can happen virtually anytime between early spring and late fall in Indiana.

“Anywhere from March through November in this neck of the woods, it’s susceptible to have a tornado,” Holsten said. “This part of the country is notorious for tornado outbreaks in October and November.”

Most counties and cities sound tornado sirens when the NWS issues a tornado warning. Tornado warnings are issued when the environment is supportive of rotating thunderstorms – the type of storms that can produce tornadoes.

Grant County, however, sounds its tornado sirens any time the National Weather Service issues a severe thunderstorm warning that covers any spot in the county, according to Tom Culley, deputy director of the Grant County Emergency Management Agency. The alarms sound for 30 seconds and then automatically stop.

The sirens also sound whenever a trained weather spotter reports seeing a tornado or a funnel cloud, Culley said.

“It’s more of a warning alert to make sure you know something’s going on,” Culley said.

Culley said Grant County residents can also receive text message notifications for severe weather by registering at nixle.com or texting their zip code to 888777.

Anyone who owns a smart phone should also automatically receive severe weather notifications through Wireless Emergency Alerts.