Brown County emergency officials are urging residents to get ready for severe weather as sunshine and warmer temperatures draw more people outdoors across Green Bay. The warning comes as local leaders use Severe Weather Awareness efforts to press a simple message: prepare now, not when a storm is already overhead.
Daniel Kane said the point of the week is to push the public to become more informed and more resilient to severe weather effects. Wisconsin has averaged about 30 tornadoes a year over the past decade, but that number climbed to 45 in 2024 and 39 in 2025, a run of storms that has kept preparedness at the front of local planning.
Officials are telling households to put together an at-home emergency kit and make a communication plan with family and friends that includes a safe place to meet if severe weather strikes. They also say residents should know where to go quickly: basements or lower-level rooms are safer shelter options, while mobile homes, vehicles, campers and spots under highway overpasses are among the least safe places to wait out a storm.
The push is playing out in practical ways on the ground. In De Pere, residents lined up to pick up free NOAA weather radios and emergency preparedness guides, a sign that the message is reaching people beyond county briefing rooms and into kitchens, garages and family calendars.
That urgency is tied to the season as much as the numbers. With warmer weather and sunshine bringing more people outside across Green Bay, officials want residents to think through where they would go, who they would call and what they would grab if conditions turn fast. Chrystal Woller said the health department reminds residents every year that making a plan at home is the best personal action they can take.
The next severe weather scare will not leave much time for decision-making. Brown County’s message is that the safest response is a plan already made, a kit already packed and a shelter already chosen before the sirens sound.
