Officials have moved the statewide tornado drill, originally scheduled for this morning, to Friday at 9 a.m.

The drill was moved due to the potential for inclement weather that would require the attention of the National Weather Service office in Peachtree City, which will sound the alert to start the drill.

Fayette residents may also hear the county’s severe weather warning sirens go off around 9 a.m. as well, which is a planned part of the drill.

The drill will be kicked off by a trigger of the weather service’s routine weekly test to signal the beginning of the exercise. Because that may not create an audible tone on NOAA weather radios, participants are urged to “exercise their plans and capabilities at 9:00 AM or so, whether they hear the alarm tone or not.”

Advice from the Georgia Emergency Management Agency follows:

“For drill purposes, please assume that a Tornado Watch is in effect when school begins and do what your emergency plan specifies during a Tornado Watch. At 9:00 a.m., the NWS will issue a Required Weekly Test (RWT) on NOAA Weather Radio. The RWT will be the Tornado Warning for the drill.
“To determine when the drill begins, you must monitor the display screen on your NOAA Weather Radio to see the RWT scroll. Some NOAA Weathe Radio models sound a tone alert for a RWT, other models do not. If your Weather Radio receiver does not sound a tone alert for a RWT, proceed with the drill at 9:00 a.m. Students and staff should seek shelter immediately. There will be no all-clear message when the drill concludes at 9:30 a.m.”