Stearns County will be participating in Minnesota’s annual severe weather awareness week.

According to Stearns County Emergency Management Director Erin Hausauer severe weather awareness week is a time to remind Minnesotans about storms and other weather issues that can arise as the weather warms up.

The Emergency Management Department encourages families and businesses to participate in the awareness week by coming up with and practicing emergency plans.

This year’s severe weather awareness week will be broken up into five themes covering topics such as alerts and warnings, floods, and tornadoes.

Severe weather awareness week start on Monday, April 21st and will go through Friday, April 25th.