Articles
Weather Monitoring
MIT Emergency Management (EM) has received several inquiries about what efforts the Institute takes to monitor and respond to potentially hazardous weather. To ensure the Institute remains operational and for the safety of our community members, the below efforts and actions are taken, as appropriate:
- EM continually receives and reviews multiple weather forecasts from both official agencies, such as the National Weather Service (NWS) Boston, as well as paid local weather monitoring services
- EM monitors for official watches, warnings, and/or recommendations made by the NWS or other appropriate entities, such as Massachusetts Emergency Management Agency (MEMA)
- EM participates in state-wide MEMA conference call briefings
- EM informs the community of the weather event’s potential impacts and suggested actions through Twitter posts
- EM communicates with Facilities about potential mitigation efforts and to offer support for their planned response
- If the anticipated conditions may be impactful, EM writes Situational Reports (SitReps) to share with senior leadership and other appropriate stakeholders, such as the MIT Closure Advisory Team (CAT)
- If the anticipated conditions may be hazardous, EM activates the CAT to discuss possible operational status changes. Based on the circumstances, the CAT will make a final recommendation to senior leadership. If any status change is approved, the CAT coordinates and communicates those changes to the community via MIT Alert messages and the Emergency Information Page (emergency.mit.net)
- If forecasted weather becomes severe or there is unexpected extreme weather, EM may activate the Emergency Notification Team (ENT) to send an MIT Alert to notify the community and provide suggested protective actions
As always, if you have any questions or feedback, please contact us at em-staff@mit.edu or 617-452-4368.