Northland Alert Notifies Duluth Area Residents of Snow Emergencies + More
As weather patterns get more severe, the City of Duluth is expecting to declare it's first snow emergency in its history this winter. Getting this information can be crucial for Duluth area residents and now there is a way to stay on top of snow emergencies and more.
Duluth officials announced that all residents can sign up for Northland Alert and add snow emergencies to their notifications. Northland Alert is a partnership between the City of Duluth and St. Louis County. Other cities, including Hermantown, Hibbing, and Virginia, also partner on the program.
Once they sign up for the service, residents in each City can get notified of different alerts determined by each city and weather alerts that affect the County.
According to the City, Duluth residents have the chance to opt-in to receive notifications for when a snow emergency is declared by choosing to get a text message, phone call, an email, or all three. When a snow emergency is declared, the City will issue a press release, post the declaration on its social media channels, and issue a Northland Alert.
Residents who sign up for Northland Alerts have the opportunity to select notifications, including natural gas and water outages, snow emergency alerts, and public safety
notifications.
“Northland Alert is an important tool that the City has partnered with St. Louis County on for the last few years,” Public Works and Utilities Director Jim Benning said. “With the high probability of a snow emergency being declared for the first time this year, this is an easy way for residents and visitors to be notified as soon as we announce a snow emergency by receiving a text, email, or phone call.”
The City adds that if you're one of the 4,600 people who already receive Northland Alerts, you'll need to go back into your account and add snow emergency notifications to the alerts you receive.
Since adding the snow emergency notification option, 300 Duluthians have reportedly signed up to receive notifications, and the hope is that number grows.
On a related note, this summer, the City of Duluth installed over 2,300 snow emergency signs, creating snow emergency routes within the City. The signage of the routes allows City officials to declare a snow emergency.