With snow and rain in the forecast for tomorrow, the statewide celebration of severe weather week is seeing some changes.

Due to the threat of inclement weather, the annual tornado drill has been postponed until Thursday at 9 a.m.

The South Carolina Emergency Management Division (SCEMD) jointly sponsors the drill with the National Weather Service as part of South Carolina Severe Weather Awareness Week.

Public schools, state and local emergency management, the South Carolina Broadcaster’s Association, and others will participate in this annual event. The purpose of the drill is to test communication systems and safety procedures.

Locally, emergency personnel will be testing its systems and sounding fire sirens.

South Carolina has received a waiver from the Federal Communications Commission to use the tornado warning product on NOAA tone-alert weather radio when the drill is conducted.

During the drill, the National Weather Service will use a real-event code, TOR. The “TOR” code will activate tone-alert weather radios that are set to receive tornado warnings, and those radios will broadcast the exercise message. In the past, the Weather Service has used a code specifically designed for tests, but the test code does not activate the audio alarms on all radios.