Davenport, IA – Officials say that the new change will activate an alert system for some types of storms.
According to the statement, if a destructive Severe Thunderstorm Warning is issued, this will activate a Wireless Emergency Alert on smartphones in the warned area.
Starting August 2, there will also be a breakdown of the damage threat that will help distinguish between high-impact and low-impact events.
Officials say that the categories are baseline, considerable and destructive.
It’s based on the size of hail and the forecasted wind speed.
Destructive storms would be those with baseball sized hail or 80 mile per hour winds possible.
This story will be updated when new information is available.