Andover, KS Testing New Warning System

[John Hudson]

Happened to stumble across this item from the Topeka Capital -Journal. WeatherData systems of Wichita is going to be testing a system called SelectWarn in Andover:
http://cjonline.com/stories/122906/bre_andover.shtml

John
www.skywatch7.com

 

[Paul Austin]

That's pretty cool. I just wish more counties in Florida, or at least more of the cities, actually had tornado sirens. I realize we are not in "Tornado Alley" and most Florida tornados are weak, but strong tornados do occur here (an F3 every few years), and lives/property have certainly been impacted/lost.

The problem here is that there is such a respect for hurricanes and so many run-of-the-mill waterspouts, that Floridians typically have a strong misperception of the destructive nature of even F1-F2 rated tornados. The reaction I often get from people when they learn of my passion is "why would you go to the plains to chase such small, insignificant storms when you have right here the grandaddies, hurricanes, with winds topping 150 mph?" Not to dismiss the broadness and scope of hurricane damage and its propensity to affect a much larger population, but locally, a strong tornado trumps a hurricane's wind damage easily. I know I'm ignoring flooding rains and storm surge here, but it's beside the point.

Of course, if sirens were installed here today, I don't think anyone would know what to do, and few people have basements here anyway. People would probably go outside en masse, get in their cars, and drive to find where the noise was coming from. Or, more probably, they would tie up the emergency lines trying to get an answer to what the sirens were blaring for.

For places like Andover, I hope the new system works out well.