Cities removing tornado sirens in favor of texts, media and Internet warnings

[rdale]

Actually that's not quite true, tornado warnings will interrupt other programming in progress instantly. But point is the same. NWR usage is too low to be relevant.

 

[Mike Johnston]

That's not how it started, but when people started saying that this was a bad decision, and the community will regret it, blah blah that's what it turned into.



Ehh, that would be a quick discussion: Sirens are useful only in areas where outdoor notification is otherwise hard to do. Only useful when local alerting agencies use them correctly. End of discussion

Uhh, I'm not sure what you are talking about. I fail to see one single post critical of the Antigo decision. If a very small community can't afford to maintain their 2 sirens (or install a third one), then that's their decision. But, to say that should be some kind of model guidance for other communities is a different argument altogether.

 

[rdale]

Several posters here (and many on the FB thread) expressed their displeasure with this decision.

Nobody said that the Antigo decision is a "model" for other communities. It's simply a common sense one. If you don't have the money for sirens, tornadoes are a very very small risk in your area, and the public doesn't want them - then get rid of them. That's a good model

 

[Joey Ketcham]

Brown cows are lovely.

Great day.

 

[Brian R]

I think a weather radio along with broadcast media is the way to go. we have had 2 short lived tornado spin ups in the skokie illinois area in the past 2 years and not once were the sirens activated.... not only were they not activated, you could not get a response from the 911 center to report the sighting so they could be activated..... if they are not going to use them why have them....

 

[rdale]

Unfortunately weather radios alert a far greater area than is under the warning, so suffer from unneeded false alarm rates.

 

[Rob H]

I just had a crazy idea - Google Maps alerts people if they're in a tornado warning, why can't Facebook and Twitter do the same?

 

[rdale]

I'd bet the infrastructure needed to actively monitor every user's location would far exceed the monetary value in doing so. Realize that the number of FB and Twitter users is exponentially larger than the number of GMaps users at a given time. It's not cost effective.

There are many free apps for alerting already - if people aren't taking the time to download those, they aren't really that interested. And also remember that every newer phone is automatically getting Tornado Warnings based their cell location, and those are really the only important convective warnings the public needs or cares about.

 

[Rob H]

You wouldn't track each user, although they already do that for specialized advertising. Maybe track it at a state level, and then just send an event to every user, and if that user's client determined that it matched the criteria, a small chunk of script on the page would display a warning. Cost would be comparatively minimal, but Facebook doesn't really seem to be a team player unfortunately. I'm also guessing the problems with browser-based location services and the lack of demand are why this hasn't been done. Still, kudos to Google for doing it.

 

[TJKLECKNER]

There are many free apps for alerting already - if people aren't taking the time to download those, they aren't really that interested. And also remember that every newer phone is automatically getting Tornado Warnings based their cell location, and those are really the only important convective warnings the public needs or cares about.

Funny thing is, too many people are more concerned about Candy Crush and Words with friends to take the time to download and configure a weather alert app. (in all seriousness, I tell everyone I run into to get "Simple Weather Alert" for free)

 

[rdale]

You wouldn't track each user, although they already do that for specialized advertising. Maybe track it at a state level, and then just send an event to every user, and if that user's client determined that it matched the criteria, a small chunk of script on the page would display a warning. Cost would be comparatively minimal, but Facebook doesn't really seem to be a team player unfortunately. I'm also guessing the problems with browser-based location services and the lack of demand are why this hasn't been done. Still, kudos to Google for doing it.

I see where you're going, but again that requires users to be running the app all the time. Very few do that.