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Don't Sound the Sirens! Under a Tornado Warning.

How are they supposed to see rotation at night anyways? They should've sounded the sirens to be on the safe side no matter what, it's better to be safe and sound the sirens then not be safe and risk losing a town and lives. I know my town does it the second we get put under a tornado warning, even sometimes under a severe thunderstorm warning for winds over 70mph. "Momentarily intensified" are great words of what sometimes happens and why it's better to be safe then sorry.
 
A similar thing happened in a city in the DFW a few years back (NWS issues warning, one city didn't sound sirens, people complained, media reported on it, city made excuses). IMHO, it was a CYA on the city's part. The way it played out after that was the city sounded the sirens for even non-tornadic storms. People started to complain that the city was sounding them too often, so they backed down and now only sound them for tornado warnings and higher end severe events. That city now has a well defined criteria for sounding them. We'll see how this plays out in Lee's Summit, but my guess is the sirens will go off on the next "radar indicated" tornado warning.
 
IMO sirens are becoming less useful as a means of warning the public about severe weather. Also, from the city of Lee's Summit's statement:

city of Lee's Summit said:
The outdoor warning sirens are just one of several methods of notification. Designed for outdoor notification and is not intended to be heard indoors; numerous other methods of severe weather notification are activated and were utilized during Monday’s storm.
...
Although the sirens were not utilized, other methods of notification were. Those notification systems included NOAA All-Weather Hazard Radios, which is your best method of severe weather notification at home; text messages and media notification. The Lee’s Summit Fire Department stresses that the public stay aware of possible severe weather and have at least two methods of severe weather notification. The most reliable method of notification is your own senses. If the weather conditions outside appear threatening, take shelter.
Click to expand...

As technology advances and more and more people have smartphones and moving to alternate sources of information, I suspect the use of outdoor warning sirens will generally continue to wane and it will be less and less of a problem if sirens are not sounded. Sirens are certainly still useful, but I think at some level you have to just assume personal responsibility for your own safety - there are many other ways to get weather warnings nowadays. You should not be relying solely on sirens.
 
Jeff,
Not *everyone* has a Smart Phone,or a Weather Radio,and not everyone has their TV turned-on...
They maybe sitting by an open window,reading a book,and enjoying the nice breeze... Are they NOT WORTHY of a warning,if they were raised to the City/County sounding an alert ?
 
Kevin - part of Jeff's point is based on this case alone. If they didn't sound them for a tornado warning, and a tornado hit, what value were they? I'm sure we'll still see them for another 10-20 years, but if I were a long-term investor I wouldn't bank on them being around in 2050 ;)
 
Around 2011, the city of Garland TX (near Dallas) was faced with an aging siren system and instead of funding repairs/replacement the city council deceded to abandon the system and use Code Red (a "reverse 911" system) instead. After feedback from the public, two years later they reversed that decision and invested in a new siren system (they still use Code Red also). You can read about this at http://dfw.cbslocal.com/2013/04/17/garland-getting-new-tornado-siren-system/ and at http://www.nbcdfw.com/news/local/New-Garland-Storm-Sirens-Getting-Installed--204381421.html

Yes there are new technologies, and yes they outdoor warning siren systems only cover outdoor areas (and often then only areas where people gather outdoors and not an entire city). A lot of the public still expect the outdoor warning sirens to be in place and be sounded. I suspect sirens are here to stay for a while longer in many communities. The good news is folks can't turn off the outdoor warning sirens like many do to WEA on their phones, and they don't have to register and keep their phone numbers updated for outdoor warning sirens (like they do for most reverse 911 systems).
 
Randy,
As Jeff quoted; "you have to assume 'personal' responsibility for your own safety.

again, If I was out,at a park,making love to my girl,,,,
I don't deserve a warning ?
Smiling ear to ear ! ! !
 
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Okay, Kevin, let's not get crazy here. I think you have a valid response to what I said, but at the same time I still think what I said is pretty reasonable. The fraction of people who have no other means of getting weather warnings than outdoor warning sirens is decreasing day by day, and frankly, the value of building and/or maintaining aged systems like outdoor warning sirens will eventually be surpassed by their cost as the value of using other technologies rises and exceeds the cost of building and maintaining THOSE systems. Obviously no one sane WANTS people to have to fend for themselves as far as being alerted to oncoming severe weather, but at the same time it's impossible for any municipal system to guarantee protection of every single one of its citizens. I'll reiterate my point that, at some point, every person is ultimately responsible for their own safety, regardless of the situation. Even people who DO get warnings still have to take appropriate action against severe weather, and in some situations (like tornadoes) 100% safety cannot be guaranteed. And there are plenty of cases in which people receive warnings but do not heed them appropriately, and thus suffer as a result of not being responsible for their own safety. My point is it's just not possible for any overarching system to guarantee the safety of every last person without becoming cost-unworthy.

I hate to say it this way, but if you could only choose one of the following, which would you take? a) Spend $1,000,000 on a warning system that protects 95% of your citizens; or b) spend $10,000,000 ($9,000,000 more, which you may not have) to protect an additional 4.5%? The math: $1 million for 95% is ~$10,500 per 1% of your population, or $10 million for 99.5% (~$100,500 per 1%) of your population)?

Insurance companies do this all the time. I'm pretty sure you can google the current insurance value of a human life somewhere.
 
Jeff, I see what you're saying and understand. You make a very valid point. I also agree, to a point.
(Here's my point) But this Decision to not use the Sirens. When you already have a working paid for Siren system in place. Makes no sense to me.
The decision should have been (IMHO) to sound the Siren period. Protect your General Public by all means. If you have it, USE IT! Until it breaks or they take it down, burn it or whatever. Not doing any good by sitting there silent...

Sorry Jeff, I'm not trying to be rude to you personally. Please don't take this post the wrong way. I was just putting it simply & bluntly.

As I read over the other posts. Counties not sounding and sounding Sirens for less then a Tornado warning.
Maybe they need to be Federally mandated? Maybe from the NWS offices? (This could also give NWS a bigger budget) Maybe taking them down all together? Since there are people who wouldn't use the Siren System. Don't waste funds on maintaining it. If you don't plan on using it...
 
Agreed, Mr. Hammett. There is a Siren System about 5 miles from my house. I think I heard it one time outside. During a test and it a was nice quite tranquil day. Never ever heard it any other time. You should not rely on them.
I've taken my own responsibility. Getting a weather ready radio, two weather stations and a self monitoring alarm system for severe weather. The bad part is the weather radio doesn't work for me. Reception is horrible here. Even after buying and installing antennae. It's still has bad reception. Even says it on the LCD display on it "Check Reception". That's why I got a self monitoring weather alarm system. Doesn't rely on NWS or wx radio...
 
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