Tornado Alarms Worthwhile in Florida? What do you think?

[Sarah Austin]

In light of the events in the Lady Lake area in Florida on Feb. 2, 2007 and other similar events, I was wondering why so many populated areas in Florida do not have tornado alarms. Florida ranks number 4 in frequency of tornadoes, although most are brief.

http://www.hprcc.unl.edu/nebraska/SPCstaterankings.html

I am aware there are costs involved, but if it saves even one life, it is worth it in my opinion. A lot of people here in Florida have asked me what the difference is between a tornado and a hurricane. They think a tornado is a smaller version of a hurricane, or they don't think Florida gets any tornadoes at all. They're used to having days to prepare for approaching storms instead of minutes.

Has this problem occurred in other states and what has been done? Other than NOAA weather radios, what alternatives are there? Is there something I can do?

 

[Connor McCrorey]

I remember hearing not too long ago about a city here in the DFW area (I can't remember which one) that voted to spend money on something like an art museum over a tornado siren system. If someone has better information about this please let me know, but I was shocked that any community in such a high risk area would opt to do without this warning system.

It certainly sounds like a different issue, but here it's not as much "What is a tornado?" as it is "We don't get tornadoes here!" I think this is caused by the fact that tornadoes always seem to be all around us, but rarely actually directly affect us. Like last year when a storm produced weak tornadoes literally just east and west of downtown Dallas, but nothing happened in Dallas other than sirens blaring and a lot of hail.

People need to be more educated about storms and tornadoes no matter where they live. You can help a little bit by informing those you know, but that hasn't really worked for me. I guess just keep trying to educate the public, even though chances are most won't wake up until they are directly affected.

 

[Chris Nuttall]

MOD NOTE: I decided to move this thread to W&C. It fits in that section a little bit better than the Educational area.

 

[Jason Foster]

Having lived in Florida a couple of times, I feel there is a real neglect for such things...Florida overall seems to be poorly run in my opinion.

However, I think that with the advent of new technologies I can easily see that a tornado siren can be a cost not warranted considering how many are likely to ignore it anyway.

Florida, while does have a fare number of tornadoes, typically rank very low intensity wise. These are commonly gustnados and landspouts coming of a seabreeze storm. However, it's not to discount that Florida has seen and will see significant tornadoes...especially in the late winter early spring time frame.

I don't like the idea of not having tornado sirens either, but I'm not one to think it will be paid attention to all that much.

 

[Benjamin Rock]

I read somewhere else about this and people were saying that they would be going constantly due to the water and land spouts, creating the "cry wolf" syndrome. Plus, there was question about their use for hurricanes and their ineffectiveness.. My opinion is if it saves just one life, it is worth it...

 

[rdale]

I think you are overestimating the number of landspouts Florida gets...

And remember - these are outdoor warning sirens. Most Florida tornado deaths are indoors during the night.

 

[Bart_Comstock]

I think you are overestimating the number of landspouts Florida gets...

And remember - these are outdoor warning sirens. Most Florida tornado deaths are indoors during the night.

I think you hit it right on the head there. Really once more I believe this is a case where better education and distribution of NOAA Hazard Radios should be pushed. People sometimes become to dependent on sirens and forget the fact they are intended to warn those that are not indoors.

 

[Rob Wadsworth]

I think that with as much hardware, software, weather services, and the news services - that there shouldn't be a 'Tornado Gap" (>chuckles<).

Seriously though. When I go anywhere away from home during chase season now, I bring the Midland programmable weather station/radio. I look back at Kansas this year -on the 22& 23 when I didn't have this unit yet- and so I had to keep the TV on all night in my motel room just to make sure that a tornado warning wasn't suddenly being issued. Truth.

The truth about warnings? People will -in general- not listen. Or take it seriously enough. Unless they have been through it enough and seen the devastation and death.

Landspouts turn into real tornadoes how often in FLORIDA? 1 in ten? Or - is it more like 1 in twenty? As dangerous as the nature of that kind of storm is - I would take all storm warnings seriously. It's just good discipline to do so - and be ready...

Case in point. Here in Iowa, the County EM was talking to me, we were just yakking. He told me that there was a town aways N of Storm Lake that still didn't have their sirens operational that he needed to lean hard on. This was right after the Boy Scouts were killed - you see. He let me know that he threatened the electrician who was hired for the job to give it immediate priority - or be fired and give the contract to someone that would. Now, in this part of Iowa - we were all pretty sore and upset that the Boy Scouts (killed that same week) didn't have any warning system. So, that electrician dropped everything and finished the tornado sirens - or lose face with his customers -and especially- the community for not being responsible enough. Three weeks later, a tornado moved very close to the same area - near Royal IA in the next county.

Is it a question of how many landspouts come ashore and become real threats - or is it the lack of credibly dangerous storms that occur that clouds the judgment of potential danger? I hope it doesn't take a serious tragedy to get people off of their collective duffs to do what is prudent.

 

[Marc Austin]

Being a resident of Florida, I've often wondered the same thing. The Lady Lake tornadoes as well as the tornadoes from 1998 in the Kissimmee area would seem to warrant some type of warning system. Here at FSU, we have four multi-purpose sirens that can be used for tornadoes or any other threats to the campus. This is the only siren system I've seen anywhere in FL. It could be that some areas have sirens, but I don't know of them. A lot of the tornado activity here comes from tropical cyclones. I'm not sure how effective sirens would be in this scenario as tornadoes are brief and very unpredictable. Still, I think highly populated areas, or areas with a high population of retired persons, such as The Villages, should have a system in place. While the primary purpose of tornado sirens is to warn people outdoors, there are many people within the proximity of the actual siren that would benefit from them. You don't have to be outdoors in order to hear a siren. Weather radios are an excellent solution, but there will be those who simply won't buy them. They're also a pain to program and it can be difficult for some people to do so. I think sirens would be a great idea. Unfortuantely, I don't think they're a high-priority item in the "Sunshine State".

 

[Sarah Austin]

I appreciate all the input and suggestions. I agree that there is a neglect that has cost several lives. I am surprised to hear other places having the same neglect, especially in the case of the boy scouts in Iowa. That is a tragedy. I hope the town in Texas will reconsider having spent the money on a museum instead of an alarm.

Most people don't see a need until they are affected by it. Education would help. It has been suggested to me that I go before the County Commission and City Commission to make it more of a political agenda in order to get more of the public involved. The meetings open to the public are aired on channel 12 and rebroadcast. I am thinking this may be a good start.

 

[Adam Childers]

I'd have to agree with Marc on this one. Florida tornadoes are usually on the "weaker" side and do not cause nearly as many deaths as the larger ones in the plains. But I think any city with a fairly large population should have warning sirens in place to warn of tornadoes, earthquakes, tsunamis, or any other natural or man-made emergency.

 

[Sarah Austin]

Originally Quoted by Adam Childers
should have warning sirens in place to warn of tornadoes, earthquakes, tsunamis, or any other natural or man-made emergency.

Now that would definately be interesting. Most people I would imagine, at least in the states, associate sirens with tornadoes. Wonder what California would do if they knew and earthquake was about to happen? Interesting.

 

[Rob Wadsworth]

Now that would definately be interesting. Most people I would imagine, at least in the states, associate sirens with tornadoes. Wonder what California would do if they knew and earthquake was about to happen? Interesting.

Having lived in Cal during the 89' quake (7.1 magnitude) I don''t think having a 10-minute warning would help unless you were able to beam that info into people's heads. With a severe storm, the signs are quite a bit more apparent.

I've experienced several quakes in Cal - and only the weak ones were entertaining. You cannot tell if a quake is going to be strong - until it passes. Quite unnerving - really.