Warning Sirens

[Tim Stoecklein]

Just to throw some negativity back your way since you seem to be throwing it back at everyone else......

SOME communities do have a warning system where there are different tones or patterns depending on the weather/emergency situation. I've heard an up/down whaling pattern for LARGE hail or strong damaging winds, and then a long sustained tone for tornado warnings. There are also small communities which use the up/down for volunteer fire call-up, while the long sustained tone is for tornado warnings.

Just like many EMD policies, there's a great variation across the country.

 

[Michael Rogers]

Just to throw some negativity back your way since you seem to be throwing it back at everyone else......

SOME communities do have a warning system where there are different tones or patterns depending on the weather/emergency situation. I've heard an up/down whaling pattern for LARGE hail or strong damaging winds, and then a long sustained tone for tornado warnings. There are also small communities which use the up/down for volunteer fire call-up, while the long sustained tone is for tornado warnings.

Just like many EMD policies, there's a great variation across the country.

Beat me to it. I live in a small town northwest of Chicago and while I've never heard it, they have a policy for both severe thunderstorm warnings as well as tornado warnings. For severe thunderstorm warnings, the siren will go from high pitch to low pitch for one full minute. The severe thunderstorm must meet a specific criteria. I can't remember what the defined hail size is, but if winds are to exceed 80mph they sound the sirens. I've never heard the severe thunderstorm warning sirens outside of a test. Tornado warnings are one long tone only.

I agree that "crying wolf" can be fatal should an actual tornado come through town, but there is rhyme behind their reason. Tornado sirens aren't really designed to go through walls. If you're indoors, you should have access to television, radio, internet, etc. The warnings are mostly intended for people outside and possibly a good distance from shelter (golf course, farm, etc.). If there is an extreme severe wind or hail event, I see no problem in sounding the alarms to notify those people far from shelter of the imminent danger.

On a side note, am I the only one who becomes hypnotized by tornado sirens?

 

[Gerard Jebaily]

On a side note, am I the only one who becomes hypnotized by tornado sirens?

No But i dont get so much hypnotized as much as excited. My heart races, and my stomach gets knotted as if im jus very nervous when i hear a tornado siren, even in the movies.

 

[rdale]

Just to throw some negativity back your way since you seem to be throwing it back at everyone else.

I'm not "throwing" negativity -- I think that it's fairly clear that sounding the sirens for a 3/4" hailer with 45mph winds is NOT a good idea. If you can come up with a good reason to do so, I'd love to hear it...

 

[Danny Neal]

No But i dont get so much hypnotized as much as excited. My heart races, and my stomach gets knotted as if im jus very nervous when i hear a tornado siren, even in the movies.

Exactly true.... I love the sound of tornado sirens. If anything could get my adrenaline pumping it is the chorus of tornado sirens....... http://youtube.com/watch?v=DvCYEImUbGA I feel like a kid in a candy store when I hear this...although I have to keep that in perspective since the only reason I would be hearing tornado sirens would be near a population center

FWIW, on the south side of Chicago we only use the siren with long wail for a tornado warning, and nothing more for severe thunderstorm. The town adjacent to me uses the HI - LOW on the federal signal 2001 for fire calls. I remember seeing in the Quad Cities on the Whelen sirens they use the airhorn feature for a severe thunderstorm warning. http://youtube.com/watch?v=nla6Y6LKrpQ or http://youtube.com/watch?v=OyyrpGrEQFE&feature=related

 

[Brandon Smith]

Marion County EMA (Indianapolis, IN) also has it in there policy that if the county is under a tornado watch and a severe thunderstorm warning is issued, they will sound their sirens. I can see their point in this logic. More than likely, storms forming in a tornado watch will produce or show signs of producing a tornado. It's not always the case but when a watch is issued, that said area is climatologically favored to produce tornadoes.

This logic proved valuable on May 30, 2008 when a severe line of storms passed through the city, spawning an EF2 tornado just outside the beltway on the eastern side of the city. The NWS had issued a severe thunderstorm warning for the area but no tornado warning yet. There was a tornado watch for the area. A tornado warning soon followed after the velocity picked up on radar. The tornado was embedded in an area of straight line winds. More information on the event is provided in the link below:

http://www.crh.noaa.gov/ind/?n=may30_08tor

While this logic helped them here, it does seem that more often than not, nothing ever comes of activating the sirens. Better safe than sorry I guess.

 

[Shane Adams]

On a side note, am I the only one who becomes hypnotized by tornado sirens?

I don't get hypnotized, but they're awesome soundtracks for video.

 

[rdale]

More than likely, storms forming in a tornado watch will produce or show signs of producing a tornado.

Actually it's LESS than likely a storm in a tor box will produce a tornado...

 

[MatthewCarman]

A few weeks ago there was a tornadic storm moving over Newton IA and there was reports of tornadoes on the ground in Warren County with a report of exstensive damage to Sandyville. The storm had strong rotation and could easily drop a tornado based on radar and reports so I woke my family up 10 minutes before it hit and we were ready to move to the basement. The possible tornado was moving 60-70 MPH so I should not have waited outside untill the sirens sounded. Anyways I went inside briefly and saw the rotation was moving directly over Newton and yet no sirens were going off. The sirens finally sounded after the rotation was ontop of Newton. A tornado was confirmed just sw of Newton and another tornado dropped down by the Newton Airport and caused damage to the small town of Kellog just east of here and also flipped some semi's on Interstate I-80. I will never understand why the city of Newton waited so long to sound thier sirens?

 

[rdale]

Some cities don't have "the button" manned 24/7... Someone has to get the alert, drive to the office, get in, and press it. That takes time.

 

[Brandon Smith]

Actually it's LESS than likely a storm in a tor box will produce a tornado...

Not to get off-topic but then why would a tornado watch be issued then? They are issued for a probability, not for a non-existence. I think you missed my original point.

 

[rdale]

You are saying MOST storms in a tor box have tornadoes - I say MOST do not... Odds are still LESS than likely that a storm has a tornado. Better than normal, but still not "likely" or a TOR warning would be issued.

 

[Mark Sefried]

Here around the Peoria, IL area the sirens are set off only for a tornado warning. If cities blare thier sirens for marginal severe t storm warnings all the time, then in some cases people may just ignore them sort of like a cry wolf syndrome. I can see setting them off for extreme t storm warnings like confirmed spotter reports of 80+ mph winds and or baseball sized hail, but for the marginal stuff it may be overkill. I have noticed that over the last year or so some NWS offices in thier higher end t storm warnings recommend siren activation.

 

[Brandon Smith]

Correct, better than normal, which is my point. No where did I say "most." Let me make my wording more clearly for you as I think you are still missing it.

As I stated previously, "More than likely, storms forming in a tornado watch will produce or show signs of producing a tornado. It's not always the case but when a watch is issued, that said area is climatologically favored to produce tornadoes."

I used "more than likely" due to the fact that a tornado watch is issued for just that, that storms are more likely to form a tornado or exhibit tornadic characteristics that usual. I also stated that although not always the case, odds are greater.

Hence is why I can see EM's logic in sounding sirens when a severe thunderstorm warning is issued when within a watch box. As I said before, although it doesn't pan out all the time, it can save lives when the situation presents itself.

 

[Danny Neal]

The only way I could see using a siren for severe thunderstorm warning is using that air-horn feature I posted above. Something that sounds nothing like a wail or high - low pitch. IMO, to have steady blasts of the "air-horn" would be easy enough for outdoor events. Remember tornado sirens were only meant for the people outdoors. Most people inside their homes with a TV or radio or stereo on will never hear outdoor warning sirens. Of course the problem arises that not all counties will ever utilize the Whelen sirens.....

I really don't see the need to do it (at least in my part of the country) but IF it were implemented that would be how I could see it being most effective.