Did the tornado siren go off at your house last night? It did at mine—somewhere around 9pm.

I was working at the computer (no surprise there) when I heard the tornado siren blare. We are only a block from it as the crow flies; so it is loud! Quickly, I grabbed my dog, purse, and flashlight and headed to the basement to join my guys who were working on a project down there.

“Turn on the TV and see where the tornado warning area is”, I said. My son did, but there was nothing on the screen. NO little funnel cloud in the corner, nothing. Hmmm. “Try another channel?” Same thing. We did not see any reports. We even tried looking on the internet. At least there it said there was a thunder storm warning.

The siren finally quit wailing and I went back upstairs rather disgruntled that my evening was disrupted. I felt like I went on a wild goose chase. At least it wasn’t at 3am.

This practice of using the siren for every raindrop or hail stone must stop in my estimation. A siren is only of value if it is used sparingly and only for a real tornado emergency. I understand the city also uses them for flood warnings. OK, but then make that an intermittent signal so the public will know what it is for.

When the tornado siren blasts, it should mean business: Stop what you are doing and immediately seek cover below grade. Plain and simple.

We teach our children to respond to fire drills. Stop what you are doing and immediately leave the building. The same standard should be applied to the tornado siren.

Next time it goes off, will I leave my warm bed or interrupt what I am doing to seek shelter? Maybe. But if this cry wolf thing happens too many times, I think the message gets diluted. People will ignore the sirens and then someone is going to get hurt or worse.

Am I alone on this? What do you think?

P.S. I did take a look at the City’s website. I could not find anything, not even with a word search.

Reader 1:I agree completely. The siren should be used only for legitimate tornado warnings...not heavy rain, wind, thunderstorms. Otherwise complacency ensues.

Reader 2: I read your blog this am regarding the seemingly-false-alarm-tornado-siren Wednesday and I agree wholeheartedly. Our family heard the siren, dropped what we were doing, and immediately headed to the basement. Once downstairs, we flipped through all the television channels, including the weather channel, and there were no tornado warnings or even watches...just a thunderstorm warning. The thunderstorm was not news to us as we'd seen the lightening and heard the rain while we were upstairs!

When the tornado siren stops meaning "tornado", in my opinion it stops having any meaning at all. If I remember correctly, this happened once last summer as well. The full blast tornado siren needs to go back to meaning strictly "tornado". otherwise it is going to be ignored. And then, what is the point of having it at all? I certainly am going to think twice next time before I react to the siren.



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