Decatur Hits Siren For Tornado Warning?
February 17, 2008 | 5:43 pmDid you hear it?
As my wife proclaimed, “OK, I hear it. I’m not sure what it means, but I hear it.”
Wasn’t this an instance where Decatur’s new CodeRed notification system might have been useful?
Aha! See, I was saying to my better half, “that’s the tornado siren isn’t it? Isn’t it? Or is it an ambulance that’s neither approaching nor getting further away? No, I think it’s the tornado siren.” Her reply, having grown up in the South and thus, unlike me, being completely indifferent to tornado warnings: “Meh.”
Maybe they should have random people run around screaming tornadoes, from what you say that might just work better than those lame sirens.
Excellent point about Code Red. That would seem to be a perfect use for it.
I was near the fire station, and the siren could be clearly heard. But I wonder how well it was heard all over town.
Incidentally, resaw “A Few Good Men” recently. Remember what the special undocumented procedure was called? That’s right. “Code Red.”
As explained to me once by a former NWS meteorologist, the dirty secret on tornado sirens is that their intent is only to let people who are outdoors know about a tornado. The assumption is that, if your inside, you can keep track of things through TV or radio. (Preferably a NOAA weather radio…)
As for Code Red, I’d submit that a tornado would be a bad time to pull it out. Given that our tornadoes tend to be accompanied by lightning-filled thunderstorms, you’d generally not want people running for their phones.
We were in our home w(not outside) and were able to hear the siren in Avondale Estates, so we called neighbors to let them know about the warning. Most were unaware, so the siren was very helpful.
What the commenter above stated about the sirens only alerting the folks outside is true. Only when I walked outside to let in a poor stray cat who was shaking in the rain did I hear the sirens. I’m such a gentle soul, I know.
Where are the sirens, anyway? I’m five minutes from Downtown and I heard them clearly.
Wow…some excellent points and info in response to this post. Thanks everyone.
Leoghann’s point about lightning accompanying tornadoes is a pretty good theory. The only other emergency listed on the Code Red site that might be accompanied by lightening is “floods”. So maybe the city is cautious about phoning people during a storm for fear of electrocution. However, I only have a cell phone so it wouldn’t matter if we received the call. Perhaps a separate cell list could be created for just such an emergency?
Thomas, from what I can deduce the siren came from Fire Station 1 on E. Trinity. I’m over in Ponce Heights and could hear it inside the house. Had I been running through the streets screaming “tornado!”, I’m sure it would have been even more obvious. (until I was rightfully subdued by angry neighbors)
Regardless, that storm system was freakin’ eerie huh? Meterologists were warning of funnel clouds and you looked outside and there was no wind at all. Dead calm and really dark. Odd. But I’m not from the South (unlike Unsquished’s wife) so this was all pretty new to me.
Admitting that, here’s my potentially stupid question: Isn’t it too darn hilly around here from a twister to set down?
I was ready to relive my elementary-school days and find the thickest textbook and put in on my head in the hallway. Yep, growing up in Georgia does weird things to you.
There is a tornado siren at Agnes Scott – not sure if that’s what you heard or not, as we were out of town. We are right off W. Howard near the high school, so we hear it whenever it goes off.
I heard it too. Inside. And have to vehemently agree that I wondered, “Well, now what?” And I literally waited for the phone to ring for the Code Red. And got none. To me, if it’s serious enough to sound alarms, it’s serious enough to ring the phones. And, there really wasn’t a lot of lightening during the storm…but the sky looked like death warmed over.