Minnesota really needs •two• different weather sirens:
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Minnesota really needs •two• different weather sirens:
One that means “heads up, pay attention, get inside, get info” (which is more or less the current siren’s official meaning)…
…and one that means “BASEMENT. NOW.”
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Local Slack I’m on lit up during yesterday’s sirens with people wondering whether they’re supposed to be in the basement or whether there’s a tornado or what. (No tornado; the reason turned out to be storm with winds over 70mph.)
These are pretty informed, plugged-in, information-hungry people wondering this. It’s no wonder that people here just ignore the sirens half the time.
Distinguishing “you should get inside” from “RUN” might help with that.
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The existing steady tone could continue to mean “get inside, get info,” and the frequency varying quickly up and down could mean “GET TO THE BASEMENT!”
I wonder whether that’s possible with the existing weather siren hardware? Seems plausible.
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@inthehands We have several different ones on Oklahoma: flood, tornado, high winds, and I think wildfire. You can’t distinguish among them when the wind is howling--last year when we had 80-100mph winds we couldn’t even hear the siren, which is less than a block away.
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@mjibrower
That last bit, oh wowI want to say that the ones in MN are loud enough that you can hear it short of a tornado on top of you, but…I don’t actually know how true that is.
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@inthehands It was terrifying. We were in a closet under the stairs and it was like nothing I’ve ever heard. I’ve heard the “freight train” sound they talk about, but this was a whole other level.
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@inthehands what would be the trigger, for the county folks operating the sirens, from the local NWS office to pick one or the other?
I like the idea, we've got the same issue in Iowa.
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@tehstu
It’s a good question. I wonder what a meteorologist would have to say about the idea. -
@mjibrower
Uff da, as the Minnesotans say. I’m really glad you’re in one piece.