Test Tornado Warning to be issued across FL on 2/4 at 10:10a

[JonathanBelles]

http://www.srh.noaa.gov/images/tbw/pdf/ ... theDay.pdf

[Dionne]

I hope it works better for you folks in Florida than our warning system here in SW Mississippi.

Last spring we had an event where our warning system failed. I happened to be watching the doppler out of Jackson when a tornado warning popped up. We had 8-10 minutes before the storm was on top of us. The sirens activated right after the storm passed.

I went to our mayor and asked questions. He in turn asked questions. The answer we got was rather disconcerting. There is a specific chain of command that issues the warnings to rural areas. Turns out that even if the guys over at the fire dept were watching NWS doppler online and saw the warning.......they cannot activate the sirens until given specific instructions from our county hub where EOC is located.

We have a the same problem with 911.....it rings a phone 20+ miles away......meanwhile our Police dept and Fire dept are no more than 10-12 blocks from any location in this small community of less than 5000 folks.

Needless to say 911 is worthless here....we all know the Police dept number and dial them instead of 911.

[JonathanBelles]

If there is any remote chance of severe weather on a planned date, the will postpone it.

[somethingfunny]

I hope it works better for you folks in Florida than our warning system here in SW Mississippi.

Last spring we had an event where our warning system failed. I happened to be watching the doppler out of Jackson when a tornado warning popped up. We had 8-10 minutes before the storm was on top of us. The sirens activated right after the storm passed.

I went to our mayor and asked questions. He in turn asked questions. The answer we got was rather disconcerting. There is a specific chain of command that issues the warnings to rural areas. Turns out that even if the guys over at the fire dept were watching NWS doppler online and saw the warning.......they cannot activate the sirens until given specific instructions from our county hub where EOC is located.

We have a the same problem with 911.....it rings a phone 20+ miles away......meanwhile our Police dept and Fire dept are no more than 10-12 blocks from any location in this small community of less than 5000 folks.

Needless to say 911 is worthless here....we all know the Police dept number and dial them instead of 911.

We had a similar situation. In our case, the Fire Dept. KNEW the sirens weren't working, but the city council was stalling on allotting more money for the repairs and upgrades. But nobody was informed that the sirens weren't working. The absence of monthly tests was conspicuous, but apparently nobody asked the question....(I live in a neighboring town that DOES have working sirens)

Needless to say after a tornado swept through the middle of Denison with no warning at 10:30pm this past December, alot of people started asking why the sirens never went off. They're fast-tracking the repairs now.