Are tornado sirens actually effective?
Tornado sirens are only meant to be heard outside.
NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WSMV) - False alarm ratios have been high for decades surrounding the use of outdoor sirens.
Tuesday is the anniversary of the April 16, 1998 tornado outbreak. 13 tornadoes impacted Middle Tennessee that day killing at least four Tennesseans.
One of the more memorable tornadoes was the tornado that went through Downtown Nashville damaging high rises and collapsing smaller buildings.
The Nashville tornado exposed a problem with our warning system. As the tornado moved through Centennial Park, a tree fell on a Vanderbilt student by the name of Kevin Longinetti, killing him.
Kevin was an ROTC student who was originally from Memphis. No sirens went off as the tornado was coming through so people were outside not knowing the danger headed their way.
Kevin’s mother sued Metro Nashville for not sounding sirens but the suit was later dismissed as Metro Nashville cited having adopted the National Weather Service’s warning method.
The National Weather Service’s warning method focused on alerting through NOAA Weather Radio at that time. Today, EAS alerts can be triggered alongside weather radios.
Tornado sirens are designed to be heard outside. If you can hear them inside, that’s a bonus, but you should still have two additional ways to receive warnings.
Tornado warnings were traditionally issued per county up until 2007. The National Weather Service (NWS) now operates off of a polygon-based warning system as of 2020.
The upgrade included updating technology in 93 of the sirens while adding 20 new sirens. There are now 113 sirens in Davidson County.
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