new weather warning device is needed badly.

[VonMessa]

the weather isent allways that obvious. like yesterday. i looked out my window and it was completely sunny, 10 mins later a storm came out of no wheres, hail was coming down, and the sirens were blaring. its not a matter of paying attenchian its a matter of knowing how bad a storm its going to be, and when a storm is coming. which is the job of the meteorologists. so yes, in a way they do make the "decisions" for me, and "protect" me, as they do all of us.
Ive tried, but for the most part im ignored, our town has never had a major tornado hit. (but alot have touched down in the neighboring town) and im only 18, so my word alone doesnt do much.

You ignore spell-check, what makes you think we believe that you will heed a weather warning?
Hail you say?  Usually a sign of severe weather.
Meteorologists?  Really?  Putting your life in their hands?  You are either really lazy or really stupid.


are you too cheap at mind to spend a little extra $$$ to have a weather safety alarm installed?

Are you to cheap to buy a book and read it?  http://www.mypilotstore.com/mypilotstore/secp/109  

i didnt say it would, i said i THINK it would. meaning i was stating it as a theory, and not as fact. difference. should this idea be thrown out the window because some A hole might ignore it? no. should it be thrown out because some people might ignore it too? no. if that was the case we might as well throw town sirens out too, because people ignore them aswell. and the guy who decided to run to the store will have his car radio, or will be able to hear the actual town sirens. but it would atleast give people a better chance to hear the warning, and react before its too late. especially if a storm hits late at night. i had to stay up all night last night because the siren went off once, and the wind was howling, and i knew if i went to sleep i wouldnt hear the siren again if it sounded.

Buy a shovel, dig a storm cellar.  Move, relocate or otherwise change location in some fashion.

i live in the type of house a f1 tornado could blow away with ease. the only shelter i have in my house is a tiny flimsy bathroom. in a town who's siren is too low to hear half the time, with people who ignore me when i try to point this out. i am taking responsibility, by coming up with ideas to try to make the situation better, my ideas might not be perfect, but atleast im thinking some up. instead of just waiting around thinking the worst will never happen, then it does.

Always prepare for the worst.  If it doesn't happen, that is great.  Fortune favors the prepared.

i really hate the snobbery on these boards sometimes.

Then why the continued visits, here?

[PFactorDave]

There is a siren not far from my house, about 1/8th of a mile or so.  When they test it every month on the first Tuesday, it is so loud that it is actually painful to be outside.  Our cable TV systen is all linked in to the emergency alert system also, so when it goes off, the TV programming is interupted as well.

[fbWldcat]

Put up or shut up.

 

Honestly, if clouds look threatening, they probably are. Phone a friend, get a weather app on your phone or find some way to keep in contact with anyone who can give you info on weather conditions. It is all very much common sense. If you see a swirling cloud and then listen for a siren to warn you of said swirling cloud... Darwin has news for you.

You can put sirens up everywhere and tell people to GTFD, but as the old adage goes "you can lead a horse to water, but you can't make him drink."

[rogwar]

1) Turn the TV DOWN.

2) Watch the NEWS.

Legendary advice.

[Dragon]

I'm not sure what part of Ohio your in Tyrannis, but I know we don't have any sirens here in Cleveland.

As to the storm that came through here yesterday, I'm with ya on the "holy crap, wtf is this" factor.  I was outside enjoying the sun, working in the yard. It started to sprinkle so I put away a few things, closed the car windows, looked at the sky and it was light grey, nothing to worry about.

I went to the basement and started in a load of laundry, came upstairs to find the trees almost horizontal and unable to see the street because of how much rain and hail was coming down.

I had checked the sky 3 min ago and saw nothing that would have warned me of this. I turned on the tv to see the reports. It was a rather small but very fast moving and brutal storm that produced multiple "wall" clouds, but fortunately, no actual tornadoes, although the warnings were active.

I found out after the storm passed that no radio warnings were sent till after the storm had actually passed us and was pounding the counties to the east.

[dedalos]

1) Turn the TV DOWN.

2) Watch the NEWS.

That works perfectly when you are sleeping.  The guy came up with a great idea that would actually work and maybe save some lives and a bunch of BBS idiots completely ignore the facts in his post and explain to him how he is doing something wrong 

[Tigger29]

Hey guys, about a couple of hours ago I was dodging high winds and tornado sirens up here in Ohio as the storm that launched the tornado in Missouri hit us, but there is one HUGE thing that bugs me about this bad weather.

Yes it was a pretty nasty storm.

Simply put, the sirens are simply not loud enough to hear over the tv/music/other activities going on.
Now, I'm right smack at the entrance to town, and I only hear the sirens very faintly.  If there really was a tornado coming, half of us wouldn't even hear it.

Many people have problems with hearing the sirens.

Another thing: they need to have different sounding sirens for the type of warning they are trying to give.

For us, they give 2 siren warnings at a time.  First time the siren goes off it's supposed to indicate ether a severe storm warning, or a tornado watch.  The second time it goes off is to indicate a tornado warning.

The problem is that is the more complicated they make it, the less people will pay attention.  Here in St. Louis we don't consider the siren to mean "Take cover immediately."  We consider it to mean "Turn the TV ON AND SEE WHAT IS GOING ON!"  Also the more warnings they sound the siren for means the more often they sound the siren.  The more often they sound the siren, the less serious people will take it.

What if a tornado were to drop down right beside town before the first siren is sounded?  So then when it does go off, people think it's just a watch.  Or what if it does sound to signal a watch and people believe it to be an actual warning (like i did)?

When that happens, there really isn't enough time to sound a warning anyway.  Hopefully people will have their TV's or weather radios on by then and be able to take the appropriate actions.  The alarms here NEVER go off during just a watch.  They only sound when a warning is issued.

My solutions to these problems would be:

Problem 1:  have every house installed with a kind of mini alarm (similar to say, a smoke alarm) that when sent the signal, will warn the residents of watches/warnings.  It could be installed on the wall similiar to how house alarms are, and give off the right sound in the house for what the weather is. Therefore people don't have to worry about not hearing the town siren because they have it in there houses.

I will NEVER encourage a situation where a device like that is REQUIRED to be installed.  I'm not saying it's a bad idea, I'm just saying it shouldn't be required.  Also those devices already exist as already discussed here.  If you want one then go buy one.  It's as simple as that.  I can't go into details about why it being required by law is a bad idea without breaking the rules of this message board, but it involves a certain "Big Brother" who needs to mind his own business.

2: Simple solution, find different sounding sirens for what they are warning/watching for. it would really be appreciated.

As stated before, the more complicated the system is made, the less people will pay attention to it.  Us in the midwest already know when bad weather is brewing and we already know to turn on the TV/Radios in those cases.  They've gotten really good at predicting general areas where Tornadoes are likely.  If you're in one of those areas and you don't take the proper precautions, then there really is no one to blame but yourself.  As far as tornadoes just forming out of nowhere and striking... well in those cases there's usually not even enough time to sound an alarm.

I think if my solution for problem 1 had been implemented already, half the lives lost to tornadoes would have been spared, for they would have known it was coming.

Actually I disagree.  I believe that 99% of the people there already had their TVs and radios turned on and thus could not have been helped further.  Instead of blaming the loss of lives on a "broken" system I would rather credit the incredible system we have for the death count not being much, MUCH higher.  I know it may sound like a lot of lives were lost, but if you take into consideration the population of the areas that were hit and the amount of damage that was created... well the death toll seems very low in comparison.  What really shocked me is that nobody died in the one that hit the airport (and nearby neighborhoods) here in St. Louis!

What do you guys think?

By the way I fixed some of your grammatical and spelling errors.  Do yourself a big favor and lose the "txt" speech and learn how to spell.  Wow reading "RLY" on cat or bird pictures is really cute, it looks very horrible in normal conversation.  It's hard to take people serious sometimes when what they say is so poorly prepared.

[Tigger29]

That works perfectly when you are sleeping.

Unless they create a device that will flip my bed over when the tornado sirens go off, I would likely sleep right through the sirens issued around me.  Heck I sleep right through the alarm clock most of the time as well!

The OP does have a decent idea about having a smoke alarm type of device to go off during weather warnings, but the simple truth is that these things already exist.  The only thing the OP brings different to the table is making this device required.  I could go into details as to why this is a bad idea but it would get my posts deleted and this thread locked so there is no point in that.

Instead of trying so hard to save other people's lives, sometimes people just need to accept that people are responsible for their own lives.  We do monthly tests of our Tornado alarms here.  The people who are barely within earshot distance of these alarms have had plenty of time to figure that out and to take the appropriate precautions.  Simply put, forcing the installation of an alarm like that into every house is incredibly ridiculous.  I already know when bad weather is brewing.. I don't need an ear-shattering alarm to tell me that.  Heck I don't even have batteries in one of my smoke alarms.  I got tired of it going off every time I took a shower.

[VonMessa]

Unless they create a device that will flip my bed over when the tornado sirens go off, I would likely sleep right through the sirens issued around me. 

You are apparently not married or have any kids, yet   

[allaire]

My biggest complaint with the current sirens in Arkansas is that the state is changing over to digital, I guess, sirens.  The problem is that aren't nearly as loud.  At the house were I lived about 3 years ago you could hear them decently well.  After pulaski county changed it over you can barely hear it and then only if the wind is blowing in a favorable direction.  Of course this is a moot point as I have a weather radio that I bought a couple years ago.

[Babalonian]

1) Turn the TV DOWN.

2) Watch the NEWS.

Radio works too.

[Slash27]

Outbreak covered the warning part.

http://www.spc.noaa.gov/products/outlook/day1otlk.html
Link to the Storm Prediction Center
 
Now you have the tools you need.

[68ZooM]

Yep.   If you're relying on Big Brother to assist you, you're wrong.   Fend for yourself and watch the weather reports, or even watch the sky Tyrannis.   

Bullseye, never count on big brother you'll only be let down

[Tyrannis]

I'm not sure what part of Ohio your in Tyrannis, but I know we don't have any sirens here in Cleveland.

As to the storm that came through here yesterday, I'm with ya on the "holy crap, wtf is this" factor.  I was outside enjoying the sun, working in the yard. It started to sprinkle so I put away a few things, closed the car windows, looked at the sky and it was light grey, nothing to worry about.

I went to the basement and started in a load of laundry, came upstairs to find the trees almost horizontal and unable to see the street because of how much rain and hail was coming down.

I had checked the sky 3 min ago and saw nothing that would have warned me of this. I turned on the tv to see the reports. It was a rather small but very fast moving and brutal storm that produced multiple "wall" clouds, but fortunately, no actual tornadoes, although the warnings were active.

I found out after the storm passed that no radio warnings were sent till after the storm had actually passed us and was pounding the counties to the east.

im in the lower half, towards Kentucky. Clermont County.

and yes, yesterday i had looked out the window, and it was amazingly sunny. i was actually playing aceshigh. and i couldn't hear the sirens over the sounds of my planes engine. it was only after i landed that i heard them wailing.

at first i thought they were testing it. (which they sometimes do during the beginning of the week) because i looked out the window next to my computer desk, and it was still amazingly sunny.

so i got up, went into the backyard, and that was when i saw the giant storm cloud coming. before i could do anything tho the wind just hit us hard. my house is next to a sunocos. and one of there plastic garbage cans went flying by my head. i actually had to sorta duck to avoid it (its now stuck ontop  of the vacant house next door's roof) and to make things worse, sunoco kept there garbage cans up, so half there trash is now blown into the tree in my backyard.

over at sunoco tho, some people were yelling "twister!" and running inside as it started to hail. now like i said, my house is pretty much nothing but plywood, and has 0% weather protection, so i freaked out a little.

i ran inside, grabbed my hoodie, and sprinted it to a friends a few houses down who had a basement.

in the end, we didn't have a tornado, but it sure looked like it. the wind was so strong it ripped the side panels off a couple houses, there was downed trees every wheres (including on my road) and one house even had a hole in its roof.


there was no predicting that storm was coming from simply looking up at the sky.mother nature can change very quickly.

but i dont think i made my idea clear enough. i was thinking of something similer to a smoke alarm, that would sound to warn the inhabitants. that would be set off when sent to do so similier to how home security units do with there devices.
 
or maybe even make this an option package with home security? pay a little $$$ extra and the home security unit will install a sort of "home weather system" in your house with a mini speaker in each room. and if there is a major storm and/or tornado watch in your area, it will sound off when they send it the signal. maybe even give it customizable options. like weather you want it to sound for only tornado watches/warnings, for severe weather, or any other type of weather.

its not a perfect plan, but its just my theory. no need to tear it apart with your obnoxious "get educated" "fend for yourself" "learn to predict the weather"  

p.s sorry for the spelling mistakes, my keyboards keys dont always respond when pushed. and i didn't think we had as bad of grammar freaks on here.

[dedalos]

Unless they create a device that will flip my bed over when the tornado sirens go off, I would likely sleep right through the sirens issued around me.  Heck I sleep right through the alarm clock most of the time as well!

The OP does have a decent idea about having a smoke alarm type of device to go off during weather warnings, but the simple truth is that these things already exist.  The only thing the OP brings different to the table is making this device required.  I could go into details as to why this is a bad idea but it would get my posts deleted and this thread locked so there is no point in that.

Instead of trying so hard to save other people's lives, sometimes people just need to accept that people are responsible for their own lives.  We do monthly tests of our Tornado alarms here.  The people who are barely within earshot distance of these alarms have had plenty of time to figure that out and to take the appropriate precautions.  Simply put, forcing the installation of an alarm like that into every house is incredibly ridiculous.  I already know when bad weather is brewing.. I don't need an ear-shattering alarm to tell me that.  Heck I don't even have batteries in one of my smoke alarms.  I got tired of it going off every time I took a shower.

And after your smoke alarm statement, you want us to take anything you say on the subject seriously?    Oh, wait, your grammar was good so you must have a point