Tornado Warnings/Sirens

[AWvsCBsteeeerike3]

Issuing a warning after a tornado has already formed kinda defeats the purpose of a "warning".

Exactly. Rant fail.

No. Not at all. Thunderstorm warnings work very well. They're issued when you're about to be hit with a thunderstorm. And, i'd guess they're accurate well over half the time unlike tornado warnings.

[Popeye_Card]

Well, maybe they're losing effectiveness, and I would agree that they are too broad (by county, rather than by townships). But I believe there were 0 fatalities and 0 significant injuries from the tornados in StL on Friday. So they must be doing OK.

[cards2468]

I think tornadoes are not understood well enough to be as predictable as thunderstorms.


I still think a warning should be when it's spotted though. Us watches for when the weather shows the possibility.


If there's a wild tiger loose in your town, it makes sense to issue a warning to people that a tiger is loose. Why not issue a tornado warning when there's a tornado loose?

[IMADreamer]

The warnings have actually gotten better in very recent years the problems is people haven't gotten smarter. In 08 (I think) the NWS went from a county based warning system to a polygonal based system so that the warnings were more accurate. Most media still only says "tornado warning for St. Charles county" when in fact the warning may only be for southern St. Charles county. So the sirens then go off county wide even though they don't need to. However if you are on the NWSs page or other radar sources it will show the warning box for the actual area warned.

Sadly especially with today's anti govt cut everything mentality we will never see the tools, funding, and research needed to make these things as accurate as they can be. Hell my town doesn't even have a siren. Back when I was a meteorologist the dumbass mayor got on stage after I'd given a presentation to the boy scouts about severe weather and said "well we don't have to worry about that we are between two rivers." I wanted to jump off stage and kill him. Two months later we got hit by a tornado and the mayors roof was blown off his house. I won't lie I smiled.

[Popeye_Card]

Again, somebody's house is beneath where that tornado touches down. A warning under your system is too late for them.

And tornados as predictable as thunderstorms? WTF? As predictable as exactly where lightning will strike, maybe.

[IMADreamer]

Issuing a warning after a tornado has already formed kinda defeats the purpose of a "warning".

Exactly. Rant fail.

No. Not at all. Thunderstorm warnings work very well. They're issued when you're about to be hit with a thunderstorm. And, i'd guess they're accurate well over half the time unlike tornado warnings.

Not really since I hear the same complaints about severe thunderstorm warnings. People always say "oh there is never much damage with those, I'm not worried." or "we get those all the time and they never amount to anything."

[AWvsCBsteeeerike3]

And, further I'm just not sure that the warnings are protecting the proper people. If you're in a house it's one thing to be able to go take a [expletive] during a warning and hope a tree doesn't fall on you as opposed to being in a mobile home. Look at what is recommended for mobile home occupants. If you get hit with a couple warnings in a night, that's going to not only make for a long night but also be pretty troublesome.

I get the better safe than sorry....I just wish there was something different that could be done.

[IMADreamer]

I was in a mobile home once during a light breeze and that was enough to know it wasn't safe. I can't imagine a severe storm.

[AWvsCBsteeeerike3]

Issuing a warning after a tornado has already formed kinda defeats the purpose of a "warning".

Exactly. Rant fail.

No. Not at all. Thunderstorm warnings work very well. They're issued when you're about to be hit with a thunderstorm. And, i'd guess they're accurate well over half the time unlike tornado warnings.

Not really since I hear the same complaints about severe thunderstorm warnings. People always say "oh there is never much damage with those, I'm not worried." or "we get those all the time and they never amount to anything."

Well, like you said, people can be stupid. There's a lot of danger in straight winds. And, since you're likely to actually receive hail/winds, you shouldn't blow them off, especially if that means getting your car under shelter and/or being near/in a shelter yourself.

[lukethedrifter]

No question that the fewer and more accurate the warning the more effective they are. You are right on there. But as pointed out earlier there are limitations in the warning system and a community can't just rely on people watching the telly. Some don't have, power goes out, et al. And tornadoes are just not that predictable.