The last time I recall hearing those was when I was a kid, they’d go off in the far distance every so often. My Dad told me they were moose calls. And yes, I believed him for years; I knew about moose, but not air raid sirens; I would look at the forested hills in the distance and wonder if that’s where the moose were.
Yes, of course; it just seems excessive to check every week as in some cases mentioned in this thread. For example, I don’t think fire hydrants are checked every week.
No, but fire hydrants are not exactly complex mechanisms. Think about all of the different parts, both mechanical and electrical, that go into a siren and the controls to make it go off when wanted. Even for our small town, we have 3 or 4 to make sure everyone can hear them, and that is barely enough. If even one of them does not work when needed, there will be literally thousands of people at risk. With our history, we just feel the “Better safe than sorry” idea is a really good one.
Does Taipei still have monthly invasion drills?
Our tornado sirens are tested every Wednesday at noon, and I fully support this. There have been times that my only warning that there was a tornado in the area came from hearing the sirens go off.
I used to do that. My argument was basically that any time some client or more senior manager called, they were acting like the world was coming to a fucking end anyway.
To make sure they’re working.
In my area, they use them as tornado warnings. Except, the last time we had a tornado go through town it made such a racket breaking stuff that it (apparently) drowned out the sirens.
I hear the ones in Hawaii are going to get a not-a-drill workout today on account of tsunami.
So they do have some practical use.
OKC - every sat at noon.
Glad to hear them work, I’ve needed them a couple of times.
Hey, how about those earthquake warning sirens!
In the Indianapolis area (possibly Indiana-wide) it’s Friday at 11 AM, and I like it for this exact reason. Though not technically in tornado alley, our state gets a good amount of them yearly, and the sirens are often the only alert we get (sure, listen to the radio/TV if you can and sleep with a weather radio nearby, but it’s not feasible at work or school); I’d rather they be tested too often than not often enough to find problems.
From this thread, it sounds like regular tests are more common than not in areas where sirens are installed.
Our 'burb has one of the latest & greatest citywide siren/PA systems. Tested at 0900 the first Monday of every month.
This is pretty much ops normal throughout the urban/suburban USA.
I read somewhere (sorry, no cite) that the Sacramento sirens will be used to warn us when there’s a levee failure & the city is about to flood.
Heh. I used to think that deer crossing signs were to let the deer know it was a good place to cross the road.
My little town doesn’t have a siren – the city buys a weather radio for everyone who lives here. But we’re looking into getting a siren – the radio’s no help if it goes off when you’re outside. They’re expensive though – about 10 grand, and there’s the issue of who will turn the thing on. “Tornado coming! Joe, go turn on the siren!” “Hell no, I ain’t goin’ out there!”
I work in a town where the siren goes off every day at noon. It makes me nervous too.
I remember when I worked in suburban Rosemont (Chicago) we had a new guy, Ray, from Palestine and the usual monthly test went off and he got all panicky. He was like “Oh my GOD, what’s happening, what do we do?”
So would that be a Moose Woosh?
Well, in all seriousness, the base I am stationed at got nailed by the Andover Tornado back in 1991. As you can imagine, a big flat pavement-covered area several square miles in size is not the best place to be caught off guard by a tornado, so we are fans of our Disembodied Omnipotent Voice (oh, and the obnoxious pop-up Alert messages that they can send to all of the computers on base)
Actually, I’m a fan of our base’s Giant Voice system just because it’s how I met my fiance. The tornado siren went off, and we met while standing on the balcony of the dorms looking for the tornado.
I grew up in Tornado Alley so I know all about the tornado sirens.When we lived in Omaha we had one of the sirens down at the end of our block. It was so loud it made your hair stand on end and your skin physically hurt. It went off a couple of times in the middle of the night and scared the crap out of everyone in the neighborhood.
I wish we had them here in Florida. I’d like one for my own,personal use. Perhaps my next door neighbor wouldn’t be so cavalier the next time she decides to yammer on her cell phone at 3 AM underneath my bedroom window.
The CD sirens here used to be installed (mostly) on top of police stations or occasionally on telegraph poles. By the 1990s the system would have needed a substantial amount spent to upgrade it and the government scrapped it all.
My father told me that when he was growing up in the 50’s and 60’s in Los Angeles, they tested the air raid sirens every Friday afternoon. He always thought that if the Russians had any sort of brains, they would attack on Friday afternoon. That way, people would just go on about their business, ignoring the siren “crying wolf.”
They used to test the sirens every Saturday morning when I was a kid in Whitby, Ontario. No idea whether they still do.
You should have downloaded this warning. For when you want your nuclear apocalypse as fun as possible.
I think the sirens are checked same time every week to get people used to the sound and remembering what they are, and after a while you go, “oh yeah, it’s noon Wednesday, they’re testing the tornado siren again.” Then when it goes off at a different time, like 6 pm on a Thursday, everyone really pays attention, because they know what the siren is and it’s definitely not the right time or day.
(I have no idea what they’d do if a real one happened around a test time - probably keep the siren running longer to make people pay attention, then they’d start checking the news reports.)