Severe Thunderstorms 2-27(Sun) to 2-28-(Mon)2011

[bamx2]

Bamx, Thanks but the infomation I have posted is Correct. When we are under a Tornado Watch along with a Severe Thunderstorm Warning for Marion County the sirens DO go off. Please feel free to listen to MECA and any of the IMPD MET Dist Talkgroups where you will hear Meca control Operators making this statement that I heard last night. The same thing happens everytime we have Severe Weather in Marion County. If you will listen to the 146.760 Marion County Servere Weather Net BOB,Net Control puts out the Following"The reason why the sirens are going off is becuase of EMA" We are under a Tornado Watch and a Severe Thunderstorm Warning for Marion County"Bob gets his infomation from EMA and that is what a Contact with Marion County EMA told him!!!!! That is their written policy.Yes the sirens went off for a reason.(3) Times after Midnight on Monday 2-28-2011 02:30 AM on 2-28-2011.I live down the street from (3) Marion County Sirens and they all went off at the smae time. My Siren is located at 7500 North Michigan Road. **This protocall has been in place now for 2-3 Years now**

You just repeated what I said. They set them off for a Severe Thunderstorm Warning under a Tornado Watch.

They do not set them off for a Tornado Watch when no warnings are in effect.

 

[Viper43]

Actually rdale, the NWS looked at it as did CH 13 weather casters and they showed the radar at the time the tornado hit. It was pretty obvious there was rotation according to the screen that was showing. NWS hasn't said anything except to confirm it was a tornado. Anyway I was just pointing out the fact that the sirens never went off for anything and there was an actuall touchdown. Also I pointed out that the NWS didn't even include this part of the county in a severe thunderstorm warning even though the tv weather casters at two stations mentioned the county. Unfortunately for some the sirens don't go off because the tv weather caster sees something the NWS misses.

 

[rdale]

Thanks bamx, I'm headed to Indy today for the safety conference and will grab the radar data from around that time to take a look.

Viper, more than 70% of strong storms have some sort of rotation yet less than 1% have a tornado. There's more to tornado forecasting than just seeing some spin on radar -- but the fix is not sounding the sirens for every rumble of thunder. That's just plain uninformed.

 

[W9NES]

Thanks Viper 43, You are CORRECT 100%. The Marion County EMA sirens do go off for a Tornado Watch and they also go off for a Severe Thunderstorm Watch or a Tornado Warning. No bamx 2 again is not correct. They do go off for Seperate Events and not all at the same time.**This policy for Marion County EMA has been in effect for 2-3Years .Source:Marion County EMA Contact

 

[rdale]

The Marion County EMA sirens do go off for a Tornado Watch and they also go off for a Severe Thunderstorm Watch

For the love of... Would you PLEASE stop talking when you don't know what you're talking about. Not even close. They do NOT go off when a severe thunderstorm watch is issued. Not.

Check with your contact again. You misunderstood.

 

[bubbabrandon]

Marion County Emergency Sirens

Thought I would stick my head out and give my 2 cents in...

http://www.indy.gov/eGov/City/DPS/DHS/PDF/Emergency Warning Systems v2010.pdf

Here is the Protocol for setting off the sirens in Marion County....

 

[rdale]

Thanks bubba... I figured NES was completely wrong.

Still think sounding them for 1inch hail just because it occurs inside a tornado watch area is ridiculous, but if that is what the citizens demand then so be it...

 

[W9NES]

If I am so wrong Rdale, Then why did I make a call to (MCEM) Marion County Emegency Mangement and I talked direct with the Director and.BOB W9MVP net Control along with Richard K9RAG for The Marion County Severe Weather Net.I was told by all (3) that the sirens DO GO OFF for a Severe Thunderstorm Watch or a Tornado Watch. This is not related to doing both at the same time. A Severe Thunderstorm Warning or a Tornado Warning is set off again as a seperate event.I know as I live under a MCEM siren at 7500 North Michigan Road and I have heard this going on Real time. They(The Sirens) are set off for Single events. The MECA Supervisor in charge of the shift is the one who sets off the Siren Network across Metro Indianapolis/Marion County.

 

[kb9sxk]

Metro Indianapolis/Marion County EMA ** Emergency Mangement Agency** has a policy now that within Metro Indianapolis/Marion County they** have to sound the EMA sirens for Tornado and Severe Thunderstorm Watches along with Tornado and Severe Thunderstorm Warnings**

Tim, I need to see this in writing. I can not comprehend any community sounding warning sirens for a watch.

 

[kb9sxk]

Thought I would stick my head out and give my 2 cents in...

http://www.indy.gov/eGov/City/DPS/DHS/PDF/Emergency Warning Systems v2010.pdf

Here is the Protocol for setting off the sirens in Marion County....

Made a phone call. confirmed this.

 

[W9NES]

. The MECA Supervisor is the one who sets off the Siren Network in Metro Indianapolis/Marion County. MCEM only does it Mon-Fri 8AM-4:30pm. Weekends and Holidays and after hours overnights are done by The MECA Supervisor on Duty. Protcall is not being followed.Plese feel free to talk to any Resdients and Ham Radio Operators in Metro Indianapolis/Marion County.Protocall???What you have posted is what EMA has written on this. The point of order here is that they are not following the written SOP. Please ask a Ham Radio Operator who has been up all Sunday Night 2-27-2011 to Early Monday Morning 2-28-2011. I was that operator and heard the Siren go off in my Backyard. They also went off Countywide.Had many Hams asking Net Control "Why are the sirens go off so may times" MECA also put out on IMPD- MET-NW 1 for Beat 82 and all Northwest Units along with FIRE-DSP Put it out also that the reasons why the sirens were going off to much was becuase of the Severe Weather in the Metro Indainapolis/Marion County area.They were getting calls for Citizens overloading the 911 Center.I also heard Road Officers along with Fire asking the same thing. If this keeps up.People will be ignoring the sirens and then there will be a major loss of life in the Metro Indianapolis/Marion County area.

 

[usswood]

In all fairness to the NWS...the storms were moving and developing at incredible speeds...The radar does not sweep fast enough to detect tornadoes that spin up and die after 2 or 3 miles and are on the ground for less than 5 mins...just let this be a good lesson for whats to come that when the Jet stream is over head anything can happen and usually does...and it happens QUICK! Indiana Tornadoes are not like the long lived ones we all see out west...they are usually skinny, low altitude storms and happen then are gone...every now and then do we get a classic EF3 or 4 that is clearly visible on the radar...now with this said are the policies on warning on certain storms need to be looked at? perhaps NWS is in need of revising its policy on warning on Tornadoes in IL and IN....I looked at the data on the storm that was warned on for Vigo and Clay, and although the radar briefly showed a TVS the return itself didn't show a wall hook echo..and I have seen radar wall hooks go unwarned by NWS because they were focused else where at the time, or didn't consider it a true hook (huh)...So I have seen it both ways over the years...More hands on from us spotters will really be need this year!!!!

I might add a few years back we had a classic MESO go right over TH and NWS had a warning on it as it approached TH and you could clearly see, lookin at it, the rotation in the wall cloud but thankfully it never lowered

 

[W9NES]

Thanks ussword for your post. Maybe counties in The State of Indiana that have EMA need to look at there policies about warning the public.A lot of the residents across the state have "Police Scanners" and do keep a ear on local PD and Fire and the local Ham Radio Repeater for what is going on in the city or county instead of a Weather Alert Radio.Maybe Indiana Homeland Security needs to get with all of the EMA directors and have a standard Written SOP and a MOU** Memoradium of Understanding** between EMA, Homeland Security,Local PD and Fire along with Amateur Radio Communications. This way WE all would know that we are all on this same page when it comes to Severe Weather in The State of Indiana.

 

[homebuilt]

Just curious how many they had watching the radar? What areas were they looking at?

Did you go back in time and check the radar to see what it showed? What would be even better is if you pulled up the time in question, removed the map so people wouldn't know where the tornado occurred, and show it to met's to see if they can find the tornado.

It's possible they "blew it" - but it's just as possible that the technology isn't there to detect every individual tornado in the world.

And the end result is - now that Marion Co is sounding the sirens every time a bird farts - is that nobody is going to acknowledge the sirens anymore anywa.s

Whoa! Radar technology isn't everything. This is exacty why the National Weather Service asks for the help of Weather Spotters. Anybody can look at radar, but exactly what does it tell you about a given location at a given time? There is no substitute for eyes on location!

 

[rdale]

Of course it isn't... But at 2am, very few spotters and no chasers are out, so you need to rely much more on radar than eyeballs during nighttime events. Neither are as reliable.

 

[W9NES]

When the sirens go off and you have a Alert Radio near you bedside that plants you on the celling I disagree.Metro Indianapolis/Marion County had spotters out from Ham Radio.Yes Spotters were out and doing our Job in Metro Indianapolis/Marion County protecting our county from harm!!!!!!

 

[rdale]

Did you send your EMA contact the link to the policy above? Strange that your friend doesn't have a clue what they actually do there...

 

[W9NES]

I have been a ACTIVE member of The Marion County Severe Weather Net since getting licensed as a Ham Radio Operator in 1992. I do what I can along with others in Metro Indianapolis/Marion County everytime we have Severe Weather in my area.(All) of us who are Ham Radio Operators have been thru the Skywarn class that is put on every year by NWS Indianapolis.We serve Metro Indianapolis/Marion County and we do get the job done. We are very active and are out everytime when we are needed.When NWS calls for Marion County to come up we are there to assist the NWS and EMA.This is the reason why I keep a scanner on MECA Overnight, A Midland WR-100 Weather Alert Monitor set up for Marion and the Surrounding Counites to the West and Southwest of Indianapolis.I also carry a Motorola Mintor pager with me set up 162.550 for Indianapolis Weather when I am away from home. I keep well informed when we have severe weather in the Metro Indianapolis/Marion County area.I also go thru the skywarn class every year to help NWS.