Statewide Tornado Drill

[Thunderbolt]

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NOUS43 KDTX 271341
PNSDTX
MIZ001>085-281200-

PUBLIC INFORMATION STATEMENT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE DETROIT/PONTIAC MI
900 AM EDT TUE MAR 27 2007

...THIS IS SEVERE WEATHER AWARENESS WEEK FROM MARCH 25TH THROUGH
MARCH 31ST...

ON WEDNESDAY...MARCH 28TH...THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE...WILL
CONDUCT A STATEWIDE TORNADO DRILL. TEST TORNADO WARNINGS AND
STATEMENTS WILL START AT APPROXIMATELY 11 AM AND LAST UNTIL NOON.

EACH NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE OFFICE IN MICHIGAN WILL CONDUCT
TEST TORNADO DRILLS FOR THEIR COUNTY WARNING AREA. THE FOLLOWING
SCHEDULE WILL BE FOLLOWED...

11 AM EDT... TEST SPECIAL WEATHER STATEMENT ANNOUNCING THE START
OF THE STATEWIDE DRILL.

BETWEEN 11 AM EDT AND 1130 AM EDT... EACH NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE OFFICE
SERVING MICHIGAN... DETROIT/PONTIAC... GAYLORD... GRAND
RAPIDS...MARQUETTE...AND NORTHERN INDIANA...WILL ISSUE
TEST TORNADO WARNINGS FOR COUNTIES IN MICHIGAN.

BETWEEN 1130 AM EDT AND 1145 AM EDT... EACH NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE
OFFICE IN MICHIGAN WILL ISSUE TEST SEVERE WEATHER
STATEMENTS...CANCELING THE TEST TORNADO WARNING THAT
WAS ISSUED.

BETWEEN 1145 AM EDT AND NOON EDT...TEST SPECIAL WEATHER STATEMENT
ANNOUNCING THE END OF THE STATEWIDE DRILL.

THESE TEST WARNINGS WILL BE SENT TO ALL WIRE SERVICES INCLUDING THE
NOAA WEATHER WIRE SERVICE. THE TEST TORNADO WARNINGS WILL ALSO BE
BROADCAST ON THE NOAA WEATHER RADIO ALL HAZARDS USING THE EAS/SAME
CODE OF RWT (ROUTINE WEEKLY TEST).

EVERYONE IS ENCOURAGED TO PARTICIPATE IN THE TEST WARNING FOR YOUR
AREA. NOW IS THE TIME TO REVIEW YOUR SEVERE WEATHER PLANS. KNOW
WHAT TO DO AND WHERE TO GO IF A WARNING IS ISSUED FOR YOUR AREA.

THROUGHOUT THIS WEEK...THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE WILL ISSUE
PUBLIC INFORMATION STATEMENTS DESCRIBING SOME OF THE THINGS YOU
SHOULD KNOW IN THE EVENT OF SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS...TORNADOES...
AND FLASH FLOODS. EDUCATIONAL MATERIAL IS AVAILABLE UPON REQUEST.
CALL OR WRITE YOUR LOCAL NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE OFFICE...THE
RED CROSS...OR YOUR LOCAL EMERGENCY MANAGEMENT OFFICE.

EDUCATIONAL MATERIAL CAN ALSO BE VIEWED OVER THE INTERNET AT
HTTP://[URL="http://www.weather.gov/om/brochures.shtml"]WWW.WEATHER.GOV/OM/BROCHURES.SHTML[/URL]

OTHER OUTREACH INFORMATION CAN BE FOUND OVER THE INTERNET AT
HTTP://WWW.NWS.NOAA.GOV/OM/REACHOUT/INDEX.SHTML

ON WEDNESDAY...WE WILL TAKE A LOOK AT TORNADO SAFETY RULES.
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[Thunderbolt]

FYI: Oakland County will activate their outdoor warning sirens at 11:30 a.m.

73s

Ron

 

[policeMonitor]

i heard this on the wether band also

 

[rdale]

FYI: Oakland County will activate their outdoor warning sirens at 11:30 a.m.

That's strange to issue it at that time and apparently ignorning the test warning! Interesting...

 

[BazookaJoe]

That's strange to issue it at that time and apparently ignorning the test warning! Interesting...

The test warning lasts for an hour. I'm sure it's for flexibility so communities can choose the best time to test sirens (or schools to do a drill). The NWS doesn't care if you jump on the sirens at 11 or not. If they did, they'd make the warning last 5 minutes.

As a meteorologist-in-study, the SAME tones get me excited. I'll be tuned in to 162.5250 (KZZ-33) at 11! Hooray for severe weather season.

 

[rdale]

That's not how warnings work... The test is there to make sure your communications run well - where you get the warning and act on it as it is real. Most places (that do test) will start when the warning is issued and stop when it is canceled.

 

[BazookaJoe]

I suppose you're right -- they didn't issue the warning until 11:20. Are there any communities that activated their tornado sirens exactly when the warning went out?

 

[mikey60]

That's strange to issue it at that time and apparently ignorning the test warning! Interesting...

Any time the sirens in Oakland County are activated as a test, amateur radio operators, citizens that live near a siren, and various public safety agencies are requested to verify the operation of as many of the 200+ sirens in the county as possible. To make this work effectively, Oakland county scheduled the specific activation time to allow the various spotters around the county to minimize the amount of time that would be needed to verify the operation of as many of the sirens as possible.

For me, it's much easier to get 30-45 minutes off work (I took an early lunch hour) to get to my assigned siren and verify it's operation. If we were told that the test will occur somewhere between 11:00 and Noon but we don't know exactly when, I probably would not have been able to take the time off I needed to cover my assigned siren. Allowing 15 minutes to get to my assigned location and 15 minutes to return to work, I would have to allow for up to 90 minutes of time to be able to participate. While my boss is usually pretty understanding of public service items like this I would probably not have been able to get 90 minutes off work to cover my assigned siren under that circumstance.

I don't know how the other counties handle this test, but Oakland uses it in place of the normal monthly test (we won't have the normal test on April 7th since we had this one).

BTW, the siren I covered did not activate. It's one of the older one-way thunderbolt sirens. Had I not been there to cover it, the county may not have known before the May siren test that it was not operational.

Mike

 

[Thunderbolt]

Lenawee County will be testing their sirens at 17:55 hours on Thursday. They plan on putting each siren through a complete three minute cycle.

73's

Ron

 

[2001scoop]

Lenawee County Tornado Drill

I just contacted the Lenawee County Sheriff's Office they will be doing the tornado drill on April 10th, 2014 at 17:55 hours.