What do you do when the tornado sirens go off?

In 16 years, I've had my house missed twice by tornados. Once right over the top, and once by a block. I watched one play in the corn field across the road (by the trailer court), and I've helped pick up trees after being missed. The siren goes off, I head to the basement, turn on the tv and wait for my wife to come out of the shelter. You are only wrong once a with a tornado. Mn has a good warning system. It keeps deaths down, but nothing stops the damage.
 
We get one every now and then in Central Ohio. We scoop up the dog and our two cats and head to the basement where I get on the computer and check the weather until the warning passes.
 
Don't have a siren near by, not sure if they have one in town or not, which is about 7 miles away.
Just check the weather a couple times a day and if the animals start to get nervous, I do too!
 
Well, usually by the time the sirens go off, I'm sitting out at the airport in my Jeep acting as a weather spotter for the local Emergency Management office. I can't recall a time that weather that bad has caught me unawares. I'm usually glued to the TV, computer & scanner for at least a couple of hours before anything that serious happens.
 
having survived one(5-31-1985-28 yrs ago today!) in one of the worst outbreaks up until that time, i don't get too worried. i watch the sky with a clean run to the basement and the kiddoes close enough to grab...

it was this outbreak when NWS decided it needed a better warning system as almost all of the victims had not known there were tornadoes.
 
What is this "siren" of which yall speak? And whats a "tornado"?

I guess we are blessed down here, we only have to worry about twisters in a hurricane, and those are NOTHING compared to the big ones out west.... maybe you get your roof torn up and house gets wet here LOL.....

I was a weather bubba in the military, so I stand "like a fool idiot..." gawking.... like i can actually DO anything about it.... hahaha
 
when we have bad weather forecasted I have the scanner on and watch the cat. if he tears out for the bedroom closet I go out and look with the scanner in my hand. only once have we gone to the closet with him and the tornado was less than half mile away. F3 that took 8 lives that day in our county. watch the animals. they know. lee
 
We had a F4 here on 2/9/13 that went right through the middle of Hattiesburg, Ms. Jr. and I were walking out of Gander Mountain when the sirens went off. These things usually travel toward the east/ northeast so we went south. We missed it by five minutes. I had one a few years ago that I was looking for (and found) and it splattered so much mud down the left side of the cruiser that I couldn't see. As it passed it washed it all off. The cruiser shook violently and the only damage I got was I lost one of the antennaes. (sp?) When Katrina came through there were so many F1's you couldn't count them all. We don't have basements because they fill up with water. I've got a reinforced bathroom with no windows that so far I haven't had to use. We've been lucky so far. Besides the 2/9/13 tornado and the Katrina stuff, the only other one we've had lately is one on Christmas Day 2012 about four miles south of here. However, in 2001 Leland and I had to wait for one to pass between us before we could leave for the Tulsa Gun Show.
 
If there is anything on the radar that looks like it could produce a tornado, all of the sirens in the parish go off even if the storm is 20 miles away. Most people that I know just ignore them because there are few tornados here. Even if a real one shows up there is no place to hide other than an interior room.

I usually look at the radar. 99% of the time there is nothing close to me, but I keep an eye on the radar just in case.
 
indiandave said:
My wife was in a twister once. It lifted her house and she ended up in Oz. The house killed some old witch.
I think they should make a movie about it!
Click to expand...

There's always one smart-***... :D

Correction: on this forum there are invariably several smart-***es.

By the way, the witch the house fell on was my fifth grade teacher.
 
Back about 25 years ago I was a DJ at a local radio station. I was told if there is a tornado in the listening area, meaning a fairly small area in this case, I had to stay on the air constantly, with no music, news or commercials and give weather updates. This station sat up on a hill. I asked if I saw a twister coming at the station was I really expected to stay there? They said that was the law.:eek: Uh huh. Ain't gonna happen. Fortunately it never did, although we did have some interesting times on-air.

A few weeks ago I was conducting a surveillance in Des Moines. It was light, and all of sudden, it's dark. Was sprinkling, and now a torrential downpour, which turned into hail. Turned on WHO radio, and they are broadcasting constant weather updates, with no breaks. Found a place to sit that was slightly sheltered and waited it out. Lots of tornadic activity all around the city, but nothing visible where I was off of I35. Missus P&R Fan kept calling and telling me to be careful. "Gee, Doll, I hadn't thought of that. I usually drive with my eyes closed".:D Finally caught up with the subject of my surveillance later. Everything worked out fine.

Tornado? I ain't skeered of no tornado.:cool:
Jim
 
Normally I turn on the tv and check the weather alerts then go to the window and watch the sky. I have seen several tornados, only one was close enough to cause me to seek shelter. When the storm passed the path of the tornado was less than a half mile away. Years later one passed over my house while I was driving home from work. It took half of the neighbor's roof and destroyed two homes directly behind me. I lost some shingles and a few trees, my patio furniture was never seen again...
 
We lost our OEM director back in December. I don't think any of the people running it now, know how to turn them on. I'll go out and look around, say a little prayer for everyone's safety, and go back in the house.
 
Usually when the sirens go off my wife asks "Do you think we should head to the basement?" We both laugh and go back to whatever we were doing because the house has no basement. Though going outside and looking around for funnel clouds is usually next on the list if it is daylight.
 
Lee Barner said:
when we have bad weather forecasted I have the scanner on and watch the cat...watch the animals. they know.
Click to expand...

They certainly do. And not just bad weather. There were lots of stories of animals heading for high ground before the monster tsunami in the Pacific a few years ago.
 
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