Niles, MI - Berrien County silent sirens

[Oldiesmann]

These people are idiots. I sincerely hope they change their policies after this. You can't wait until you actually see a tornado to sound the sirens - by that time it's likely too late for anyone to take cover.

[JasonC]

These people are idiots. I sincerely hope they change their policies after this. You can't wait until you actually see a tornado to sound the sirens - by that time it's likely too late for anyone to take cover.

Idk...considering 85% of tornado warnings issued are false, I'd rather wait till the last minute and have everyone heed shelter rather than dismissing it as nothing.

[500 AT fan]

Better safe than sorry. Much safer to have an early warning system, but only the cities that they know are going to get slammed have the sirens go off, as opposed to the entire county.

There will be complaints if the warning is a dud, but would you rather have the sirens go of at last minute, only to find out the tornado's already trashed half the city?

[Oldiesmann]

These people are idiots. I sincerely hope they change their policies after this. You can't wait until you actually see a tornado to sound the sirens - by that time it's likely too late for anyone to take cover.

Idk...considering 85% of tornado warnings issued are false, I'd rather wait till the last minute and have everyone heed shelter rather than dismissing it as nothing.

That's my point. If there is an actual tornado, by the time you spot it and sound the sirens, residents would have little to no warning time.

[SirenMadness]

Most of the public, as well as a few of the people who run the system, seem to be skimming over the fact that sirens should also serve as a sign to those who are outdoors to find the nearest possible source of radio or TV they can find if possible during a high-risk period, which does kinda sound last-minute, but that's when a prior warning would sound most justifiable. If the conditions are extrememely bad and approaching the level of a confirmed tornado, the sirens should be sounded. The sirens aren't there to tell you a tornado has touched down; they're there so that you can get to shelter and preferrably also tune in to broadcasting station if possible. If there's lightning on the field, I'm getting out of there while I still haven't got hit yet.

[erik92da]

Now, after doing some research, I am POSITIVE that it was an ACA Hurricane painted dark gray. While the Hurricane is now gone, there is a Whelen somewhat nearby, which explains the "talking" I heard back then. I wonder if the Cook system was all Hurricanes back in the day?

You're exactly correct. I can remember seeing several Hurricanes around the Cook Nuclear Power Plant back in 1976-1977. Ironically, they were all painted dark gray, rather than the traditional yellow that was used at Davis Besse in Ohio. With that said, I would have loved to heard them go off for their monthly test.

Thanks for confirming what I thought I remembered. That was the first time I had heard a real, powerful siren nearby. Looking at the videos of them on youtube now, I can understand why it scared the crap out of me back then.

[erik92da]

The Whelens in Berrien county all look fairly new. My parents have a summer/ weekend place near Niles. I believe either last summer or the summer before, I saw an ACA siren next to almost every whelen. The whelens had fresh dirt around the base of the poles and most of the ACA's were disconnected. Models varied from banshees to p-10-15's.

Some may be new, but I remember at least hearing voice sirens back around 1990, along with the old Hurricane in St. Joe. Niles still has at least one Allertor, and they are out of the range of the Cook plant, so the newer Whelens may just be for Niles.