Test Sirens Blare in the Midwest With at Least One Hiccup

Tornado sirens blared across parts of the Midwest this week, including one by accident and one that’s just the first of what will become a monthly occurrence.

Dakota County, Neb., residents heard this week the first of what will become a test warning on the first Monday of every month as the county’s Emergency Management Agency tested its outdoor siren.

“The sirens help alert the community of severe weather and the need to find shelter and seek information,” the agency wrote in a Facebook post. “Sirens are for outdoor warning purposes and not meant to be heard indoors. Hearing a siren is a signal to get indoors and seek additional information.”

The city of Joplin, Mo., tested sirens this week as well, when the state Emergency Management Agency and the National Weather Service conducted a tornado drill. The tornado sirens ran for three minutes, just as they would during an actual working.

David Holden, the city’s emergency management director, said in a statement to the Joplin Globe, “The sirens warn anyone out of doors to go indoors, if possible, and take shelter. People indoors cannot always expect to hear the outdoor warning sirens.”

Tornado sirens also sounded in Kansas City, Mo., this week as part of the state’s annual weather safety drill.

“The statewide drill provides schools, businesses and families with an opportunity to test their planning and readiness to be able to quickly seek appropriate shelter in case of a real severe weather emergency,” the state’s Storm Aware website said.

And in the Duluth, Minn., area, the local sheriff’s office accidentally sounded an emergency siren rather than the test siren that usually goes off on the first Wednesday of every month

“A lot of people likely aren’t aware there’s a difference between the test tone and the tone for a real emergency, but for those who do know, this may have caused concern, and for that we apologize,” Dewey Johnson, emergency support services administrator for the St. Louis County Sheriff’s Office said, according to the Star Tribune.

He said a staff member inadvertently pressed the wrong button.