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Good Question: Who Sounds The Weather Sirens?

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Jun 2, 2008 10:47 pm US/Central

Good Question: Who Sounds The Weather Sirens?

Reporting
Jason DeRusha
CHANHASSEN, Minn. (WCCO) ― Minnesota's outdoor siren network has had quite a workout over the past two weeks. From the tornado in Hugo on May 25 to severe weather on May 31 sirens throughout the metro area have been sounding. So who pushes the button?

"We don't sound the sirens," said Todd Krause, meteorologist with the National Weather Service office in Chanhassen.

According to Krause, his office did have that power more than 20 years ago.

"There was one big switch, and we had to get a key to turn on the siren. It would activate the sirens in the entire metro," said Krause.

In the weather service office, there is a map with 16 zones, covering the entire Twin Cities area. Four counties are their own zone, but five other counties are subdivided. Hennepin has four zones while Carver, Washington, Dakota and Anoka are both split in two.

When funnel clouds and strong hail blew through the area on Saturday, May 31, the National Weather Service targeted certain areas for warnings.

"On Saturday we first recommended northern Hennepin. We did not recommend Bloomington and Richfield ever," said Krause.

"When a warning is issued, the first thing we'll do is contact the State Patrol," he explained.

The weather service has a dedicated phone line provided by the Federal Emergency Management Agency, which is a direct link to State Patrol districts around Minnesota. The State Patrol then notifies the affected counties. At the same time, the warning information is being sent out via teletype machine into local county dispatch centers.

"From when I hit the send button, they sound in a matter of seconds really," said Capt. Rick Mulek, Communications Coordinator for the Hennepin County Sheriff's Office.

The sirens are activated from within the Hennepin County 911 dispatch center in Golden Valley. A dispatcher selects the zone and then hits two "Send" buttons simultaneously.

"So if you bumped it, it won't go off," explained Mulek. The sirens sound for approximately five minutes, but according to Mulek, just because the sirens wind down, that doesn't mean the danger has passed.

Each county has its own protocol for deciding when to sound the sirens. They can choose to sound the siren independent of the National Weather Service recommendation in the event that a trained spotter sees a funnel cloud. Sirens also can be used in the event of an emergency, like a chemical spill.

Mulek said he could pick an individual siren to activate, however, "We'd have to get out the operations manual, go through it manually picking the city, then picking a series of particular sirens. That takes time, a lot of time."

All counties sound sirens for tornado warnings, but some, like Dakota County, sound the sirens for thunderstorm warnings as well.

(© MMIX, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.)

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