🚀 go-pugleaf

Since I have been busy the past week I have not had much opportunity to
carry on the discussion concerning CD sirens. But in response to Peter Law's
comments yesterday, this may be a good time.

I am not a representative of the NWS, but I am the ARES Emergency
Coordinator for Sarpy County, NE (which is part of the Omaha metro area so I
can only comment on the procedures in place in the state of Nebraska. It is
not the responsibility of the NWS to sound the sirens. They can only issue
the warnings and hope/assume that the respective county takes appropriate
action. So the responsibility rests on the shoulders of the county
EMA/CD/Fire official who's duty it is to set them off. Many folks do not
realize that it is not the NWS's resposibility to send out spotters. That
also is the call of the local officials. The only warning responsibility
that the NWS has is NOAA Wx Radio, and NAWAS(Radio/Teletype) to local
agencies.

In the Omaha metro area the poicy in place is that the sirens will be set off
under one or more of the following conditions:
    1. A funnel cloud is reported by a recognized spotter.
    2. A funnel cloud is reported by a law enforcement officer.
    3. 3 or more reports of a funnel cloud by the general public and if
         possible verified by a spotter or law enforcement officer, or by NWS
         radar.
     4. The county Emergency Management Director wants them set off.

Last year in fact, the county EMA officials were even discussing the
possibility of sounding the sirens during severe WX that was producing
straight line winds in excess of 60 mph as well as during non tornado
related emergencies such as a chemical/gas leak, flash floods, etc.
The issue fell to the wayside for now because they could not agree on who's
responsible for the cost of rewiring the sirens so that only one could be
set off at a time in the affected area.

As I stated in an earlier post , Woodbury Co., Iowa (which encompasses
Sioux City, IA) the county has decided to disarm the system completely
because it was apparently too expensive to maintain/replace broken sirens.

As to the "finger pointing"  in Ft. Smith,  it is obvious that someone
dropped the ball. Who is to blame?? That depends. If the county/city
officials did not get the warning in enough time...then perhaps it was NWS's
fault. Were there spotters out in the area? Do you even have spotters in the
area?
You also need to realize folks (and the NWS will back me up on this) that
despite the marvelous things that the new NEXRAD can do it is subject to
antennuation during heavy rain in the vicinity of the radar site (for those
less technical it would be like shining a flashlight beam at a mirror...the
beam is reflected everywhere). That is as any spotter will tell you, a very
tense time period, since your are in a sense "flying blind". So it is
conceivable that .."yes" the NWS could in effect be paralyzed for how ever
long the heavy rain lasts and the radar image is restored to something
usable. It has happend a few times here in Omaha since they put it in.
Almost as if it were TOO sensitive. How about blaming it on Congress?
Yeah...that's the ticket !  Perhaps if they would not  have closed down some
of the smaller NWS ofiices they could do their job faster and with more
efficency. The NWS in Omaha inherited 40 counties in their warning area last
year due to closure of  3 offices in E Nebraska.

Ron Clark    N0POM
Emergency Coordinator-Sarpy County, NE
E-Mail  ronc@top.net
             a0321544@metro.mccneb.edu
Packet  N0POM@WB0BLR.#WIA.IA.USA.NA

P.S.   Well I did it again!  I forgot the .cso part of the address and it
was returned un-opened.  DAH! Too late for the 11:00 news too. Oh well
better late than never!
Ron Clark    N0POM
Emergency Coordinator-Sarpy County, NE
E-Mail  ronc@top.net
             a0321544@metro.mccneb.edu
Packet  N0POM@WB0BLR.#WIA.IA.USA.NA