In a letter printed on July 16, Joshua Marks suggests the need for a tornado siren in Mount Airy (“Mount Airy needs a warning siren“). There are a couple of problems with this suggestion.
A tornado siren does not turn on automatically; it would have to be activated by the National Weather Service in the event of a Tornado Warning. For the tornado that struck Mount Airy on Nov. 2, 2018, which damaged my house, the NWS did not issue a Tornado Warning. There wasn’t even a watch or storm warning. It was a surprise. Had there been a siren, nobody would have turned it on.
I lived in Oklahoma for several years. Tornado sirens are more effective there as the land is flat, so the sound travels over considerable distances. Here in a more hilly region, the siren would be blocked by the hills and would only be heard in a small area.
We need to rely on modern technology, alerts sent to phones or weather radios. And better predictions from the weather forecasters.
— Steve Lichtman, Mount Airy
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