{"id":11568018,"date":"2025-07-19T11:28:19","date_gmt":"2025-07-19T15:28:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.baltimoresun.com\/?p=11568018"},"modified":"2025-07-19T11:52:50","modified_gmt":"2025-07-19T15:52:50","slug":"would-a-tornado-siren-work-in-mount-airy-reader-commentary","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.baltimoresun.com\/2025\/07\/19\/would-a-tornado-siren-work-in-mount-airy-reader-commentary\/","title":{"rendered":"Would a tornado siren work in Mount Airy? | READER COMMENTARY"},"content":{"rendered":"

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<\/a>“). There are a couple of problems with this suggestion.<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

We need to rely on modern technology, alerts sent to phones or weather radios. And better predictions from the weather forecasters.<\/p>\n

\u2014 Steve Lichtman, Mount Airy<\/p>\n

Add your voice: Respond to this piece or other Carroll County Times content by\u00a0submitting your own letter<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

There are problems with the idea of installing warning sirens in Mount Airy, writes Steve Lichtman.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":234,"featured_media":11450053,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"apple_news_api_created_at":"2025-07-19T15:28:21Z","apple_news_api_id":"32ffd2c1-3337-4b9a-a20a-a701f60e7ac9","apple_news_api_modified_at":"2025-07-19T15:52:52Z","apple_news_api_revision":"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA==","apple_news_api_share_url":"https:\/\/apple.news\/AMv_SwTM3S5qiCqcB9g56yQ","apple_news_coverimage":0,"apple_news_coverimage_caption":"","apple_news_is_hidden":false,"apple_news_is_paid":false,"apple_news_is_preview":false,"apple_news_is_sponsored":false,"apple_news_maturity_rating":"","apple_news_metadata":"\"\"","apple_news_pullquote":"","apple_news_pullquote_position":"middle","apple_news_slug":"","apple_news_sections":[],"apple_news_suppress_video_url":false,"apple_news_use_image_component":false,"subheadline":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[75,80,81],"tags":[],"feature":[],"location":[],"type-of-work":[],"coauthors":[7778],"class_list":["post-11568018","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-carroll-county-times","category-cct-latest-headlines","category-cct-opinion"],"post_status":"","edit_last":0,"edit_lock":0,"highlights":"","original_byline":"","original_canonical":"","original_category":"","original_email":"","original_id":0,"original_pubdate":"","original_source":"","primary_section":"81","primary_tag":0,"print_workflow_body":{"deck_headline":"","print_title":"","print_subheadline":"","print_priority":"","print_placement":"cover","print_planned_ready":"","print_pub_date":"","print_slug":"CCT-L-","print_content":"","print_budget_line":"","print_excerpt":"","print_notes":"","photo_limits":"Photo limits are: 1 featured image, 5 featured gallery images, 5 embedded gallery images and 5 in-article embedded images. 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