Why do sirens go off at noon

In the Quad Cities area, this is on the first Tuesday of each month. Check with your local officials to get the specific day for your community. People should be indoors and monitoring local media for updates on the storm.

Why are the outdoor warning sirens sometimes sounded for hail and wind? When thunderstorm winds exceed 70 mph, trees can be uprooted or snapped. Hail that is golf ball sized or larger can break windows. Both of these things pose a direct risk to life if people are caught outdoors. An increasing number of communities inlcuding in the Quad Cities area are incorporating these threats into their outdoor warning siren policies.

How often can I expect the outdoor warning sirens to sound for severe weather? On average, the Quad City area experiences 5 storms each year that meet the common siren guidelines.

You can find information about past storms and their frequency in your community through the National Climatic Data Center. Will the outdoor warning sirens warn me of every dangerous storm? The safest approach is to be proactive and use all of the information available to protect yourself and your family from threatening weather. Nothing can replace common sense. What do the sirens mean in my town? Sirens may be sounded multiple times for the same severe weather threats.

There is no all-clear signal from sirens. If you hear a siren, the best reaction is to go indoors and tune in to local media for information. What does it mean when you hear a tornado siren? Once again, the sirens are an outdoor warning system. Hearing the sirens just means it is not safe to be outside and individuals should go inside, take shelter and find out what is going on.

How far can a tornado siren be heard? Tornado sirens only have an audible footprint of one to two miles, meaning that you have to be within that, in any direction, of the siren to be able to hear it. Keeping that in mind, during the rain and hail that comes along with many severe storms, it becomes even harder to hear a siren at a distance.

How can you tell the difference between sirens? Ambulances generally have the same type of siren but they're louder because the speaker is usually on the outside of the ambulance. What do you do when a tornado siren goes off?

How long ago did they start? What is the reasoning for it? Does this happen just in our immediate area or other parts of the state as well? The sirens are self-charging, but overcharging can damage them. So, Sierzchula said, at noon Monday through Friday they set them off from the Center for 20 seconds. That adjusts the charge and keeps the batteries from burning out. He pointed out the air horn is used for the daily blasts rather than the weather warning signals to avoid confusion.

The siren sounds for 1 minute and 26 seconds without interruption. This is a test signal so there is nothing to worry about. The sirens are never tested on a national or religious holiday or Remembrance Day, even if they fall on the first Monday in the month.

If the siren sounds repeatedly, it means that there is an emergency of some kind.