Speaking of restraining orders, I heard something funny yesterday. The owner of the apartment building acrpss the street said something threatening to one of the tenants when he complained about him turning off the heat last month. So the tenant got a restraining order against him and now he can't get within whatever amount of feet of him which means he can't enter his own building! So they're taking it to conciliation court or some such thing. Haha!
Anyone know anything about those weather alert radios? I'm in the market for one for a Christmas gift and only want to spend about $50. Are they pretty similar except some have more bells and whistles than others so cost considerably more? Are they all conected with the National Weather Service? All the help I can get will be most appreciated. :smile:
OT, pretty much any weather radio operates the same, they all receive the weather station broadcasting out of chanhassen.
The only real difference in options is the use of S.A.M.E. (Specific Area Message Encoding) That's so they can send a coded signal out when relaying a weather alert (Basically you put in your zip code, and you'll only get the alerts for weather pertaining to your area).
Thanks you two. :smile: Might be nice to have the localized one though. But does that just limit the alerts you'd get to your zip code? I thought it would be nice to have at the lake too.
Whoooo whoooo! Mark Trail! Does he run in the Strib?
usually they're setup to receive anywhere, it's simply a matter of setting a different zip for the area you're in at the time. Fancier radios might have a way to store them in memory I suppose.
I guess what I'm getting at is that I don't want it to broadcast alerts from all over the country. But it sounds like they only broadcast from the closest weather service, right?
Actually you would never receive alerts from anywhere out of the reach of the local weather service. SAME is more so you don't get a weather alert for plymouth when you're living in woodbury (happens more in the summer with storms).
I'm more concerned about when we're at the lake. The same year that storm went through the Boundary Waters we had a storm go through that took down over 200 trees on our property. Had to have a logger come and clean it up. If we had been up there we would have been sitting outside enjoying the green sky and would have no idea what was coming.
I was up in the BWCA at a 40th birthday party when that storm went through. It was pretty fast moving and the front end was scary as shit. The weird thing was that it was sunny out right afterwards. I didn't know of the damage until I got home 3 days later. Just lots of wind on the front end then lots of rain where we were. The wind was over fast.
A neighbor from up there called us and said we might want to drive up and take a look. Ted and a couple of the kids took off work and we drove up. Didn't see much of anything until we turned down our road and it was just amazing! Our road had trees blown over like match sticks, piled one on top of the other. It looked like a bomb had hit. Our dog couldn't even find the lake because there was no clear place for him to run. The Red Cross even showed up and gave us coffee and donuts.
It's starting to grow back now. Lots of aspen and some of the small pine trees that weren't getting much sun before are getting big. Everything behind the building lot was a mess and nothing on the lake side was touched. So at least I still had my pretty view.
Then someone needs to made the sirens louder or add more where needed. If we're all paying taxes for the system then it should work properly and reach everyone.
And if someone can't hear the sirens at 2am do to poor hearing or being a hard sleeper then I doubt a weather radio will have much more affect on them.
Quit raining on my parade, will ya! We're talking about the son who got to stay up later than the others because he loved to watch the weather report. :smile: They still whine about that. :eyeroll:
the purpose of the siren system isn't to alert people sleeping indoors. its to alert people who happen to be outside, and are consequnently less likely to have access to a tv or radio for receiving said weather warnings. if you manage to hear the sirens inside, its a bonus, but (having grown up with window a/c, i know this first hand) isn't all that common during the summer storm season.
A steady one-minute blast indicates a test of the system. A steady three-minute blast indicates an emergency, and residents are encouraged to immediately turn to radio or television for emergency information. Although sirens are typically used to signal severe weather warnings, there may be other community emergencies requiring wide-spread community notification, and the radio or television will provide details as to the type of emergency.
every blurb i've ever seen written about them targets them to those outdoors. most likely since we're all fat americans when we're indoors we're sitting in front of the tv where we'd get the info in the first place :smile:
I think it's dependent on the county in charge of the EMS.
Some may post something like "The system is not designed or engineered to be heard inside every building in the coverage area. If you are outside when the sirens sound, seek shelter immediately and turn on a TV to a local channel, local radio, or NOAA All-Hazard Weather Radio to be informed of the emergency"
like Ramsey County does to protect itself from those people who claim later they didn't "hear" the sirens.
Hopefully I can capture lightning shots easier on my new camera. I gotta post one I took over at my parents place (they have a bunch of christmas lights up in the house, photo turned out really cool).
The City's outdoor weather warning system has 94 sirens that alert people who are outdoors to seek shelter in the event of a tornado. The system is tested on the first Wednesday of every month at 12:00 noon weather permitting. We do not test the sirens if the weather is bad or threatening; this helps to ensure that there will be no confusion as to whether it is a test or a real alert. The main purpose of the sirens is to warn individuals that are outdoors to seek immediate shelter. Since many outdoor sounds, including the weather sirens, cannot penetrate many buildings, the sirens are not intended to be heard while indoors.
These sirens are now used primarily as outdoor warning systems for violent weather. Sirens are most effective when used as outdoor warning devices because their area of coverage is dependent on many factors such as temperature, wind direction and speed, the height of buildings, the amount of foliage on trees, and noise levels within buildings. Outdoor sirens are not designed to warn people who are indoors. When used in combination with other emergency warning devices, sirens can save lives. .... As the name implies, these devices are specifically designed to provide warning for residents and visitors who may be outdoors when tornadic activity approaches.
Why are they called outdoor warning sirens? The sirens are called outdoor warning sirens because their primary purpose is to alert people who are outside to severe weather, chemical, or other emergencies. While you may be able to hear the siren inside your house, this is not the primary function of the outdoor warning siren.
Why are all the sirens located in parks? Since the primary purpose of the outdoor warning sirens is to alert people who are outside to severe weather or chemical emergencies, the sirens were placed in locations that routinely have large public outdoor gatherings like parks.
These sirens are an outdoor warning system. They are intended to alert people "outdoors" to severe weather conditions. The sirens are not intended to awake people from their sleep. A weather alert radio can be a useful tool for that purpose. Families can purchase a weather alert radio as an additional resource for emergency preparedness.
They were originally Civil Defense Sirens and their purpose was to alert us to an attack by our enemies. So I think they're back peddling now by saying they're main purpose is to alert people outside to bad weather or whatever. They should have been loud enough to hear indoors in case of an attack.
I'm voting you off next week, so you better ban me now while you have the chance.
Next step: Get restraining orders against the moderators.
The only real difference in options is the use of S.A.M.E. (Specific Area Message Encoding) That's so they can send a coded signal out when relaying a weather alert (Basically you put in your zip code, and you'll only get the alerts for weather pertaining to your area).
Whoooo whoooo! Mark Trail! Does he run in the Strib?
It's starting to grow back now. Lots of aspen and some of the small pine trees that weren't getting much sun before are getting big. Everything behind the building lot was a mess and nothing on the lake side was touched. So at least I still had my pretty view.
I watch the weather on tv, check the internet and keep the GPS nearby incase I need to give a listen.
Let me sleep, that's what I say.
And if someone can't hear the sirens at 2am do to poor hearing or being a hard sleeper then I doubt a weather radio will have much more affect on them.
Some may post something like "The system is not designed or engineered to be heard inside every building in the coverage area. If you are outside when the sirens sound, seek shelter immediately and turn on a TV to a local channel, local radio, or NOAA All-Hazard Weather Radio to be informed of the emergency"
like Ramsey County does to protect itself from those people who claim later they didn't "hear" the sirens.
ALl I can say is I hope I get some good lightning pictures out of the next big one that blows through.
The City's outdoor weather warning system has 94 sirens that alert people who are outdoors to seek shelter in the event of a tornado. The system is tested on the first Wednesday of every month at 12:00 noon weather permitting. We do not test the sirens if the weather is bad or threatening; this helps to ensure that there will be no confusion as to whether it is a test or a real alert. The main purpose of the sirens is to warn individuals that are outdoors to seek immediate shelter. Since many outdoor sounds, including the weather sirens, cannot penetrate many buildings, the sirens are not intended to be heard while indoors.
and labett county, ks:
These sirens are now used primarily as outdoor warning systems for violent weather. Sirens are most effective when used as outdoor warning devices because their area of coverage is dependent on many factors such as temperature, wind direction and speed, the height of buildings, the amount of foliage on trees, and noise levels within buildings. Outdoor sirens are not designed to warn people who are indoors. When used in combination with other emergency warning devices, sirens can save lives. .... As the name implies, these devices are specifically designed to provide warning for residents and visitors who may be outdoors when tornadic activity approaches.
lexington, ky:
Why are they called outdoor warning sirens? The sirens are called outdoor warning sirens because their primary purpose is to alert people who are outside to severe weather, chemical, or other emergencies. While you may be able to hear the siren inside your house, this is not the primary function of the outdoor warning siren.
Why are all the sirens located in parks? Since the primary purpose of the outdoor warning sirens is to alert people who are outside to severe weather or chemical emergencies, the sirens were placed in locations that routinely have large public outdoor gatherings like parks.
eau claire, wi;
Outdoor Warning System
These sirens are an outdoor warning system. They are intended to alert people "outdoors" to severe weather conditions. The sirens are not intended to awake people from their sleep. A weather alert radio can be a useful tool for that purpose. Families can purchase a weather alert radio as an additional resource for emergency preparedness.