Mid-Michigan safety experts say not to rely on sirens alone for tornado alerts

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Public safety officials are encouraging mid-Michigan residents to ensure they have multiple ways of receiving emergency alerts after Friday’s deadly tornadoes in southwest Michigan.

Ingham County Deputy Emergency Manager Rob Dale said residents should consider having an emergency weather radio and receiving alerts from multiple apps on their cell phone in addition to listening for tornado sirens.

“It still bothers me when I hear people say, ‘Well, you know, I heard there was a tornado warning, but I didn’t hear the sirens go off,’” Dale said. “Well, sometimes that can happen.”

He said tornado sirens are primarily located in densely populated areas and outdoor recreation areas.

Ingham County uses electronic sirens with no moving parts and tests the sirens year-round on the first Saturday of the month.

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There was not a tornado watch or severe thunderstorm watch in effect before two tornadoes left four people dead and 12 others injured in southwest Michigan.

Gov. Gretchen Whitmer has called for a federal investigation into why a tornado watch wasn’t issued. Her office questioned whether the lack of an emergency alert could be attributed to cuts President Donald Trump made to the National Weather Service.

But Dale said even looking at the data in hindsight, it would have been hard to see an EF3 tornado coming, especially when other nearby states that were expecting tornadoes didn’t get any.

With a chance of severe weather in the forecast again Tuesday, Dale said residents should be aware of how quickly a thunderstorm can turn severe.

“Things can change in a hurry,” Dale said. “Even had they been watching the forecast all day, there was a threat of storms, but there wasn’t a threat of tornadoes. Well, sometimes when thunderstorms happen, we can get a tornado quite quickly.”

He said predicting tornadoes in Michigan can be more difficult than in states like Oklahoma, because Michigan gets fewer observations from people on the ground and has fewer sensors in the atmosphere.

The National Weather Service runs the Skywarn program to train residents who want to become weather spotters. It has two training courses scheduled in Lansing in April.

Dale said having spotters on the ground can help get emergency alerts out more quickly.