SIRENS! FOR THE FIRST TIME!

[MattDean1003]

I FINALLY HEARD TORNADO SIRENS FOR THE FIRST TIME! YES, I am excited. I was on the way back from work at Walmart tonight when I heard what I thought was firetrucks off in the distance. The lightning and the clouds were a nasty purple color and the thunder was really weird sounding. I slowed down into a parking lot and turned my truck off and believe it or not, Winder GA's tornado sirens were sounding at just a FEW MINUTES after 9 tonight (August 4th). This was my first siren experience. I heard a mix of 2001's, STH10's, and a Model 2. They were in Attack. Yall, I've never heard anything like that before. It was like a recording in surround sound. The 2001's had that charachteristic "air horn" warble to them as they wound down then had that echo to them as they wound back up. I called my parents and then my aunt and then I did the thing that people say never do, call 911. Well, I called 911 cuz I couldn't find anything on the radio. They were very understanding and a funnel cloud had been sighted up above Winder in Auburn. I bolted to my house...well, first I stopped at the health department where there is a 2001. Surely enough, it had been rotating. They all stopped when I got back in the truck. I will NEVER listen to another recording the same. I was out there in a real emergency. Me, Matt Dean, one of the first members of the original message board, was scared out of my mind. THAT, my friends, was FREAKY. Those high tones carried perfectly. The model 2 was about a mile or so, maybe half a mile. I can certainly say, that was an amazing sound. Tornado sirens have a totally different out take when they are blowing for a warning.


-Matt Dean-

[SirenMadness]

Matt, congratulations.
Yes, I've had a similar feeling. I was under a severe thunderstorm, with a tornado-watch for Detroit, right where we are, even though there was no tornado in the end. That was the first time that I have heard a 2001 SRN-B and some Thunderbolt model(s). That was the first time that I have heard non-European sirens!

[Rory Buszka]

Sentry 20V2Ts are more freaky - I was driving home through Lebanon, IN earlier this summer, and there was a tornado warning issued for Boone County, so the sirens started all around me while I was in the middle of the town. It was late in the evening, and totally dark with lightning all around.

[MattDean1003]

I mean it was something you'd see in a movie, the STH10 and it's slightly lower pitch was stationary, the 2001's were rotating and echoing, and the Model 2 was sounding its attack. The attack signal sounds much more attention getting than alert would have sounded. I went up a side road and I mean I knew something was happening, my ears were popping and the air just felt really funny. I got to a 4-way to turn and I saw trash blowing up the street and dancing around. There was traffic and store lights were on but all of the side roads looked really eerie. The ONE TIME I needed my video camera and it wasn't in the truck. There were limbs everywhere, leaves all over the place, something had already been through but the actual tornado itself, or funnel cloud I should say, was spotted up between Auburn and Carl. They are all connected on Highway 29, which is Atlanta Highway. Gotta run to work.

-Matt Dean-

[Melvin Potts]

Matt:

That must've been quite an experience. I've never been outside when sirens sounded for severe weather alerts.

I've heard the 2001 atop Brentwood(TN) Municipal Building at work a few times. It does..upon first hearing..sound almost like an overpowered fire engine siren. However, it doesn't take long to realize that it's no fire engine.
Brentwood uses the wailing tone for tornado warnings. The 2001 does sound pretty neat when it winds down then starts up again..especially while it's rotating.

Never heard an STH-10 in the wailing mode. Smyrna, GA, where I used to live, sounded the steady tone for tornado warnings. I heard them several times. STH-10 has great carrying power; sound often goes a good bit farther than its estimated range. It also has a great startup sound..and a long wind down. You can't mistake it for anything else.

[Robert Gift]

Congratulations!

I was doubly excited.
Hearing siren sounds from all around - fascinating sound combinations -plus possibility of seeing a torrnado.

The authorities are displeased with all us idiots who GO OUTSIDE
when we hear a tornado warning.

My greatest concern though, is getting hit by lightning while looking.

Thanks,