Update, Aug. 13: It was a tornado after all. The National Weather Service confirmed Thursday that an EF1 tornado struck the South Side during Tuesday morning’s storms. A survey team from the NWS office in Wilmington, working with Franklin County Emergency Management, found a convergent damage pattern beginning near East Hinman Avenue and running east across Parsons Avenue, through Barack Park and as far as Fairwood Avenue. Along with downed trees, the tornado tore roofing off homes and businesses. The ground survey reverses the agency’s earlier radar-based assessment, which had found no sign of a tornado in Franklin County. The same survey determined the damage in Upper Arlington came from straight-line winds of 90 to 100 mph, not a tornado. None of this changes the answer to the question this story started with. No tornado warning was ever issued for Franklin County, so the sirens stayed silent even as a tornado moved through the South Side. The NWS says a final, more detailed assessment of the tornado is expected in the coming days.
And the sirens were already due for an overhaul. Franklin County Commissioners approved a supplemental appropriation for the warning siren system on July 28, two weeks before the storm, under Resolution No. 0521-26. The Dispatch reports the authorization totals $439,050 and will pay for Emergency Management & Homeland Security to replace sirens that have reached the end of their service life and relocate some of them. There are 198 warning sirens across the county, all owned by the municipal jurisdictions, while the county agency manages and tests them. The weekly test runs every Wednesday at noon. Jeff Young, director of Franklin County Emergency Management & Homeland Security, says repair parts for the oldest sirens are no longer reliably available, and that none of the sirens being replaced are currently out of service.
When the sky turned nearly black and the wind started ripping through Columbus Tuesday morning, a lot of people had the same question: Why weren’t the tornado sirens going off?
It’s a fair question, especially now that the National Weather Service is investigating whether a tornado may have moved through parts of Central Ohio during the storm.
The answer, at least for now, is frustratingly simple. There was no tornado warning issued for Franklin County.
The National Weather Service issued a tornado warning for Madison County around 9:45 a.m., but there was no tornado warning for Franklin County when the strongest part of the storm moved through Columbus around 10:30 a.m.
And Columbus-area tornado sirens are tied to tornado warnings. Franklin County Emergency Management and Homeland Security told WOSU that the sirens aren’t activated unless a tornado warning is issued.
So even though the storm produced incredibly strong winds and widespread destruction, the system that activates the sirens wasn’t triggered.
But what about the possible tornado? That’s where things get more complicated.
The National Weather Service says it suspects a tornado may have moved from the Dublin area toward Ohio State University during the storm. The agency had not confirmed a tornado as of Tuesday evening and said it may send survey teams out to examine the damage.
That’s important because tornado warnings aren’t issued simply because a storm is producing extremely strong winds.
Tuesday’s storm absolutely was dangerous. The National Weather Service recorded an 82 mph wind gust at John Glenn Columbus International Airport, and winds caused widespread damage across the region. But a destructive thunderstorm and a tornado are two different things when it comes to the warning system.
In other words, the fact that your neighborhood looked like a tornado went through it doesn’t necessarily mean the weather service had enough information beforehand to issue a tornado warning.
So what are the sirens actually for?
This is one of those things that’s easy to misunderstand.
The outdoor warning sirens around Columbus aren’t designed to be an all-purpose “the weather is really bad” alarm. They’re primarily intended to alert people outdoors when there is an imminent tornado threat.
That means they don’t automatically sound every time there’s a severe thunderstorm warning, even when the storm is producing potentially dangerous winds.
And they’re not a replacement for the alerts on your phone, weather radio or other emergency notification systems.
The National Weather Service says there weren’t clear enough radar indications of a tornado when the storm moved through Columbus. A tornado can develop quickly along a powerful line of storms, and the weather service has to make its warning decisions based on the information available at the time.
A tornado warning was issued for Madison County earlier that morning, so the weather service was actively monitoring the storm. But no warning was issued for Franklin County before the suspected tornado reached the Columbus area.
That doesn’t mean the storm wasn’t dangerous. It means the specific conditions needed for a tornado warning weren’t identified in time.
Don’t wait for a tornado siren to tell you a storm is dangerous.
If you’re getting a severe thunderstorm warning, take it seriously, especially when the warning mentions destructive winds. Stay inside and away from windows until the strongest winds have passed.
And keep multiple ways to receive weather alerts. The National Weather Service, emergency alerts on your phone, local television, and a NOAA weather radio can all provide information that an outdoor siren can’t.
