The San Angelo Fire Department sounded the city’s warning sirens at 7:45 p.m. Thursday, May 28, after receiving reports of severe weather that includes 60-mph winds and quarter-sized hail. Citizens are urged to seek a safe place indoors immediately (such as an interior room of a home) and seek further information via NOAA weather radio, television or radio. If the Emergency Alert System is activated, local programming will be interrupted with information about the storm and instructions on how to protect oneself.
Citizens are urged not to call 9-1-1 unless they need emergency assistance from a first-responder. Non-emergency calls to the San Angelo police and fire departments can be made to 325-657-4315.
Information about the dangerous weather San Angelo is experiencing is also posted on the homepage of the City’s website at cosatx.us, on the City of San Angelo-Public Information Facebook page and on the City’s Twitter feed (@CityofSanAngelo). Residents can also receive emergency alerts via text or email by signing up for them at nixle.com.
At least one of the following three criteria must be met to activate the warning sirens:
- Sustained winds of at least 58 mph.
- Hail at least 1-inch in diameter (the size of a quarter).
- A tornado.
This information usually comes from the National Weather Service or a trained weather spotter in the field. The criteria were established by agreement of the Tom Green County judge and San Angelo’s mayor and city manager, per NOAA recommendations.
Update 11 p.m.
The storms have subsided. For a play-by-play, see this story.
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...where people actually complain about being warned of 60mph+ winds and large hail. Those people should be eaten by wolves.
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PermalinkI am for for warnings from tornadoes, only. Apart from being the worst sound ever, they make folks panic. A warning for a severe thunderstorm should make folks take shelter automatically. But then again........
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Permalink...that come from an area where sirens are sounded ONLY when a tornado is indicated, it is a sound that means "take cover now! Your life is in imminent danger!" It does not mean "turn on the TV or the radio and wait 10 minutes for the announcement to be made that it is just a little wind or hail". After so many times of the sirens sounding and it only being for wind or hail, one night Bubba's going to hear it go off, cuss a little, roll out of bed, pull his jeans on, grab his keys, and go outside to move his truck in so it won't get hail damage. And they'll find ol' Bubba the next morning in his truck, wrapped around a tree 400 yards away. If the city is dead set on keeping this asinine policy, they need to have the sirens sound different for a non-tornado emergency. Keep the continuous tone for tornadoes, but have a varying tone for other circumstances - such as being overrun by a pack of wolves.
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PermalinkThese comments would sing a completely different tune if this article was written about a person that was injured by flying debris or hail stones hitting them and the sirens had NOT gone off... ironic.
Personally, I appreciate them. I don't suppose they really HAD to install them in the first place.
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PermalinkI'm conditioned that when the sirens go off I expect a tornado. After seeking shelter I turn on the weather radio to find out if I can safely roam around in the rest of the house. It's an irritant, but better safe than sorry.
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PermalinkDon't listen to the stories! It was an air raid being conducted by the U.S. Army against our own citizens! Jade Helm isn't just a training exercise!
Thank God our foil-crowned conspiracy theorist population was able to repel the oppressive U.S. Army's airborne advances using the arsenals they've been amassing in their basements in preparation for this exact contingency. They were right all along and you should all thank them.
Of course the real story won't ever make the news, because Joe Hyde and every major local news outlet is in the government's back pocket.
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