Air Raid Sirens

[eleny]

It's only 11 a.m. here but the local sirens just went off. Must be a test. It's eerie. Reminded me of the sirens that would go off daily at noon when many of us were kids. Do any of you remember that? I don't recall noticing them when I started elementary school. Just mostly in the pre school days, playing outside and hearing them and knowing what time it was.

Jeez, they're still going on here. Yoiks, maybe I should duck and cover?

[greenbriar]

1. tornado sirens?

we test for tornado sirens on Weds.

[Dr. Jones]

24. Same here in Dallas

Every first Wednesday of the month at noon. We also have a voice-system in the sirens, which is eerie. A disembodied voice comes echoing out of the sirens, "check...test....check..."

I remember the OP's statement on how they used to test air raid sirens when we were kids. Pretty spooky.

[Blue Belle]

26. We would hear them every third Monday...

One the Oregon Coast we had Tsunami drills and the Alarm made you think that the end of the world was upon us.

[babylonsister]

2. Yep, 'duck and cover' in grade school, but not anytime after. nt

[ayeshahaqqiqa]

3. Do you live in Tornado Alley?

If so, they might be a warning for severe weather.

[eleny]

10. We're a few miles west of Denver

We don't often get threatened by twisters, here. I remember a small one coming down once in the very early 80s. But, no doubt, the sirens have to be in working order. Btw, the sky is as blue as it gets right now.

[ayeshahaqqiqa]

17. Ok, just checking

Sometimes tornado warnings can be put out on sirens, and I thought if you were having unsettled weather this could be the case. Glad you are safe and have blue skies.

[Rocknrule]

18. There are more tornadoes near Denver every year than you might think

That said, thanks to *, we just may need those sirens soon, and not for tornadoes
:scared:

[onehandle]

4. I remember that.

Eerie even when I was a kid.

[MuseRider]

5. Monday and Wednesday at noon

we get a testing of the tornado sirens. Still, I understand, they always make me perk up my ears and this has been going on for most of my life.

[Horse with no Name]

6. Our sirens are tested every Thursday at 6 p.m.

Could be that they changed the time of testing.
Undoubtedly, with a rough spring/summer weather season getting ready to bear down on us, chances are they are just making sure everything works.:shrug:
I remember the sirens when I was a kid too.:(

[RawMaterials]

7. we get them the first wednesday at 12 noon

of the month

[NNN0LHI]

8. Iraqi children will remember the sirens before we Shocked and Awed them

Imagine that for a moment.

Don

[eleny]

11. Nodding my head in agreement

[seabeyond]

9. we get sirens every friday about noon to test for tornados

funny people that arent from here and arent aware of the test. a friend that moved down from colorado sent me an email asking if she should be concerned, lol lol. told her to be afradi, very afraid

[spuddonna]

12. Do they go off regularly where you live?

I used to live in upstate NY and they'd test them near a nuclear power plant every few months. But if it happened 'out of the blue', and wasn't a regular occurance that's gotta feel really freaky! :(

[katty]

27. same here in LA, they don't happen regularly

[TallahasseeGrannie]

13. When I was three years old

we moved, sight unseen, into a huge old house in Scottsburge, Ind. My dad was a DuPont chemist and moved there for the duration of the Korean War in order to make gunpowder.

The first night we discovered that the town fire siren was in our backyard. Literally. My mother screamed, "Hank! Air raid! Get the girls!" (this was not long after WWII) and I have had a siren phobia ever since.

So I suggest you get something to read, some headsets, a bottle of wine and a pillow and get under the dining room table. Try the fetal position. Sip the wine first. See if you can read.


T-Grannie

[eleny]

19. Omigod!

My memories are from shortly after the war, too. I was born in '46.

I can't grab the wine and head for the table since I have to go out! Jeez...Hmmm.... I'll be prepared for next time!

[Rude Horner]

14. Here in Dodgeville, WI

we get our sirens tested every single day at noon, during the Summer months.

Still, it's a sound you never get used to. Whenever I hear it, I'm reminded of air raid sirens during World War 2. :scared:

[B3Nut]

20. I remeber that...

when I first came to WI I was living in Dodgeville. The tornado/fire/blastjustforthehellofitapparently siren was practically across the street from the duplex I was holed up in. Went off an awful lot...I remember asking my then-fiancee/now-wife what the siren was going off for at 1 in the morning...she said "fire" and resumed snoring. :D

Todd in Beerbratistan

PS - hi boss! :D

[Carni]

15. It could be that a siren has malfunctioned in your area

I went through this during the winter after 911--at around 11:30 at night the tornado siren in the area went off and stayed on for like 20 minutes (I am in a cold climate during the winter so there was no way there was a tornado)

Of course given the climate of hysteria then, I thought WTF is going on and immediately thought it was some type of civil defense warning kind of a deal.

I called my county officials the following day and found out that it was just a tornado siren that had malfunctioned...they also informed me that we do not have a system in place to warn of an attack via siren (at least not in my state there isn't)

To me that seemed kind of dumb...but whatever! (I guess)

For some misguided reason I always assumed that if we were being attacked that a siren would go off, but apparently not!

[TAPat]

16. I also remeber the duck and cover drills

in grade school. We also lived close to a nuclear power plant that was always breaking down and the threat of that always weighed more heavily on me than the threat of a Soviet (or Cuban) nuke ever did!
I still freak out when I hear any kind of warning siren... :(

[Strelnikov_]

21. Alert Is A Continous Tone, Attack Tone Pulsates

Alert (weather, meltdown)

http://www.airraidsirens.com/mp3/brattleboro_alert.mp3

Attack (a Chimpco undertaking)

http://www.airraidsirens.com/mp3/brattleboro_attack.mp3

Remember, Duck . . . And Cover!

[AlienGirl]

22. My air-raid siren story

I had just moved from my childhood home in the middle of nowhere to a city in a tornado-prone region. Unfortunately nobody told me about the Monday-at-noon test of the city's tornado/air raid sirens.

Come Monday, I was puttering around the apartment, when all of a sudden the siren went off! I panicked, grabbed the phone, hid under the table, and called my then-boyfriend at work. "Air raid! It's an air raid!" I was gibbering incoherently into the phone. He explained the thing about the siren tests, and I felt very stupid. :P

Tucker

[SheilaT]

23. In my part of Kansas they test them

every Wednesday at 10am. At least I think that's the date and time. I don't normally even notice the testing. If weather is bad, they do NOT test at that time, however.

What was it, three weeks ago we were blasted out of bed on Saturday morning about 8am. That was the first round of deadly tornadoes here in the midwest. Hope this isn't just the beginning of a long and very deadly tornado season.

[Patsy Stone]

25. They tested them first Saturday of every month

at noon, when I was growing up. I can't recall hearing them as an adult.

[hedgehog]

28. We just went through some extra testing of the weather radios last

week in Upstate New York. The Binghamton Weather station issued several extra tests besides the weekly test. I don't know if it's in anticipation of dicey weather or what since New York State rarely gets tornados or even tornado weather.

I can't remember the name of the locality near Washington DC that wanted to install sirens to warn its citizens of a terrorist attack. I couldn't figure out what that was supposed to accomplish. What are you supposed to do if a siren goes off warning you of a terrorist attack anyways? Cook up some popcorn and watch the Faux network?

[misternormal]

29. Tornado siren tests in my town, every Wed. at noon. eerie...

[Jara sang]

30. They go off every first of the month in Hawaii.

Or the first business day closest to the first.