Sirens

Last night I learned that it is a good thing that I do not have to depend on the emergency sirens to warn me of inclement weather. The tornadoes last night in the northeast part of my county were announcned on weather radio (and then on cable) well before the sirens began to wail.

Of course, I had to make sure that I was hearing the sirens. I was standing outside last night, shortly after having seen the weather warning, and the weather outside was nice; there was no rain, no hail, no wind. I was standing outside chatting with a neighbor and heard the horns start up. But just barely.

"What would that be?" I asked. "It can't be the tornado siren, the sitings were miles away and headed away from us."

"What tornado?" My neighbor asked.

It was forgivable. She was having new wood floors installed and so she had no opportunity to hear the news. I explained about a line of thunder storms from Northwest of Denver, through the Capitol Hills area, and then on down to the south east. The weather service was reporting that there had been a few reports of people seeing funnel clouds.

"I'm glad I don't rely on that..." I said "I have a weather radio. It was faster, and I could actually hear it inside."

"That's odd," she replied "those sirens are just over there in the park."

She pointed at a spot not a tenth of a mile away by the county maintenance shed.

Shortly after we parted, the rains came. The sky opened and it poured! Good! We need the rain!

Wherever you are today, I hope that your day is a good one.

Don Bergquist - August 07, 2008 - Lakewood, Colorado, USA