Tornado Sirens are Scary...
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- Опубликовано: 15 май 2024
- This video is all about tornado sirens. Their history, their sounds, their shapes, and all the different brands and models.
Which tornado sirens do you think sound the scariest?
Thanks for watching!.. Also you should consider subscribing for more tornado content! Love you.
Also I have a new channel called "Swegz" about the evolution of things if you're interested..
(Also also if I sound weird, its because I filmed this while I had strep throat)
Contents:
0:00 intro
1:50 tornado siren history
3:20 civil defense sirens
4:38 history of tornado warnings
6:30 first tornado siren use
7:18 siren 101
7:58 siren alert sound
8:18 siren attack sound
8:49 siren hi lo sound
9:00 alternating wail sound
9:20 siren tones
10:00 siren ports 8/10 8/12 9/12 10/12 4/5
11:00 federal signal thunderbolt
11:56 ACA alerting communicators of America
12:10 electric sirens federal signal modulator
12:30 scary chicago siren
13:10 the future of tornado sirens
sources:
North Dakota Sirens and Roblox Decot
• Decot Engineering Work...
Charlie Davidson Thunderbolt 1000T Test
• Thunderbolt 1000T Torn...
Dillion Carpenter Thunderbolt 1000 Norman OK
• Thunderbolt 1000 Torna...
BOOGIEMAN Tornado Sirens in Downton Chicago
• Tornado Sirens in Down...
Tyler Shaw - Federal Signal Thunderbolt 1003A Alternate Wail - Saint Paul, Nebraska
• Federal Signal Thunder...
DSRX100 WPS Whelen WPS-2750, Alert, Voice, & Wail/Attack: Petersburg, Indiana
• Whelen WPS-2750, Alert...
Tornado Siren Junkie - Creepy Tornado Sirens Going Off in Downtown Chicago 06-15-2015
• Creepy Tornado Sirens ...
uwtitanfan Federal Signal 1000T Colo IA
• Federal Signal Thunder...
BFI The Warning 1939
• The Warning (1939) - e...
National Library of Medicine: Let's Face It (Federal Civil Defense Administration, 1954)
• Let's Face It (Federal...
Various scenes from Night of the Twisters
Music:
Carrington Institute - Perfect Dark
The Sims Soundtrack - Neighborhood 7
Planetary Pieces - Apotos Night Hub World
#tornado #siren #weather
If I sound weird, its because I had strep throat when I filmed this lol. Thanks for watching!!
My favorite sirens are the Sentry 16V1T-B, Whelen WPS-series, Federal Signal Modulator, and ACA P-50. And also, just a topic idea, could you make a video about weather radios in particular?
I actually think that some tornado sirens are beautiful, in a eery way.
Great video! May I recommend that you make one on how to survive a tornado in different scenarios? Like in a car, on a boat, on the ground, etc.
Get well soon 🎈
My favorite siren is 100% the Thunderbolt 1003 and Whelen Omni-Directional. Also the engineerring of tornado sirens are super intersting.
Sirens have always been intended as an outdoor warning system. It never hurts to have them as another layer of warnings.
Yes, especially for people who live in remote areas and don't have reliable cell service.
Built-in redundancy is a good doctrine in civil defence. If the tornado causes an unplanned decommissioning of your cellular network for an area, a siren is realistically your best method of gaining attention. Also, if you are going to receive a warning on a mobile phone, it will not be that useful if it's charging in your kitchen whilst you're mowing the lawn...
I can't see a good reason to get rid of them. Sure we can get cellular warnings now, but I don't know if people will really take them as serious as the sirens. There's something about the fear that the sirens put in you that just isn't present with mobile alerts
@@partlycloudy7707 That's actually a very sound point. Unless mobile phone makers are going to modify the OS used to cause a particular penetrating sound, it'll not be that effective. Pings just don't cut it for causing the necessary alert state of mind. But you hear an eerie howling and lowing sound and your state of mind realises that you'd better act.
And for elderly people who don’t want technology. My Grandma has a weather radio but if she didn’t the only thing that would save her would be the sirens.
Sirens are definitely still a necessity. Being from Kansas, I couldn’t tell you how many times sirens have woken me up in the middle of the night. I remember once when I was little my sister and I were home alone and playing outside when the sirens went off. It’s also pretty ignorant to assume that everyone has a phone in the first place. Keep the sirens!
I drop my phone so much please keep the sirens
Dodge City has the most creepiest yet angelic sirens
@ChaosLord5129 Which city? I'm from MO! And I cannot believe anyone would want them gone! What if someone forgets their phone, it dies, or they don't have one because their old one broke and they haven't gotten their replacement yet? Or can't afford a phone in general? And like OP said, what about little kids playing outside? I mean, you'd hope parents would be aware and able to call them in, but when I was a kid, I would roller blade and ride my bike all around a mile radius and be hanging out at random friend's houses, backyards, and weird abandoned railroad buildings ha. We heard sirens go off a lot while playing around outside so I'd shudder to think what could've happened if we weren't aware of a quick forming tornado!
@Choas_Lord_512 yep always unnecessary until it isn’t
Please, DO NOT RELY ON SIRENS!
A NOAA Weather Radio is a personal indoor “smart siren” that honestly every home, school and business should have. You should have multiple, redundant ways of getting alerts.
Don’t get me wrong, I like them a lot, but they can fail easily and aren’t always on time since they’re often manually activated.
I've always been glad the sirens still exist, especially for people who don't own a cellphone or have bad service. It's anyways good to have them, no matter how outdated they may seem.
Yeah like what are the Amish supposed to do?!
you dont need cellphone service for EAS to reach you
Yep, while the sirens near my house are definitely not as loud as they should be and I really cannot hear them inside of my house if there is heavy winds. They are definitely a necessity, when power goes out the data towers are struggling they are the last and first tool of use for warning people
Coming from a small town in Texas, tornado sirens are still very much needed. Not everyone has a phone that's capable of recieving weather alerts (and some people have turned them off because they're annoying). There's also circumstances of people at work who aren't allowed to have their phones on them at work (think schoolteachers or construction or some desk jobs)
my city once had discussions of removing their sirens, the 2015 Rowlett tornado changed their mind on their sirens. now the town os hostile to people complaining about them
Sounds like get with the times or be forgotten🤷🏼♂️
@@TouqasBonquishes nope. get sirens for a city or suffer as a result. a californian city gut burned and people didnt evacuate fast enough because cell phone towers were burned down, and the city had no sirens
@@user-vh7ok3ph7x a Californian city… nothing of value was lost😂
@@TouqasBonquishes That’s just rood
Redundancy is so important. We lived in Abilene, TX and they got rid of their sirens and went to a texting system. Several years ago (2019) they were hit by an EF2 tornado that started on the local air base and then moved into the city. Because it started on the air base and was noticed by the tower control, an Airman on duty decided to switch the base sirens on before the official NOAA warning was even issued. She's credited for saving lives (no one was injured) not only on base, but in the city because it woke up the neighborhoods in the surrounding area as well. Sirens can be annoying, until they work and save your life.
OMG! I never expected to encounter someone from my hometown!
Abilene resident here too, I remember that event. I didn’t know they had gotten rid of them completely
Not from Abilene, but spent some time in Texas. I had the shittiest piece of shit for a phone at the time (2016ish) that couldn't be relied on to respond to incoming calls in real-time, let alone properly convey natural disaster warnings. I relied entirely on old-school sirens in the distance to keep myself safe.
I feel like ambient sirens are a responsible second layer/fail-safe for keeping people safe in a natural disaster. Personal devices as they are now are too flakey with dumb shit like volume settings, signal, or just the responsiveness of the device hardware itself to replace neighborhood sirens.
sirens are the way to go. if there’s impending danger it’s better than text people may not have their phones with them or phones period
Shoutout to Abilene 🥰 I hope y’all didn’t get hit too hard by the weather last night
I think the reason why the sound of a siren is so terrifying is because it usually means something absolutely terrible is going to happen
Yeah, your mind makes that connection in your head. I remember reading a story of someone who had this weird apple-cinnamon flavoured medicine that made them throw up, and even since they got over that illness they still get sick smelling cinnamon. What’s even weirder is the tone used in US and UK’s EAS alerts being the tone that your brain links to the emotion fear. Weird right?
Honestly I think they sound pretty terrifying even without that context.
not always, they also test them
I think that too.
And that is Exactly why it works, The siren warns you of an Incoming Disaster and you know to prepare.
Where I grew up, the sirens were essential, with or without phone warnings. The sirens confirmed that we needed to shelter as we moved because sometimes notifications got pushed too broadly in the sticks but it also let us know when we could leave the basement because you can't tell when the part of the storm that you needed to hide from is gone unless you have the TV on loud or you hear the sirens stop. Or you've been looking at radar for your whole life and know what to look for, which is a tall ask for some folks
I believe that tornado sirens are a necessity in most places, because where I live (Chicago suburbs), we have lots of tornado warnings/watches. even though every time there is a tornado warning, the sirens go off, my phone never goes off, even though it is not on silence or do not disturb. this is why we should keep tornado sirens, because the sirens are my main source of information of a tornado.
YES WE SHOULD KEEP THEM! I used to work in a facility where I was required to leave my phone out in my car or locked in a locker during the day, and our internet usage was whack. The ONLY WAY I knew we were in an active tornado's path was because our town still has a fully functional siren. There are times when you DON'T have a radio, DON'T have a phone, DON'T have a TV or Internet and DON'T have ANY IDEA there is a danger coming right at you except for the rusty former air raid siren screaming into the stormy skies. It's also ridiculously easy for phones, Internet, and TV to be completely fucked up in a crisis, and kind of foolish to expect that they are always a reliable fall back.
Tornado sirens are not a perfect solution. But that's kinda the point in a way. There are situations where, as you point out, certain technologies are not useful, even if they make perfect sense in other scenarios. This applies to tornado sirens in the same way it applies to cell phones or the internet. When you're talking about an imminent threat to your life that requires you to take immediate action, the more redundancy the better.
If you live or work in a tornado prone area, you should have a functioning weather radio that can be programmed to sound an alarm if a storm is headed your way
@@newton21989 You can’t have them with you everywhere. Weather radios are not as sleek and portable as cell phones. I can see them being super useful if driving through super rural areas in Tornado Alley, though.
As a Ukrainian I completely agree. Here they are the most accurate source of information about alerts, despite there being many other warnings
I completely agree with you about keeping them. It seems to me to be utter folly to even contemplate getting rid of them. Look into the Plainview, Kansas tornado of 1990. The town went into a very powerful, violent tornado and NO ONE was warned. Sirens failed or not activated. No NWS warn until after the storm passed. Unforgivable! Many avoidable deaths and injuries that day. The sirens need to remain AND be well maintained. Many should probably be added where the coverage is limited.
As someone who grew up in tornado alley, the sirens going off was always the scariest part of the storm. Night of the Twisters is the one tornado flick that really captures the terror when you're home alone and those sirens start wailing. Twister is great, but the Night of the Twisters sequence in the house is one of my favorite scenes in any storm movie.
You’ve never had a tornado pass close by your house I’m guessing. That is true horror. It sounds like the world’s largest freight train.
@@bentrod3405 No I haven’t and I can only imagine. I’ve been in bad thunderstorms but luckily one never dropped a tornado near us. But we did get the sirens quite often
@@jb8331 I watched the biggest tornado in the world from the top step of our storm cellar. It was 2 miles wide and looked more like the sky had descended than a tornado. It was sucking in enough air that you could do the smooth criminal lean just using the wind.
@@bentrod3405 seen your other comment after clicking handle I couldn't even imagine one worse than Moore Oklahoma until reading more last year about el reno. That one should been rated a F6.
@@kennethwallace4338 yeah, only reason it wasnt more reported was because of how rural of an area it hit. My dad volunteered at the local fire department at the time so I went around with him and the other firefighters helping with cleanup. We just had some debris land in our yard and a little room damage. Others were not nearly as lucky.
Most eerie/disturbing siren for me was being woken up at 3am by the tornado siren earlier this year. It was very scary for my half awake self. Other than that I'm fairly used to the sound of a tornado siren since in my area they run weekly tests every Friday at 11am during tornado season. I live almost in viewing distance of the siren so its very loud here but its certainly had to miss. Generally it just becomes a way of telling the time on Fridays. Like ope there's the siren I guess its 11 now.
This just happened today and it was horrifying I had to wake my dormmate and get to shelter
My Dad lives in a blink-and-you'll-miss-it town in Indiana where the siren is tested at noon every Saturday. He made a joke about it every Saturday. As soon as it would go off he'd call out "Anyone know what time it is?"
I remember when I was in Norman, OK, when a really nasty tornado was right on the edge of the city. The sirens that were going off were absolutely terrifying.
Growing up in the Midwest, I am very familiar with tornado sirens. My city tests them on the first Wednesday of every month. I liked the Thunderbolt, fascinating and terrifying at the same time. Unfortunately, the city replaced them a few years ago with something wimpy. My mom was in Madison, Wisconsin, to visit her sister in college in the 1960s. Madison also tested their sirens regularly. A German man who had lived through the war was there. He was freaking out over the sirens, either reliving bad memories or believing that the bombers were on the way.
Mine tests them *every* wednesday. In my part of the city we have have the regular-old whelen sirens and I wish I lived in the northern part of my city where all the thunderbolts are.
Same here in Wisconsin.
Louisiana, here. First Thursday of month for us. And there's friggin 3 of them in close proximity to my house, so it just sounds worse when they're all slightly off sync.
LOL I just call it the lunch whistle/alarm 😂😂😂
I also grew up in the Midwest. My town tested sirens every day at noon. Not a specific day of the week, EVERY day.
for me, the creepiest siren sound that i have heard was during the Andover, KS tornado in the '90s. The tornado cut the power, and the just the way the siren sounded immediately after losing it's power still haunts me to this day.
any audio/video available? sounds interesting ^^ broken sirens are always more haunting because "the one thing supposed to warn you from danger no longer works, so you have no idea what is going on"
Any video about it?
Wow I’m sorry to hear that. That sounds traumatic
@@wypmangames ruclips.net/video/5QK0VA_P83A/видео.html
@@ivanrodriguez3477 ruclips.net/video/5QK0VA_P83A/видео.html
0:12 *"...The LEAVES have TURNED OVER."* (hand motions included...) That part gave me life. 😂🤣🤣💀
The Chrysler Hemi driven siren is the sound standard for many movies, news reports and very much my favorite.
I grew up in a town which would sound a siren at high noon. If you heard the siren at any other time, you knew something was bad was happening usually with a chemical plant release or tornado.
The town about 30 mins away from us does that as well. :)
@@RedRoseSeptember22 mine does it at 11 am!
My school was near an air raid siren every midday to make sure it still worked...
I used to live near an Air Force Base that did that until 2001. I don’t know if it was just coincidence that they stopped doing it after 9/11 or intentional.
Most municipalities do this, my local one tests sirens on the first Wednesday every month at noon.
The howl of a siren has always been haunting to me. I worked at a summer camp for a couple years, and they had one to signal forest fires that are close. You would hear the reflection of the siren that bounces on the pond.
You’re not alone, sirens scare me too.
Aye 😅9:45, I live 6 miles away from that exact one!
Nice job on making this video, there is one common thing most people believe in that even you said it yourself near the end of the video. Hearing sirens while you’re sleeping.
The intended use of Warning Sirens is meant for outdoor use and outdoor use only, and hey if you hear sirens from inside your home, maybe there’s one located next to your home or around your general neighborhood, that’s awesome, still doesn’t mean you’re supposed to be hearing them from inside.
Indoor warnings are leaning more towards cell phones, weather radios are still sometimes recommended but as I’ve seen in the past 10 years cities will even replace sirens with the cell phone alerts which leaves me to believe the smartphone alerts have become a more popular option or decision when it comes to a new, “Reliable”, warning system to some people.
You could leave your phone on silent, and it’s understandable. But There’s an option from the most recent update on any smartphone to where if you receive an official alert from the government or the office of emergency management, there’s an option to play the warning sound on your phone anyway regardless of it being on silent. And even if that option doesn’t work, better to feeling like you’re in a safer place than not knowing the danger ahead time.
It’s not bad to have another layer of protection to making sure people are safe and not put in harms way when and before disaster strikes.
I remember casually skating back to my car with it blaring about 15 feet away when it started going off. One of the few times I actually saw the tornado
As a guy who has a crippling fear of tornadoes in general, sirens have always terrified me, along with the EAS warning that pops up on the TV. My heart just drops, and I immediately start freaking out. Oddly enough, I did have a weird obsession with them when I was around 11-13 years old. Figured I was alone in that.
I had a bad phobia of tornados, thunderstorms, and EAS alerts growing up. But my fear came with curiosity, so I started learning about severe weather and weather in general. Oftentimes it’s the things that scare us the most that also fascinate us the most. In fact, I’m here after having a horrible tornado nightmare X’D
I absolutely hate the sound of the EAS and air raid/tornado sirens, and they make me panic when I hear them too, yet here I am watching this video in the middle of the night
@@benthenerd177 Oh, yeah, same here. Watched it after midnight, then had to watch different videos for a while to calm myself down. Why do I do this to myself? LOL.
Tornado sirens aren’t that scary to me I like the noise kinda. Noises that are comparable to a triangle that pierce my ears like EAS alarms and Fire Alarms immediately make me jolt and cover my ears.
@@vernallapin I feel exactly the same! Tornados have scared the daylights out of me since I was little, as did the EAS alerts. But I find myself completely intrigued by them. Same with nuclear weapons, although that fear didn't crop up until well into adulthood 😟
As someone who is a "Siren Enthusiast" and has been watching your videos since day one, I must say you did a pretty good job at nailing siren basics! It was really cool to see someone actually dive into the various models and signals produced by these things. Very solid video! Your production quality has definitely improved
Thank you very much!
@UWTitanFan
Lol
I have been interested as well into the differences in sirens that different cities uses
“Siren enthusiast” heh, autism is a hell of a drug
I’ll never forget as a kid in TN we’d always have at least 1 tornado warning a year. In tests, it would be a steady wail, in a real warning it would go up and down then display a robotic voice. I’ll always remember them sounding off in the dark with the thunder and lightning then when one stops you still hear the other sirens going off one by one. Creepy as hell tbh
I live in Southeast Pennsylvania. We don't get very many tornados, and we don't have tornado sirens. What we DO have are volunteer fire departments that use the same kind of siren to summon firefighters to the station for emergency calls. Their use has dwindled in the last 10 or 15 years as radio paging and apps on phones have become a LOT cheaper, but many volunteer fire companies still use them.
The fire company that I was a member of in my late teens/early twenties used a Federal Signal Model 2 on an automatic relay system triggered by Zetron tones over the radio. I loved hearing that thing go off for the weekly tests (Every Wednesday at 18:30), and of course when there was a fire to be worked.
I've always said sirens have a musical value to them. It is cool to hear that sirens were originally made to create music.
I like hearing the ambiance of multiple sirens, especially in attack mode. One siren winds up, while another winds down, then the sirens unify, only to separate again. Like watching metronomes sync up and desync.
So true. An 8/1/12 port siren would make a chord. Also there used to be a siren on top of Yamaha headquarters in Japan that was a bunch of different sirens with different ports it played music
"Mama" by MCR even uses them as an instrument
Wow same! I love when sirens sound like music
I grew up in the D-FW area, and we use the "Attack" sirens for our tornado warnings for the most part. I think part of what makes sirens more terrifying in practice is that they often come in the middle of a heavy thunderstorm with heavy winds, so you're already on edge. The overlapping of sirens also adds a lot to the horror factor.
I was at the University of Houston a while back for a visiting football game, and I hated the fact that they used the exact siren we used in D-FW as their "celebration"(?) tone. Not only that, but they put it right next to the visiting band, which made me very thankful that I was already wearing earplugs.
I also live in that area, and yes, i can say the "Attack" siren is used in severe storms
I’m also from DFW, and the most spooked I’ve ever been by the weather was when my house in northeast Midlothian was under a tornado warning. We didn’t have any sirens super close to us, but we were close enough to Cedar Hill and Ovilla to hear both of their sirens, somewhat off-sync with each other. Deeply unsettling sound, 0/10.
i used to live in the Tyler-Longview Metroplex idk what kind of siren they use nowadays but it’s probably scary irl. haven’t actually heard them in person but i googled “Tyler Tornado Siren” you can too if you wanna hear it
I also grew up in the area, and my grandparents house had one on the very edge of their property. They would periodically test it and sometimes we'd be outside in the backyard and we wouldn't see the county worker van so it would scare the living daylights out of us.
Yup. I still live here. We had severe storms and tornado warnings a night or two ago. Brutal
3:12 that goofy ahh music and voice paired with the siren, oh it's perfect
yep
I've noticed that everyone has their own favorite civil defense siren - and, it's always really unique, great convo starter.
The creepiest part of the siren sound for me is how they all turn on at different times but close together. It's like they all gang up on your ears swiftly.
Omg yesssss you hear the ones from around town joining the main one and it becomes an insane cacophony
The ones that really creep me out is the talking/"Voice of God" sirens. Especially when you hear it at night and you can't quite understand what it's saying. This is probally why these haven't caught on in more areas.
@@BingBreep-mk6om I live I the city on the 7th floor of my building. There is one of those about half a block away from me straight across from my window. You just hear this not-quite-real voice after the siren stops wailing and it is creepy as heck. And we get a lot of bad storms in St. Louis. The Thunderbolts are still the creepiest (but quite effective) to me but you sure won't mistake that sound for anything else.
I want to add that in Southwest Michigan the "attack tone" is currently used for fires and other emergencies. The tornado tone is a steady, unwavering tone. When I hear the town siren go off during tornado season I stop what I am doing and hold my breath to see if the pitch goes down. If it does then I resume what I am doing; if not, then I turn to local media to find out what is going on and I also start looking at the sky to see if I can get any clues there. Fortunately that does not happen very often. But yes, I pay attention to the sirens.
Fellow Michigander! Most counties here test on the first Saturday of the month, usually at noon except Ingham, which tests at 1 pm.
A Fellow Michigander. Always nice to see.
Only time I've heard sirens is on the first Friday of the month, there was one time where there was a concern of a tornado and sirens did go off however I was not actually home to give a listen.
Southeast Michigander here! I used to be so scared of the sirens on test days, but now it doesn’t even faze me. There’s actually been a couple recent winters here when the sirens were used to indicate snow emergencies.
In NY, we rarely have tornadoes. Such sirens are generally used to alert volunteer firefighters they are needed.
I must admit this tornado siren story is crude but it was also scary.
I lived north-central Kansas. Late during the night of June 27th-28th, 1987 I had to take a whiz. A nasty thunderstorm was occurring. The lightning was intense, almost continuous.
I was standing at the commode when the tornado siren, which was about 1/4 mile southeast of my house, swung into action. When I finished "business" I decided to take a look out the front door. The lightning had a slight greenish tint. I immediately went back inside at which time the power failed. The flashlight was in my bedroom at the end of the hall where a full-length mirror was situated. Remember, the lightning was almost continuous, so as I went down the hall I could see a dark reflection of myself.
When I reached the bedroom, a cloud-to-ground lightning strike hit about 1/2 mile to the south. The thunderclap sounded as if someone had dropped sheet metal. It sounded like psshh BANG. Damn it was scary. I took cover under the stairwell that went into the basement.
The next morning I learned that a weak tornado had passed 2-3 miles south of my house.
In summation. The tornado siren was just the beginning of the fun and games. No doubt there are scarier stories than this but I thought I'd share it with you.
For those of you who want to share your experiences I'm ready to read it.
I like that the video starts immediately with the host saying "Tornado Sirens" bearing a humorous expression as the camera zooms in. Very amusing and it sets a fun tone.
As someone who grew up in a region of southern Michigan particularly filled with lakes, these sirens are vital. While Michigan isn't the biggest tornado hotspot in the country, there were at least a few times growing up when we had to speed home off the lake because we heard the siren. It's crazy how a peaceful day can turn into a severe weather outbreak in minutes, and you need all the time you can get to get to safety. Sure, cell phone warnings exist now, but you're not on your phone when your chilling in the middle of the lake...
Also, where I grew up is full of Federal 2001-SRNBs. Maybe that's why I never found them to be creepy, since the 2001 is pretty tame.
It is definitely high-pitched though. Will drive you off
Plus those emergency alerts don't ever seem to all come in at the same time to everyone. So if your in the unlucky group to get a delayed message you're SOL
@@nickcollins1052 and the Geo tagging on those is truly awful.
Ayyyyy a fellow Michigander!
Matpat?
This one time my family did a camping trip through the northern US and at a site in South Dakota, there was a town nearby which used a tornado siren as the curfew siren. Being 11 years old at the time, i did not want to deal with a tornado while camping.
My hometown in South Dakota did this as well!
@@MrPriebster I'm curious why they need to signal curfew at all??
Curfew siren??? I need to Google that...
@@Jonesnihil cities and small towns with curfew ordinances (for juveniles and children) sometimes implement systems like this. i used to live next to a city that uses them, and that was a big suburban city. they typically use them as you said, just to signal the beginning of curfew. its essentially useless though, no one listens. ironically they stopped doing it bc it was straining the power supply lmfao
@@colinsteadland Yea nobody listens to it anymore
I grew up in a rural town where very near the center was the local volunteer fire dept. Next to it was this rad siren tower, it was a tapered square and it was huge, short but wide. I think it had 4 banks of outlets one for each cardinal direction.
This thing was going off all the time, and my house was only about a football field legth away. They used 3 short tones to muster fire volunteers, this was quite common. Then there was the long 30 second tone, which gives me chills thinking about it. Thats the tornado warning.
You could just barely here another siren down by the lake which was a mile or so out, that one was just to tell boaters to gtfo for bad weather, not just tornados.
I always thought this was neat. Im deathly afraid of tornados, and I imagine it invoked in me a similar feeling to what folks in the 50's felt.
this is one of my favorite videos from you. i’ve watched it like 2-3 times
I live in Norman, OK. Our sirens went off three times last night (Feb 26, '23); we had a large Tornado come through the far east part of town. No reported deaths or serious injuries. Gotta say--something about that sound, even if on a YT video or at noon on Saturday when they test them, is eerie and makes the hairs on the back of my neck stand up 😬
UPDATE: You showed our county courthouse for the single-tone sound!
My dog gets terrified of them when they go off. We have to bring her harness and leash downstairs with us so she doesn’t try and run up the stairs to bark at it.
I'm from Oklahoma we had sirens going off as well
Same
I live in Central PA which for those who don't know is kind of a mini tornado alley. We don't typically get the monster super cell twisters they get out in the center of the nation, thank the gods, but we do have frequent low level tornadoes through the late spring-mid summer part of the year and at higher rates than the national average. I've heard mine go off probably 4 times in the last 20 years, and it IS far creepier in person than this video hints. It's the sudden mood change. You're just living your little life, ignorant of the dangers of the world, and all of a sudden those dangers interject in a VERY real way, threatening your home, livelihood, and family, all set to the sinister song of those sirens. It's a...well...a rotten slice of life.
@Matthew Lawton Makes me wonder what WWII must have been like for Europeans (or for Ukrainians 🇺🇦✊️ in our current state of world geopolitical affairs), going about their lives as best they can when all of a sudden a siren rings out that signals bombs and missiles raining down from the sky. Can't imagine those conditions. I'd take a tornado any day over that.
I spent my early childhood in the Midwest and am very familiar with the fear that comes with hearing storm sirens.
So imagine my absolute terror when I moved to the mid-Atlantic (where tornadoes are very uncommon) and my town used the same kind of sirens to alert the volunteer fire department.
That's insane! Total misuse of the air raid/tornado siren. Your new town needs to have a talking to.
sounds like South Buffalo Pennsylvania
Same here. I was visiting relatives in Eastern PA when I heard a siren and started scanning the sky. I asked my relatives, and they said it was a fire siren. It must have been a tiny fire, since it never made the news. I would think they’d save them for huge fires that can spread from building to building. I can see California using them for that purpose when a wildfire is dangerously close to an area.
My old town uses the storm sirens for the fire department and every second thursday
Needless to say I have become completely desensitized :')
Midwest gang. Kwik trip superior
I was so sure we were getting nuked as a teenager one time. The whole sky was blue, it was not 1pm the first Wednesday of the month. It turns out the sky was pretty dark to the northwest after all, and when I turned on Channel 11 they not only were reporting the tornado on the ground, but their chopper was chasing it! The anchor was telling the chopper to get a closer look an Paul Douglas kept wisely telling him unpredictable winds and debris could go further than he might expect. Luckily, the area hit was mostly wooded, with a few warehouses, and some spectacularly sparking high tension power lines.I know you know the specific tornado I’m talking about. It was wild to live through and see on the air.
I had one in the corner of my Gradeschool, the Thunderbolt 1000. They blew the sirens on June 8th, 1966 in Topeka, KS and it's credited with keeping the death count of that Tornado so low. I watched it go through downtown from my neighbors house, they had binoculars. At this point I remember remembering it more then remembering it, if that makes sense. I was three after all. I remember being in the neighbors backyard and I remember them holding the binoculars up to me, all I saw was a big black wall with specks flying around it. If you've ever looked through binoculars adjusted wrong, you know you just get the black wall of the tubes look till you look down through it. Looking back later I realized that was the big wedge tornado and debri, roofs, cars, what have you being thrown around by that monster. Couldn't see it now if you wanted to all the trees between my old but then new, neighborhood have grown up.
I can't ever see getting rid of them. Cell phones are nice and keeping an eye out on the weather, well that's important here in Kansas/Missouri border area. Just last week I was watching the tv and didn't think anything of the storm going through. My wife came out of her room and said "there's a tornado warning" I looked at her and said really? Then, about 1/4 mile away the local siren went off. I did what every native Kansas boy would do, I looked out the window. Hell, I didn't see any darkness at all and definitely no green. Where's it supposed to be I asked? I think it was detetected by radar but I never saw anything from it. Now, the one that went through just south of us by about a mile 3 or 4 years back. I saw the edge of the storm and was trying to take video of the lightning which was coming down almost like a curtain 300 yards across the street (it's a pasture) But just as soon as I'd get my video started on my phone my wife and daughter would txt another message and screw it up. Should have put it on airplane mode. Impressive, lightning strikes that never got closer then the ridge on the top of the hill. Would have been nice to document that.
I could go on and on but I'll leave off with, I had to move from Topeka to Kansas City for my work. I sold the house, found a place to live and was coming up on the move date. Night before we had our 13th tornado warning of that year. I was packing the moving van and looked up to watch a funnel go overhead. "Gotta get outta this state" All I could think. Took em about 5 years to catch up to my new location.
10:13 8/12 sounds like someone is about to play Scotland the brave
I'm one of them siren enthusiasts and I must say, this video is a work of art! Really appreciate just how in depth you went and how much effort was put in to this.
Glad you enjoyed it! Thanks for watching!
@SwegleStudios me personally I believe that sirens are more reliable than cell phones even though cell phones are reliable for folks who don't live in towns and cities that have sirens or for folks who lives too far to hear sirens bcuz some folks don't have cell phones but at the same time the problem for the folks who don't have cell phones and that lives too far to hear the sirens are sitting ducks unless they have weather radios
but how about them folks who don't have neither of those rely on to escape from situations like tornadoes & hurricanes & floods and etc?
nah i think you mean your a siren head haha
this is the first video i watched of your i found you randomly and i am glad i did. really cool video
My hometown had the Thunderbolt siren on the roof of the town Municipal building. I remember as a kid in the '70s they would use the hi-lo siren to call the volunteer fire department for practice every Monday night. I REALLY remember that sound as my Grandma and Grandpa lived across the street from the Municipal building! I remember cutting their lawn and hurrying up so I could be inside before that thing went off, man was it loud! They stopped using it years ago and one day I looked at the buildings roof and it was gone. Don't know if they still have it somewhere or if was scrapped, but hearing that hi-lo siren sure brings back a lot of memories.
The dual tone Thunderbolt struck fear in my heart as a child. It was a couple miles away, but perched atop a hill, so I could see it standing guard over my corner of the town all the time. I can remember watching it rotating once through a pair of binoculars during a test. Definitely a creepy sound. Now days, I miss the old thunderbolts.
I'm with you. Thunderbolt dual-tone was my favorite too. I love that buzzing sound.
That's one of my favorite sirens!! TB 1000T!
Music to my ears. Got two 1000t's and a Hurricane siren here. #playitagain
ruclips.net/video/Xc430AA2S5Q/видео.html
Wow. What a cool thing to share!
@@emrilbennett8704 Ditto, Eyeroll.
The sirens are scary but that fear is needed so the needed actions are done. Before leaving for boot camp, my family lived in a township with a siren that goes off daily at noon. It was actually needed while I lived there and I referenced the one event on another vid. That was an insane day!
In Olathe Colorado? Or elsewhere?
Same with a small town I live by in Oregon. It always spooks me when it turns on.
Growing up in Garnett KS, we had a noon siren as well.
@@Boasandpythons That siren was another reason I loved being where I lived.
I just love the 2001 model. It reminds my of my childhood. Such a classic sound. My little midwest town used to set it off every day at noon for years. That's how you knew to go home for lunch. Because we were just outside _somewhere_ within a few miles. Now we only hear the monthly tests and real storm warnings.
I grew up in Birmingham AL with the Tornado siren across the street of my house. My dogs would always howl to it, and weirdly it is kind of nostalgic.
I remember when I was in 5th grade circa 1993, there was a MASSIVE thunderstorm. Immediately after a massive thunderclap, the civil defense siren (an old square rotating horn) on campus started blaring, one continuous tone. Apparently lightning had struck it and caused it to short circuit. This was in an area with no tornadoes. It took them several hours to shut it off, as they had to wait for the storm to subside.
Looks like lightning rods are also a necessity.
A couple of years ago we had an EF-3 go through our town just after midnight. The sirens were all blaring before and during the event. I was already up following the storms because I don't wanna get caught unprepared. Even if it helps just a handful of people, I say it's worth keeping them around.
seeing a siren being tested as it wails and just spins around gives me goosebumps, but that footage of several sirens going off during a storm is genuinely horrifying
Solid Video! Didn't know these types of channels were out there.
I grew up as a military brat and with one of the bases we lived on there was a siren right behind our backyard. I remember one time there was a severe thunderstorm hitting the base and the house was being hit hard by the winds, everything was shaking, it sounded like a train and all of a sudden the siren starts going off. Even with how loud the storm was it felt like the siren was going off right next to me. Just a steady deafening wooooo. It was amazing and terrifying. Really one of those experiences that really puts this animalistic fear of God in you. This mix of curling up in a ball, sobbing and this feeling of if I don't escape this second, I will die. I will cease to exist and be no more. The siren would also play the National Anthem every day at ear rape volumes, so that was neat
Lmao the national anthem just HAS to be played with a loud ass air raid siren that is meant to wake up every soul in the surrounding few miles
@@SeeMeRollingThat would be the Giant Voice system present on all military installations across the world.
Sirens are so much scarier when you really hear them. If you have never been in a place with a lot of tornadoes its hard to describe what its like to hear the sirens still gives me chills.
If they are scary, then they're doing their job :P
Those who are used to them react to them more clinically and in a more orderly, quicker fashion anyways XD
Agree.
Here in Oklahoma, all my life the sirens test at noon on Saturdays. Even with them being THAT frequent, I always peer at a clock to make sure it was the test. Been in close proximity with 2 of the worst tornados ever seen. You gain an appreciation for anything that can prevent disaster, once you've seen a neighborhood of brick homes get slabbed and asphalt peeled off the roadways.
Maybe it's because they don't sound close, but distant
Growing up in the Midwest made me underestimate tornados. I remember driving and buying food in the middle of a storm when some sirens went off. Probably the 3rd or 4th time that week, shit gets old after a while and loses any scariness
Anyone who's lived in Tornado Alley will never forget that sound. I was a child most of the time growing up there, but I still hear those things in my nightmares.
Our town has a 2001 siren (after a little research) and is so high pithed that it's quite directional. I was about to leave work one day (walking to car) but had to run back in to take shelter as the siren was going off and it went eerily quiet when the siren wasn't pointing at me.
It's amazing what mundane things can capture people's hearts, there's new ones I hear of every day. There's the classic train spotters or rail fans, then there's bridge hunters, now siren hunters, etc. I really love how passionate people are about these things
👍🏻 me too. I think these things are great.
It’s so wholesome 🥹
There IS a place for every geek. Owning my sinkhole, stone baby and teratoma fascination
@@saffloweroyl3663 and friends I appreciate that.
Traffic light enthusiasts
I love the ‘Chicago’ siren. It’s downright eerie but it gets your attention right enough.
Talking of weird things people like, I love electricity pylons and power stations. 😉👍
Power stations are cool!
It lowkey sounds like siren head even though he ain't real, I've heard of him in videos
I love emergency sirens like fire trucks!❤❤
May I ask which power plants you are particularly fond of?
@@user-sw5ff8tf6i it IS siren head's siren, im assuming the creator used it for siren head, and this is why the chicago one sounds a little creepy to me, because of a few siren head videos a little too late
i’d occasionally hear something in the distance similar to the “chicago siren” sound back at the house i grew up in, i was always mesmerized by the tones. tornados are very uncommon where i live and i remember being told it was a nearby fire station’s siren for alerting the volunteer firemen. i one heard it go off while near that fire station and yep it had definitely been coming from there !! i live near a different fire station now and they don’t use that particular siren, just loud honking tones…. i miss the mesmerizing tones i grew up hearing….
RUclips is wild, one minute you’re scrolling bored, and the next you’re learning about sirens. 10/10 lol
I grew up in the shadow of Three Mile Island, so I grew up hearing the siren wails echo off the Appalachian mountains. My favorite thing about sirens is how they showcase massive natural reverb and echoes as the sounds bounce around the environment/atmosphere.
I agree. It’s cool! It definitely adds to the creep factor.
As a siren enthusiast, you did amazing with explaining the concept of tornado sirens. They are very fascinating and it's good to know there's a wide community out there. It's also important for people to understand the aspects based around them as well.
Do they make ex girlfriend sirens?
@@MatthewMS. HUH?
@@BRISTOLFORCE2009 when my ex girlfriend(s) try to rekindle a relationship or get back in Touch I’d love this to go off: ruclips.net/video/LnkMSmLc6mM/видео.html
@@BRISTOLFORCE2009 it’d just make sense
@@MatthewMS. oh
Very interesting. Thanks for the video!
My town in the UP of Michigan sets off our siren every night at 9 and for fires. We call it the 9 o'clock whistle, its strangely comforting to hear it every night scence i was a baby.
As a kid growing up near Air Force bases I remember them sounding the sirens at noon. We have a tornado siren three lots down, it gets annoying during tests but I am glad it’s there. I once lived in Seward Alaska and they had those speaker sirens for tsunami warnings and the first time I heard a test it freaked me out, we could hear voices and then a siren but had no clue what was going on
Seward, Alaska ? A very funny thing is that at their fire department there are 3 sirens from 3 different generations (50's, 80's and 2000's) right next to each other, it's kind of a meme in siren enthusiast groups ^^
😮my favorite siren is the "penatrator". Its so spooky! Yet so fascinating. Good job and thank you for sharing😊
Swegle imitating siren sounds is the highlight of my day
I lived in a state where we had a tornado almost every year, and one of them hit surprisingly close to home once. Now, whenever I hear that one unmuffled car at night, my brain goes straight to thinking it's a siren, and especially during a storm, my heart just sinks. Tornado sirens are truly one of the scariest sounds you will ever hear.
As a siren enthusiast, this is literally perfect. Sirens are unique and vital to those prone to severe weather. Recording them is also a fun and unique experience, as there are so many different types and models to explore!
I grew up in the Midwest, so tornado sirens have a special place in my nightmares, but they pale in comparison to the SONGS sirens I heard in Camp Pendleton for the San Onfre nuclear power plant. Most eerie sound I have ever heard echoing off the mountains
Your voice is very content, and I learn a lot from your videos
Keep up the good shit man, you deserved every sub you earned :)
I’m just about 27 now and was obsessed with sirens in my teens. Everyone thought I was a weirdo for it.
I remember watching every single video you use in here and could even tell what video you took audio from that weren’t shown in this video.
And i never would have thought people are making informative videos like this.
Thank you 😊
Lol I feel you man, I used to be obsessed with em when I was 11-12 right after I started becoming crazy over tornadoes, I never really told anyone about it tho.
@@evanmaldonado9799 same here dog my friend got me into them when I was in 5th grade and I've loved them ever since
Hi twin
5:30 - Imagine waking up on a stormy morning in 1880, walking outside and hearing and witnessing what you believe to be some dudes firing a cannon at a tornado. Strange times, man. Strange times.
Personally, I like the TWS sirens. They look intimidating, give an ominous feeling, have a terrifying tone, and when they have the voice-over stating that it’s a test… it adds to that feeling.
This video gave me anxiety but it's SO well done. I appreciate how thorough you are
As someone who just had my 3rd tornado warning in the span of 2 weeks I can relate to Carl on a personal level. Thanks for the awesome content!
I hope everything is going alright that’s sounds scary I am in the USAs tornado alley and I haven’t seen or heard any tornado activity in a while because this winter is soooooo long
@@stargazer-elite Thx so much, this is the worst ive ever seen weather in ohio
Stay safe folks I’ve just binged watched all the major tornado events dating back to the 1800’s the ones that scared me most was the Joplin, El Reno for its size and how it behaved so unpredictable and the Candlestick park tornado. I’m from the UK didn’t even realise we have our own tornado valley, crazy. Anyways stay safe!
I lived though two tornadoes. The sirens saved my life as I was asleep both times.
Awesome video! Great job! I love your Duran Duran shirt (I love Duran Duran)! I love sirens! I used to be scared of them when I was little, but now I love them! I also have some sensory stuff (I am autistic), and certain sounds got to me. When I was younger, it was sirens. There are other sounds that get to me, now. There are some sounds that still get to me, even now. But the tornado siren is not one of them, now.
Love the pic of Ted Fujita on your shelf
Sirens do indeed scare me, they just seem so ominous, especially if everything else is quiet. But there’s no denying whatsoever how important they are from a safety standpoint. Not everyone has access to a phone or is able to check it right when they need to, like if they’re driving, sleeping, or if their phone happened to die.
I have zero shame admitting I'm terrified when the sirens go off. I had one particularly horrifying experience, and now every time I hear them my stomach sinks. The same thing applies to emergency sirens for me. Firetrucks and ambulances in particular have gone by the house a couple times and it almost makes me cry in fear of what could be happening.
One time the entire city of Dallas sirens were hacked and. It was like 1 in the morning and my entire family was asleep I was the only person awake. All of a sudden every single siren went off and it was not raining at all and I went outside and my neighbors were packing their car with stuff and telling their children to hurry
I went back inside debating if I should wake my family up because mind you I was thinking there was a ballistic nuclear missile was being sent to the city so I thought I was going to die along with everyone else and I made up my mind to just let them die in their sleep instead
So I went upstairs and sat against the wall shaking and praying that it would be a quick death.
Later to find out it was just a hacker. And I was thankful but it was the most terrifying experience of my life.
@@jacobgreer1512 I hope someone found the hacker and kicked their ass.
You need a therapist.
@@evilsharkey8954Hopefully he dropped the soap in prison.
yeah it also terrifies me but it also is scary in a good way for some reason. It's like im creeped out but i also like the fear
Here in N. Central Texas, my town tests the Sirens on the first Wednesday of every month at 12 noon. The final portion after the siren is "Test, Test, This is only a Test!" If the sun's out and it's a nice day, it can be kinda creepy to have the tone erupt from out of nowhere. Glad and grateful we have them. We rely so much on their warnings/alerts, especially through the Spring/Summer months.
Love those sounds. Chilling. I need this as a ringtone.
I grew up across the street from a fire station with a dual tone ACA Hurricane 130. I still remember being outside one beautiful summer day before I realized Tuesdays at 10am were siren testing days. That thing went off and it was loud. I booked it back into the house with my mom chasing me to tell me we were safe.
Crap I would've been scared too if I didn't realize it was testing day!!!
Lemme guess it was located in Darien illinois
Oh wow! The hurricanes are louder than most!
@@motobro1287 You saw my story on another video then.
@@Nurichiri I did not
I’m from Wichita. During tornado seasons they sound the sirens every Monday at noon. There’s one at an intersection near me. Most recently the tornado that hit Augusta triggered sirens throughout Wichita. People here aren’t afraid of tornadoes. Hearing the sirens go off is an invitation to go tornado spotting.
One thing to note is that when you’re in the house during strong wind and rain, you can’t always hear the sirens. They’re for warning people outside and they’re surprisingly hard to hear in really bad weather.
My favorite is the A.C.A Allertor 9/12 chopper. It has a good tone and it has a low tone to it. It can also be a hi-lo too.
I know it's weird... But that one of the most exciting sounds for me besides the emergency warning tone on radio and TV! Love it
Interesting as a Brit, because, like you mentioned, I instantly associate the standard sound of a siren with ww2. Having never lived through that period, it feels kind of nostalgic, mostly due to films, tv and dramas set in the time. You feel like a woman in a green uniform with impeccable hair and lip-stick is about to appear and tell you that "Blighty's going to give them a jolly what-for!" And you go "yEEEEAH!" and forget all the real life terror and trauma of war 😅😬
she'd more likely have said, "Keep calm, no need to panic. Carry on regardless".....to which you'd reply, "Oh dear, Jerrys back. We'll get down below and have a spot of tea. Cheerio"
Do they have tornadoes in Britain. Pretty nice if y’all don’t.
@@bobobob5108 We do, but they're very rare and are too small to do any real damage.
Right! That old 'nostalgic' WWII feeling of Scarcity & Rationing is making somewhat of a comeback in "Jolly old England" these days...🤔 😳
@@lilblackduc7312 Using WW2 as the litmus test for "we held it together (supposedly) back then so we're not allowed to complain otherwise we're a bunch of weedy-wusses" for the rest of time until the heat-death of the universe 😭
7:52 The other students when you get in trouble with the teacher
Lmao 😂
Thunderbolt 1000T/1003 are my favorites and have been for as long as I've heard of warning sirens. I like the 10/12 pitch ratio and the doppler as they rotate.
I used to have a crazy obsession with tornado sirens and tornadoes when I was young, I would watch videos of both of these things all day and I’m still obsessed with tornadoes and storms to this day
In many towns across Pennsylvania, tornado/attack sirens are sounded whenever there is a fire call to alert the volunteers to check their pagers or phones. Different tones are used for different events as well. We had a tornado last March and it was a consistent tone, while fire calls are what you consider to be an attack tone. I have been to many places in PA and it seems most towns use this method to alert the town of an emergency. Everything that triggers a fire department to respond is something a siren is sounded for. In my particular town, there are three different sirens that create a very creepy atmosphere whenever there is an emergency. Keep up the good work and I look forward to more!
My town used to do that but had to stop sounding sirens for fire calls because some idiots (scanner chasers) would follow the fire departments to see the fire or wreck scene
Used to live in a small town in PA and our town did three long alert tones if I recall correctly for volunteers to check in. They stopped doing that about ten years ago for some reason. Too many complaints, I guess, along with better cellphone coverage. That town was in a weird place, and so some of the volunteers lived up to five or ten minutes away (at regular road speed) in the heavily forested area where I was too, and cellphone coverage did not exist there for many, many years. Still barely has dependable coverage so I don't know why they just didn't, you know, move the siren.
I grew up in missouri where twisters are super common, basically one every other week during the spring and fall. The sirens are chilling, but seeing trees get ripped from their roots in your back yard is much more so.
A side from going off at noon our siren goes off when there is a fire or flood warning. There is actually a somewhat ominous chart for all the different tones and what they mean.
I have a huge special interest in adverse weather. I just wanted to say thank you for your channel.
I’ve lived in a place that has fairly prominent tornado watches, but hardly ever gets any warnings. If we do, the storm usually passes south of us and ends up hitting a completely different town. Yet, despite this, every time we test our sirens it still gives me chills! They sound so cool and terrifying at the same time.
In all fairness, tornado sirens are the type of thing that you hope never have to be used haha
During my career with a fire department in Texas we had to observe our tornado sirens on test day and report their function back to dispatch. And, just like you said...many times siren enthusiasts would show up and watch the tests with us. One guy even recorded them. In those days they were big ol yellow Federals. By the time I retired they were all electronic. I always enjoyed watching and hearing them (as long as it was just a test) Nice video!
How fun.
Our town has 3 of those alternating wail sirens. I agree how eerie and spooky they sound esp with 3 of them going same time. It sounds alot like that Chicago clip towards the end, but imagine 2 more in the background. Even during tests it sounds like doomsday.
If you grew up in the 60s you were taught to dread the old the old CD sirens signaling the end of life as we know it. To this day, the wail is deeply upsetting, even when expected for storms or a test.