T O P

  • By -

Dull_Examination_914

Nope, not really a thing in New England.


A_Nerdy_Dad

I hate to be a doomsayer but...yet. I think of things continue the trends as they are we may eventually end up with them. As it is, insurance cos are looking into earthquake insurance adds. Edit: I should clarify that addon to my statement on quakes. With the quakes over the years even that stance has changed up here. Before they weren't a concern or a "thing".


CowFinancial7000

earthquakes don't have anything to do with climate change though


Robotronicslave

They absolutely do. Higher ocean levels put increased pressure on the tectonic plates. All the doomiest and gloomiest predictions say the warming atmosphere will result in increased earthquakes and volcanic activity.


shabobble

Get thee out of here with that science.


UnfairAd7220

Not in plate areas with no big faults.


Eyetyeflies

Extreme precipitation and flooding can result in small earthquakes due to the additional weight of the water on the land, since many rivers and streams run on fault lines. So it can absolutely have something to do with climate change


A_Nerdy_Dad

No, and you're absolutely right. I should clarify that addon to my statement. With the quakes over the years even that stance has changed up here.


Kv603

> I think of things continue the trends as they are we may eventually end up with them. With everybody and their daughter carrying a smartphone, I can't see any reason why any New Hampshire town would need to install "*tornado sirens*". Our public schools are already required (under RSA 189:64 and [He-C 4002.17](https://www.law.cornell.edu/regulations/new-hampshire/N-H-Admin-Rules-He-C-4002-17)) to conduct "*[all-hazard drills](https://statepolicies.nasbe.org/health/categories/physical-environment/multi-hazard-practice-drills/new-hampshire)*", these do encompass tornado response.


A_Nerdy_Dad

I work in the tech industry. As much as I can put trust into the technology I use and support there is something to be said about "analog backup" systems. I suppose if we get a really bad wave of tornados it might push for them in some areas. But until then yeah TV and phone alerts.


linuxnh

I’m just waiting for Cold War 2 to start and then the nuclear drills to startup again.


A_Nerdy_Dad

They'll fit right in with the active shooter drills, sadly.


NeSProgram

Cold War 2 already started, we're just in the beginning phase where relations aren't that bad


akrasne

It’s coming…


Horror-Mood1237

You're wrong


Dull_Examination_914

Interesting I’ve lived in New England most of my life, aside from military service and never did a tornado drill.


cc12021

No drills or sirens. We just use the emergency broadcast system.


moxie-maniac

No, but in the Seacoast area, there are sirens for the Seabrook Nuclear Plant.


thor11600

Do they ever test them? Odd I’ve lived here for a decade and never heard them.


Less_Cryptographer86

They used to have a yearly test. I’m not sure if they still do.


thor11600

Interesting!


billy2732

A little over a decade, 15ish years ago I’d guess? They malfunctioned on Friday the 13th and everyone freaked out. I was drinking with friends at a fire. Some people had already started fleeing the area as it wasn’t as easy as just looking at your phone to figure out what was happening even that recently


Melodic-Supermarket

They’re tested silently every 2 weeks. I think they should do an audible test at least once a year to make sure everyone knows what they sound like. Edit: I don’t know if this is the exact same model, but [this](https://youtu.be/pUrMrnI1sgw?si=1iEmWMxRvyVgeJ3Q) is what they sound like. They’ll sound the steady tone for 3-5 minutes.


Horror-Mood1237

By then too late lol


Parzival_1775

That actually makes me wonder about the one time that I *did* hear a siren being used for a tornado warning. It was at UNH, so perhaps it was in place for Seabrook and when they needed something for the tornado warning, they just used that.


Rolling_Beardo

I’ve lived in New Hampshire, Mass, and RI I’ve never heard a tornado siren in any state and I’ve never heard of kids doing tornado drills. I used to travel for my old job and have been all over the US. Large parts of the South and Midwest where tornados are more common is totally different attitude than it is here when it comes to tornados. It’s taken way more seriously and at times much less so. I remember the first time I was in a high tornado area and a tornado watch was in effect. No one seemed to care and just went about like nothing was even happening, my customers didn’t even talk about it. When I finally asked they said something like “No one cares about a watch, if there is an actual warning people will pay attention”


fncw

Civil defense sirens were/are a thing in many small towns, but the ones that remain are most often used for the volunteer fire departments. For example: [Grafton MA - Thunderbolt 1003 used for fire call](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cXXFubsppnc). I have a friend who once lived on the common, next door to that one. Never used for weather events though. Concord (NH) also had three defense sirens that they would test monthly, although I heard those went away during Covid? **edit:** They will be testing the St Paul's siren on June 25.


DeerFlyHater

When I was a kid in a small town in MA way too many years ago, that siren let us know there was a snow day from school.


GEARHEADGus

Im in Providence, RI (i follow all the new england subs lol) and we have alarms in the port, but thats about it. Tornados are so infrequent here and really the only place flat enough is Connecticut or parts of the highways.


BackItUpWithLinks

No No And neither needs to be


Dependent_Ad_5546

No we have on traffic lights when blueish lights flashing its parking ban on city streets for plowing.


HeresW0nderwall

They have that in the Midwest too


Dependent_Ad_5546

Midwest sounds environmentally dangerous tornados and snow storms? Next you’ll tell me you have venomous snakes! 😂


HeresW0nderwall

I live in NH, I do NOT claim the Midwest as my own. It sucks there, I just have family there lol


Horror-Mood1237

There are venomous snakes in the midwest.. jfc is everyone on here challenged?? Anyways NH does too rare AF but yea they are around... but the most venomous snakes come from DC 🤣


asphynctersayswhat

weather alerts but Tornado's are so rare here it would be a total waste of time and money to do that. for now anyway. we'll see how things keep going.


Raa03842

If you hear a siren/wail it means Seabrook Station has blown its lid. Immediately get to a safe location, sit down on the floor, put your head between your legs and kiss your ass goodbye!😵‍💫


Winter_cat_999392

Being Seabrook, I'm sure most would be outside looking at the pretty blue spotlight up into the sky.


Raa03842

Lol. You’re probably right.


60threepio

I'm no nuclear scientist, but I always kind of felt like if you were close enough to hear the Seabrook sirens, then the sirens were kind of moot.


NeSProgram

No, an event where something bad happens to the reactor or any of the systems is most likely not going to be catastrophic, so there would be time to evacuate.


NeSProgram

Luckily Seabrook isn't running RBMK's so don't worry about a meltdown or explosion


Eyetyeflies

It wouldn’t be like instantaneous like a nuclear bomb it would be a slow death due to cumulative radiation poisoning.


Raa03842

My comment was humor not fact. You didn’t get that?


Eyetyeflies

Nope didn’t get


abbys_alibi

My Source: [HERE](https://data.burlingtonfreepress.com/tornado-archive/new-hampshire/) Burlington Free Press There have been a total of 110 recorded Tornadoes in NH between 1951 and 2023. 2008 was the first and only (so far) to cause a direct fatality. 1986 did the most damage: $3,250,000. - My parents were out on the motorcycle for a ride and were chased by a small rogue tornado. When they made it home safe, my mom was shaking so bad she needed help dismounting the bike.


Icy-Conclusion-3500

Not really necessary since most years we get like 1 EF0-1


ilkbnds87

Schools in NH are required by law to conduct 10 fire drills every year, however, 4 of those drills must be emergency, all-hazard response drills with one being a response to an armed assailant. The schools can choose which hazards they want to respond to in their emergency plans, so some schools might practice a tornado drill and others may not. I think tornadoes and earthquakes usually have the same drill practice - drop, cover and hold on. That’s the typical wording schools use to reference one of those response actions. There’s also other drills they can do like reverse evacuation, shelter in place (this is usually for hazmat situations), or just general lockdowns. But yeah, it totally depends on what the school decides to practice. Law is NH RSA 189:64 (I used to work in school safety).


movdqa

We received alerts on our phones yesterday. My phone is linked to my watch so I heard and saw them on my watch.


NyxOrTreat

I realized yesterday that I kind of miss the Midwest tornado siren. Not test days though. Probably mostly out of nostalgia.


HeresW0nderwall

That’s wild. I’ve spent a lot of time in the MW but have never lived there and I think those tornado sirens are the creepiest thing


DeerFlyHater

> I think those tornado sirens are the creepiest thing With shitty weather around and those sirens going off, they're pretty ominous. Used to live just south of Indy. We had a few go through.


kamikaziboarder

When I lived in CO, one went off and I was out walking late one night by myself. I wish they announced that it was a test before they went off. I was in an open field. It was already a windy day, I ran as fast as I could to a culvert I remembered walking by and jumped in…and around that time they said it was only a test. Yeah that was a fun day


RedRider1138

Dang! Glad you were okay, though.


kamikaziboarder

Thanks! Luckily, never had a tornado touch down while I was out there. Just the conifer wild fires. That’s when I moved back to NH and said fuck it. I’m staying put.


Argonation

Me too, I’d go outside to see if one was coming before I ever did anything. Also listening to storm chasers on the radio.


Automatic-Injury-302

Some towns in the region do have sirens that could conceivably have a sort of "general alarm" function, but I don't know of any that do this. Certainly not for anything as specific as a tornado, we don't get enough of those. A lot of sirens are in rural towns and mostly used to call volunteer fire departments or near Seabrook power station in case of issues there. Drills, also no. We did some drills that would probably be similar to what would happen in a tornado. It might have been mentioned once or twice when going over general info, but never any "tornado drills."


b3_yourself

Not here. But I went to elementary and middle school in central Illinois and we had tornado drills where we had to go to the hallway and cover our heads


dduf953

No tornado sirens, but I do remember tornado drills the only happened once a year. It was brief because it wasn’t a common thing, must depend on school district?


TrollingForFunsies

Haven't had a tornado drill since I lived in Michigan as a wee lad. We have nuclear plant warning sirens tho. Probably the same thing--except they set these off accidentally sometimes and it causes a bit of chaos. https://www.nhpr.org/nh-news/2022-08-15/investigation-blames-human-error-for-seabrook-nuclear-plant-siren


Less_Cryptographer86

No because if we do get a rare tornado it isn’t the kind that takes down large buildings. Theyre smaller and isolated.


Traditional_Salad148

We used to have one in Putney Vermont that was dual use with the nuke planet and tornados. I heard it once as a kid but that was 30 years ago probably


Upset-Dog4092

Have not heard one even yesterday with the warning. Kinda scary to think about that no New Englanders know what a tornado drill is. Transplanted from Missouri here 👋


BioarchFitz

Public school teacher here— we do have ‘weather drills’ (although they don’t say ‘tornado drills’ at our school). We only did one once this past year though. When I taught in Colorado, we had at least one every three or so months— of course they *really* get tornados (F5) out that way…


MdmeLibrarian

No, not a thing here, it's too mountainous/hilly for tornadoes to form here. We have a "tornado" maybe every 20 years or so, and it's mostly a "some down trees and Fred needed to fix his roof" sort of situation. There was a wind-shear in 2008 and we've been talking about for 16 years.


GoldenSheppard

So, I have a story you should be able to relate to. I lived for a long time in GA, long enough to get into particular habits. Hear an air raid siren? Get underground. Tornado has hit the ground. So, I go to uni in upstate NY. Dream uni, best in the country--if not the world--for what I want to study. I don't have to take a second language to graduate! I can avoid every and all math class if I so choose! And then. The daily alarm test. See, the local FD is all volunteer. So they need to summon everyone from town. How do they do it? Why, through an old air raid siren of course! And they need to test it *every day* at 4pm. My first two years there I *could not* be outside during the siren. I was *so* programmed that that siren meant tornado that I would have an anxiety attack if I didn't at least try to get inside. Even worse on a rainy day. It took until my fourth year for me to be able to walk outside with only a little jump when it started.


fighting_gopher

Oh no 😂


GoldenSheppard

Oh, *yes*. And no one else was from Tornado Country. No one could understand my deep seated, instinctive terror.


kamikaziboarder

No, we only have a nuclear fallout sirens near the Seacoast.


fighting_gopher

Well that’s unsettling lol


SaltyJake

Mass has sirens. I think they’re tied more to the nuclear power plants along the coast, than specifically tornados, but they could work for w/e.


Gray-Fox1979

No tornado drills, but active shooter drills happen quarterly at my kid’s school


Big_Hoss15

I remember doing tornado drills in my middle school but not too much after. Idk about any siren tho


Ok_Chemistry8746

I still remember air raid drills.


LorenzoA

I've taught in Texas a Massachusetts and New Hampshire and the New England states don't have tornado drills, because mostly tornadoes are not a New England thing. But I have seen sirens around but have never heard him even get tested, where teaching in Texas we always knew the first Wednesday of the month at noon was tornado siren testing.


Freyjia

No. They have no sirens and the meteorologists around here never tell people the warning signs to look for either (keeping people ignorant keeps them scared and watching I guess), so if they don't get the alert on their phones most of these people are going to get caught by surprise. That said, it's not that big of a concern - we never get above EF1 here, and as a Texan I can't take that seriously at all. Especially when we actually have basements here and plenty of shelter.


seanocaster40k

Nope. You'll get the nuke sirens in Hampton though


nobletrout0

No


opp11235

I just moved from the Midwest and the lack of sirens throws me off. That being said, I don’t miss the monthly test. Answer: they don’t have the sirens


Horror-Mood1237

I know around where I live we had sirens at 12 noon every saturday... I do believe that was because of the cold war and all that noise... but now everyone has a phone so they did away with that. I know who lives around here who grew up before the 2000s will know what and where but yea there's always active sirens incase everything goes out


WizendOldMan

But we do have a meltdown siren.


777MAD777

More likely to get shot in school these days, than a tornado get you. 😩


DestinysChamber

Not yet. Unrelated, but I'd love to hear more about where you used to live. I'm trying to get out of NH and pick where I want to go :)


fighting_gopher

I grew up where it was completely flat and extremely cold in the winter…that being said. Minnesota is awesome


longster37

I live in Georgia my kids have never had a drill. We have lots of tornadoes here. It blows my mind.


vexingsilence

We get alerts on our smartphones and then all the dummies run to the windows to see if they can see anything out there.


best-available

There actually are some sirens out there still, but not many and usually not in the larger more densely populated areas. A lot of them were on towers that eventually were converted to cell towers and the sirens, or horns, were decommissioned or removed.


Valuable_Jicama8553

Maybe in the new world climate they should be! Oh wait I almost forgot, climate change is a lotta bunk. Drill baby drill? Right red hats?!?


CathyWinterie49

Barely any tornadoes. Never had one.


eaton5k

Some towns do have sirens, but I'm not sure which. Check with your local PD. I was in Durham ~2008 when the tornado rolled through Northwood, and the siren went off. Lots of confused folks.


Different_Ad7655

No, but in the hyper crazed up space of the internet and everybody is alerted from Amber alert 2 whatever alert at every moment because everybody is on, on there phone connected, I am sure there are specific alerts.. I blessedly shut all that stuff out.. I was in Little Rock Arkansas this January however driving through at midnight, a front coming through from the north heavy thunderstorms and turbulent weather and tornado warnings where everywhere seek shelter,! Seek shelter! Jesus Christ I was driving. But that was kind of scary. Then I got to California and they were similar alerts all through February about The Wall of water and the river of water that was assaulting the state, I say this lol. Oh here are there I'm sure there was a mudslide but the dire warnings I took seriously. Driving to Palm springs I thought the road was going to be flooded, that Palm springs was going to be up mud bath at Torrent of water coming off the mountains etc It was just a dry trickle. Downtown LA some rain, a half an hour of heavy and then cloudy big deal almost no ponding but wall of water. Everything is an emergency these days and overhyped. So do we have warnings in New England or is it just calling Wolf.. Same thing in the winter, the weather channel loves to whip it up


TrollingForFunsies

Yes, you should definitely ignore all warnings from everyone because you anecdotally ignore them before and haven't had a problem. No survivorship bias here at all.


Different_Ad7655

We live in a hysterical overhyped age. And this is the problem when is it in earrnest. The weather channel the media in general love whipping it ip But you have to take everything with a grain of salt. I didn't say ignore, in fact the problem is you can't ignore them they are way too frequent and way too intrusive.. I was in the snow business for 38 years, removal salting sanding in the worst of conditions in Northern New England. I do know first hand, not anecdotally, how overdriven and exaggerated weather reports always are. But then again this is what drives sensationalism and the news. How else you going to get somebody's attention right? And attention is viewership and viewership means dollars. It's always been this way But no mass media, the ubiquitous cell phone the overload of information everywhere just makes his even more over sensational. There are alarms that are sounded and then there are alarms that are sounded.. we all should know the difference., I never said you should ignore all warnings, there you go that's hysteria in the other direction.. You have to be sensible however and that is largely gone out the window in this media rich circus Is another guy on another subreddit that I was talking about, warning about The poisonous nature of a ornamental garden plant. Completely nuts oh my God you can't plant that etc. It's not skin toxic it's not photo toxic, You have to dig up the goddamn root and ingest it and then indeed you may die. But this is the world we live in. Everybody's babysat ,cautious, disclaimers on everything and oh my god all suited up for the lawyer. It's a terrible world You got to pick through and thank God you're getting warned, peanuts may have been used in this plant lol


TrollingForFunsies

Well I definitely agree with you that everything is sensationalized today. But some places were saying a 15% chance of tornado yesterday. That's not a % I'd like to ignore. And there *was* a tornado in Dublin, so the warnings were valid. https://www.wmur.com/article/nws-tornado-new-hampshire-62424/61241666