Could tornado sirens be used in Canada? Unlikely, and here's why

As the number of tornadoes touching down in Canada continue to increase as the country faces more severe storms, weather experts are calling for more work to be done on better alerting Canadians faster.
While not common in Canada, tornado sirens are a tool often used in the U.S. to alert residents outdoors of severe weather, with the noise often blaring across cities and towns. And it raises the question, could they be used north of the border as another tool.
But as Sean Previl explains, weather experts say it's more likely the alerts Canadians will hear will come from their cell phones before a siren in their town.
For more info, please go to globalnews.ca/...
Subscribe to Global News Channel HERE: bit.ly/20fcXDc
Like Global News on Facebook HERE: bit.ly/255GMJQ
Follow Global News on Twitter HERE: bit.ly/1Toz8mt
Follow Global News on Instagram HERE: bit.ly/2QZaZIB
#GlobalNews #tornado

[@slice169]

Why not install redundancies? It takes almost nothing to erect poles with a siren on it. That siren can be activated by the local emergency call center, same as it is in the US. To say it's "expensive" means nobody has actually looked into it. I live in a village of 220 people in Nebraska and we have two sirens, one on either side of town....with an annual city budget roughly the same as one upper middle class household, so it can definitely be done. TV, Radio, and Cell phone alerts are great, but it just doesn't make sense to me not to have another alert device.

[@higgy04]

My pet peeve with tornado warnings in Canada is that there doesn't seem to be as many experienced meteorologists on TV either anymore or were laid off by the broadcasters parent company. An example, a tornado warning was issued for south end of Calgary and east of the city during the noon hour. The stations had visuals of the storm but refused to stay on the air to provide further information. Instead, some viewers were treated to four women shrieking about the Kardashian's instead.

[@KNR90]

Last summer they did nothing

[@KNR90]

The air force bases have air raid alarms, you were checking tinder

[@KNR90]

They were all on the air but they didn't give a football play by play

[@christinek7989]

We had air raid sirens in Thunder Bay as a hold over from the Cold War. They were never used but funnily enough in massive thunderstorms they'd go off by accident. It was so eerie lying in bed listening to that. They took them all down but I think some of the old towers they sat on are still there.

[@DJ_BROBOT]

some of the people featured in this report are idiots....if each municipality would invest in one, you could easily get coverage over several swaths. Canadians governments think these horns is akin to purchasing a damn building...or a whole province or the national government needs to pay for them. You dont. A horn, out of all things in the world, are cheaper than most things a city or town will pay for. Even if governments gave some subsidies to defray costs, these could be up fast and before you know it. They are overthinking this.

[@JoniMitchell-qi6hr]

Not everybody has a fully charged or paid cell phone all the time Or neccesarily have one glued to your hip 24/7 That is how I broke my phone bringing it outside with me Back in the day we all had land lines Some people prefer them with an answering machine instead of cell phones They crack and break all the time😢😮 Everyone else gas them and the way this world is turning I think it should be a priority Especially with the way they are building these days by not using brick Cheaply built homes are just toys for tornado's and burricanes To Play With😢😮😢😮😢7😢

[@d.mauldille1388]

tor ado sirens are just badass

[@pattycarljackson]

The US uses all of those methods.

[@keithscott2062]

We should have them along with the cell alerts. The more notice the better.

[@SireDragonChester]

Sound more like they just being lazy. Not everybody has cell phones. But that is getting rare. Canada could easily added tornado sirens to many mobile towers. They just don’t want put in home work to set them up or the cost. = lazy.

[@georgesimon6041]

GFY and your prop a gan da

[@georgesimon6041]

@@DoratheMysterySnail-dw8ii You are not bright enough to understand.

[@georgesimon6041]

@@DoratheMysterySnail-dw8ii You are not bright enough to understand.

[@rosebloem2474]

The tornado,s go now too the bahama,s

[@JackFisherTrio]

They need to be in Canada. The app takes too long. Tornado on the ground should be full on sirens. We need to take the same precautions as the US. Why wait to learn. We already know.

[@Tha66]

រស់នៅក្នុងសង្គមត្រូវតែចេះរៀនមើលមេឃផ្កាយដូចចាស់ៗបុរាណខ្លះទៅគ្រាន់បើជាជាងនៅមុខទូរទស្សន៍គ្មានប្រយោជន៍សម្រាប់សង្គម។

[@ericg1971]

I grew up when the town i lived in had a siren go off every noon and thinking at six as well , WW2 era thing maybe but it was heard everywhere for miles so not a bad thing to have as not everyone has there Cell tied to there body 24/7

[@SubSonic_plays]

And if you have your phone on silent bc ur asleep??????

[@SherryRadway]

Still need sirens in every town and city across Canada.

[@KNR90]

I heard them at CFB sheffield. I was delivering and the sirens went off. I have had massive tornado damage recently with no warnings over the last two summers

[@Dylannrai-p2k]

We had a night Tornado in Chatham Ontario 2 weeks ago. I think sirens would have been very helpful because not everybody sleeps with thier cell phone nearby. Lucky no one was hurt.

[@sikiescordova1826]

Yes please!!!! You need it it’s about to get dangerous.

[@sikiescordova1826]

Start building a bunker like your life depends on it

[@carymnuhgibrilsamadalnasud1222]

Chatham gets tornados?

[@audacyspectrum3612]

Why not? At least in cities... there's more people and damage to be dealt with. I also agree with another comment, they could use the phone alerts.

[@josephpolacoff5671]

Tornado sirens save lives. Not everyone has or can afford a cell phone. Those people deserve to get warned about a potential life threatening storm too! It's just another example that in this world money is more important than human lives, this is pathetic.

[@Osprey23-o8l]

Don’t all provinces have cell phone alerts?

[@breezybre2670]

Not good enough. We need something that will wake us up even when our phone is dead. We need weather band radios that wake us up.

[@SRN42069]

Phone alerts are terrible the last tornado warning the whole system had a stroke, from people not getting the alert to people getting it outside of the area, the whole system depends on the likes of bell and rogers to send the alerts rogers failed to do so one time issuing it 2 minutes late after the warning was expired. We should not be solely trusting phone's as cell signal can be blocked pretty easily I can hardly get a bar here where are my weather radio has a good signal. Weather radios and sirens should be provided not only are the radios more reliable since it's direct from environment Canada but the sirens are an amazing backup for people in areas where they can't get a signal. This is incredibly stupid idea and you're gonna regret it someday. But i'm not surprised from a government that can't even maintain a supermarket or transit system. Not to mention some people can't even afford phones so you're basically telling them to die because they can't get a warning.

[@johnandrews389]

They need one when you enter Brampton

[@Record4315]

During the 2018 outbreak the tornado was half a kilometer away and Alert Ready only then said its a warning. So yes.

[@moregaellazer]

For some dont have phones or wifi, o highly recommend Tornado sirens

[@Dylannrai-p2k]

$80,000 for 4 sirens that can cover 40 square kilometers

[@willli8163]

It should be used yes

[@LimeRobloxYT]

Hello

[@cestlavie1980]

😶😶😶

[@dar4052]

It would just be another scare tactic for those who already cant handle hearing things

[@Themiddleman416]

LMFAO 🤦🏻‍♂️ why do people insist we waste tax money? Just keep the phone alerts. Even homeless people have a phone.

[@slice169]

How much do you really think it costs to erect a pole with a siren on it? It's not like it's millions of dollars. It's literally a few hundred bucks....by the time you have it wired up and able to be activated by a local emergency call center (911 in the US. Didn't know if it was the same in Canada...) you're probably talking about less than $5000. If that saves one life, isn't it worth it? Thats likely less than most small communities' pot-hole budget

[@arkcon714]

@@slice169lol you don’t understand how the government works junior. You’re right that is what it should cost but the government will somehow spend millions on it

[@slice169]

@arkcon714 yes, federal and provincial governments might, but your local city or regional government can get this done for relatively cheap. Just doesn't make sense to me not to have another redundancy in place. I get it- tv, radio, and cell phone alerts are great but tornado sirens still save lives...but I live in the central part of the US where we get several tornados a year. Maybe it's not nearly as prevalent up there...🤷‍♂️

[@arkcon714]

@@slice169 again they could but they wouldn’t. Local governments are just as bad if not worse as they have far less accountability

[@Themiddleman416]

@@slice169they would literally spend millions on it. Look at how much they overpaid for the covid app