When Cobb residents don’t hear a tornado siren during turbulent weather, there are many other ways to receive timely weather alerts, according to Cobb County Communications Director Ross Cavitt in a Jan. 27 statement.
No matter where you live in Cobb, there are a host of weather-alerting apps for your phone, weather radios and other methods to get these alerts, he added.
Among them are Swift 911, outdoor warning sirens, local network/CobbTV, web alerts, radio stations and NOAA weather radios.
Cobb County conducts outdoor warning siren system tests at noon on the first Wednesday of each month, sounding the sirens for 3 to 5 minutes.
If there is inclement weather on the first Wednesday of the month, the test will be postponed until the following day, the first Thursday of the month.
Cobb County has 74 tornado sirens spread across the county, and Smyrna also has some that operate in their jurisdiction, according to Cavitt.
The sirens are computer-controlled to alert if they are in, or within 2 miles of, a National Weather Service warning polygram.
For example, Cavitt said the Tornado Warning issued on Jan. 26 was primarily for the north part of the county so that sirens south of that line would not have alerted.
“Because of growth in Cobb, its topography and trees, we highly recommend that you do not solely rely on these sirens for critical weather alerts,” Cavitt said.
“There are a number of situations, including weather conditions and how sound-proof your home is, where you may not be able to hear these sirens clearly,” he added.
Information: CobbCounty.org/public-safety/emergency-management/warning-systems, weather.gov/nwr
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