NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WTVF) — Two tornado sirens are currently labeled "inoperable" in Nashville ahead of a storm system moving into the area Friday.
This is the third storm system in 2023 where the system had outages. Fire department officials said the parts haven't come in to fix the sirens. They also reminded Nashvillians that the sirens — meant for those outdoors — should be no one's primary alert system.
The Nashville Office of Emergency Management said the sirens are out at:
- 0 Conference Dr.
- McCrory Lane / Newsome Station Road
In total, the city has 113 sirens and covers 500 square miles.
Instead, experts recommend people have multiple ways to monitor weather conditions.
Since gaining the sirens in 2002, Nashville has had siren upgrades throughout the years, most recently in 2020 to make the system polygonal. Sirens go off based on the information from the National Weather Service-Nashville.
The best way to get direct weather alerts is through a NOAA weather radio, which are alerts transmitted via NWS. Cell phone carriers who manage the Emergency Alert System are dependent on those companies alone. Tennessee Emergency Management nor NWS have any control over those alerts that pop up on phones.
NewsChannel 5 also has its Storm Shield weather app. Storm Shield App provides storm-based alerts for tornado, flood, thunderstorm, winter storms and other life-threatening weather events via voice and push notifications. It is free in the app store.
