The siren who cried wolf....

The tornado sirens went off in downtown Milwaukee again this afternoon, for the third time in less than a week. We dutifully traipsed down to the basement. Someone had brought a couple of decks of cards; we were downstairs just long enough for me to beat April at one hand of rummy.

The point here is that there was no tornado warning. I checked before we went downstairs, and again when we came back up less than fifteen minutes later.

I've lived in Wisconsin all my life. The only time those sirens are supposed to go off is when there is a warning - an actual sighting of a tornado. It's drilled into us as kids (and adults) that when you hear those sirens, you move. Seek shelter immediately. Take the battery operated radio, water, first aid kit, the baby and run. If the sirens are now being used to indicate severe thunderstorms, the effect is going to be ... watered down.

Frankly, with all the rain and flooding we've had lately, sheltering in the basement during a severe thunderstorm may not be the smartest thing to do.

We'll still seek shelter when the siren song sings, but we may not move quite as quickly. When you only have minutes to seek shelter from a fast-moving tornado, that lack of haste could be deadly.