National Weather Service Tornado Assessment for Anderson Township

On Wednesday, March 1, 2017, at 8:45pm, the National Weather Service confirmed touchdown of an EF 0 Tornado in the southwest part of our community.  To review the report, please visit http://www.weather.gov/iln/20170301_Anderson.

Anderson Township has received questions regarding the use of outdoor weather sirens. Such sirens in Hamilton County (including Anderson Township and the other 48 communities) are operated by the Hamilton County Emergency Management Agency. A statement from the County EMA Director, Nick Crosley, from the afternoon of March 1st appears below and outlines how/when these are activated:

“Last night, our Agency had staff monitoring the weather overnight from our office. At no point in the evening was a tornado warning issued for any part of Hamilton County. In addition, no tornado or tornadic activity was reported by local public safety officials or trained weather spotters. We activate the sirens for tornado warnings based on warnings issued by the National Weather Service, reports of tornadoes by public safety personnel or by reports from trained weather spotters that the National Weather Service has in the community.

Public safety is our Agency’s top priority. The decision to activate the Outdoor Warning Sirens is one we take very seriously, and we will err on the side of caution if we feel there is a potential threat to life safety. The issue to keep in mind is that a tornado can happen without a tornado watch or warning being issued. During severe thunderstorms and tornado watches, we encourage all citizens to be aware of and prepared for more severe weather to develop at any time. Residents can do this by monitoring local TV and radio, social media and by having applications on their phones which can warn them of severe weather.

As always, we will work with the National Weather Service to review their processes and procedures to ensure that they are not missing anything that would enhance their monitoring and notification procedures.”

No siren in Anderson Township or Hamilton County was activated by EMA (there were sirens activated in Campbell County around 6:45am, and Clermont County closer to 3:15am, as tornado warnings were issued in those communities). As Mr. Crosley indicated, EMA will be reviewing their procedures, along with the National Weather Service, with whom the Township had extensive conversations and toured the most impacted areas on Wednesday afternoon.