A northwest Chicago suburb has adjusted its severe weather sirens following several storms that saw them going off multiple times, even without tornado warnings in the region.
Elgin announced Tuesday that they have “refined” how their sirens are activated.
The city had replaced its previous siren system in 2024, swapping in instead a federal system known as an “outdoor severe weather warning system.”
The outdoor warning system was intended to alert those outside of incoming inclement weather.
Fire Chief and Director of Emergency Management Robb Cagann said the sirens are not solely “tornado sirens,” but an outdoor emergency warning system meant to alert people who are outside that dangerous conditions are approaching.
They were activated “whenever the US National Weather Service Chicago Illinois (NWS) issues a severe weather warning, such as for tornadoes, winds over 70 mph, or other extreme conditions.”
But that led to the sirens sounding each time the National Weather Service adjusted a severe weather warning.
Now, the city says that won’t be the case.
“There has not been a reduction in when sirens are used; rather, a refinement in how they are activated,” the city said in a release.
That means the alerts will now be manually activated.
“The primary adjustment is for severe thunderstorm warnings. While the system had been fully automated following NWS warning polygons, we are currently using a hybrid approach in which Fire Department command staff monitor alerts and will manually activate the sirens immediately, following NWS’s warnings for ‘considerable’ or ‘destructive’ severe thunderstorms,” Cagann said in a release. “This allows the city to limit activations to a single alert as a storm moves across Elgin’s 38 square miles, instead of multiple activations triggered by successive warning polygons.”
The city recognized that siren activations “have increased” in the region “due to both more frequent severe weather and the way NWS warning polygons track storms across the city.”
“The key message for residents remains unchanged: when sirens sound, go indoors, seek shelter, and get more information,” the alert stated.
Elgin isn’t the only Chicago-area suburb to issue “severe weather” sirens instead of simply tornado.
According to the NBC 5 Storm Team, while tornado sirens are sounded when there is a warning issued, either because a tornado is on the ground or because rotation has been detected within a thunderstorm, some municipalities will sound sirens when there is a threat of a tornado as well.
Residents in several surrounding suburbs reported similar situations during recent storms.
In a recent interview, Chris Kennedy, the Elgin division chief of the Emergency Management Agency, spoke about the reasoning behind sounding the alarms without an active tornado warning.
“The term tornado sirens is kind of an antiquated misnomer,” he said. “Our system is set up for all severe weather. So whether it’s high winds, severe thunderstorm warnings, tornadoes, we are trying to alert people to all hazards.”
He stressed that severe weather can move rapidly.
“It can look nice where you’re at and if we can give you 30-40 minutes of warning and that storm is still 30-40 miles away, that storm is going to be on you really quick,” he said.
Kennedy noted the department may still adjust the sirens based on feedback — and there has been plenty with the latest waves of severe weather.
Resident responses had been mixed on social media following the recent storms.
“It is confusing to know what is a severe thunderstorm warning & what is a tornado warning? How do we know? Do I start counting the minutes when it goes off?” one user wrote on the Elgin Police Department Facebook page.
“All of these false alerts/sirens are frustrating. Blare the sirens when there’s a tornado. If you keep running them when it’s not a tornado, people aren’t going to believe it where there’s an actual tornado. It’s like the boy who cried wolf,” another commented.
“Those that were raised in the area and were trained to run to the basement because it meant a tornado was imminent. So now I’m waking up 4 kids and a dog and taking them to the basement when the sirens go off because that is what it meant for decades,” another stated. “They rewrote the rules, are ignoring common sense, and made no announcements about the change.”
But many also praised the advanced notice.
“The sirens are to warn of tornado type weather.. If you wait to see a tornado it’s too late for warnings,” one user stated.
“Better safe than sorry,” another wrote.
