TAMPA, Fla — The Tampa Bay area has some of the most tornado activity in the country.
Data shows we have a higher frequency of tornadoes per 10,000 square miles than any other state, including Oklahoma!
One of the more active areas is the coast between Tampa Bay and Fort Myers. While the majority of our tornadoes are EF-0s, it's still a potentially devastating weather phenomenon that can pop up year-round.
So with so many tornadoes, why don't we ever hear tornado sirens going off? And why don't we even have them at all?
Some of the area's local emergency management experts gave us answers.
"I do know that sirens are used up north, still today, for alerting for tornadoes and things like that," said Joe Borries, the Operations Manager for Pinellas County Emergency Management.
The loud alert system was originally meant as a warning for people outside. It was designed to be used mostly in smaller, rural cities.
"What may have been great in the old days isn't that great now with the technology that we have," explained Chris Evan, the Sheriff's Office Emergency Management Director for Citrus County. "The problem with sirens, it's just a siren, it doesn't give you any specific information and how to act."
Especially here where we have other major weather threats. We need to know what the threat is, and then how to act – whether it's sheltering in place, taking cover or evacuating.
These days, that critical information can be sent out on weather radios, cell phones or something called "IPAWS."
"It's something through FEMA: Integrated Public Awareness Warning System," Evans explained. "And, that IPAWS system has the ability to hit cell phone towers. So you don't even have to be opted in for certain alerts it'll automatically send it to you."
These systems reach more people and cost less than installing tornado sirens. For example in Pinellas County, you would need a thousand sirens to get a tone loud enough to reach people inside their homes.
"Just to install them, hundreds and hundreds of thousands of dollars," Evans said.
So, when the National Weather Service issues a tornado warning, you should have that warning right at your fingertips. It could come from your county's alert system to apps like our own 10 Tampa Bay app, which can notify you not only of the threat, but when to expect it, and what to do.
"It's everybody's responsibility to take some action to protect themselves," Evans says. "And they can do that today."
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