Editor’s note: Wausau Pilot & Review gladly publishes commentary from readers, residents and candidates for local offices. The views of readers and columnists are independent of this newspaper and do not necessarily reflect the views of Wausau Pilot & Review. To submit, email [email protected] or mail to 500 N. Third St., Suite 208-8, Wausau, Wis. 54403.
Dear Editor,
As some of you know, Wisconsin is entering into our storm season, where we typically see severe weather. It’s also my favorite time of the year. I love storms and enjoy tracking them at home as a hobby. I have weather radar software on my PC and on my phone that can track everything from base and composite reflectivity, base and relative velocities, rainfall, echo tops…. well, the list goes on. I also have two weather radios (one portable) which I keep on my nightstand in the event something pops up at night.
Yes, it all sounds nerdy, but I enjoy it.
So, when the weather reports started coming in on May 21, I was excited. As the day went on, it was pretty apparent that the storms were going to potentially produce tornadoes. Then at 7:41 p.m., it happened. Western Marathon County went tornado warned. I knew within 15-20 minutes the rest of Marathon County would be as well. And just like clockwork, we were under it at 8 p.m.
The first thing I did was get my family into the basement while I grabbed my portable weather radio, a flashlight, head torch, and a couple of led lanterns. However, as I was getting all of that, I noticed that the tornado sirens were not going off. Immediately I thought that was odd. In the past, the sirens were sounded almost in tandem with the warning issued by the National Weather Service, but it wasn’t.
I got curious and stepped outside as the storm was still coming into the area. My wife and child also stepped outside as well wondering what was going on. It had now been between 5-10 minutes since the warning was issued before the sirens finally went off. We all went inside and waited it out while I watched the radar closely on my phone.
I tell this story because I’ve seen some very severe storms growing up. I’m also a strong believer that tornado sirens are extremely important to the safety of the public (even though many people just ignore them, which is dumb). When a tornado warning is issued, they should be activated immediately so people (especially those outside) can get to shelter as early as possible. This clearly didn’t happen last night.
It is my understanding that the Marathon County Sheriff’s office manages the activation for the Wausau Metro Area. It is done by the dispatch center on their cad system. Why was there a delay in sounding them last night? Was there some kind of verification with the NWS being done? Was there an issue with the alert system? I think that Philip Rentmeester, the director of Emergency Management for Marathon County needs to investigate what happened and ensure that these types of things don’t happen again.
Matt Straub, of Wausau
