Sunday, April 25, 2010

Funnel cloud spotted in Darke County Sunday

A funnel cloud was spotted in Darke County at about 2:05 p.m., near the instersection of State Route 571 and Coletown-Lightsville Road (noted with red icon below). If you have any photos, send them to darkejournal@gmail.com.


UPDATE: chathaway1051 submitted the photo below to iWitness7. Go here to read Hathaway's description.


UPDATE2: Here's another taken from the girls' softball diamonds on the west side of Greenville. Photo by gman. Thanks to WHIOtv.com.

13 comments:

  1. Look on www.whiotv.com - there's a picture of it there.

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  2. Seems like that would have been a good time to blow the sirens, Hmmmm didn't hear anything.

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  3. wow, I'm a stone's throw from that... sirens would have been nice

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  4. yea, We didn't have a clue and live in the area! Being inside due to the rain, who knew? Maybe a wrning would be nice...

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  5. i live right in coletown,i came around my house looked up and saw the funnel cloud coming towards my house.the clouds were really dark,twisting around and around.it was going up and down and moving very fast

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  6. Didn't know there where sirens in that area. And it was broke up prior to the sirens needing to be activated. There is alot more to sounding the sirens than people think. If they were sounded everytime an uneducated civilian wanted them to go off then they would just be another car alarm in wal mart parking lot going off.

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  7. Darke county dispatched two fire departments to check out the "reported funnel clouds" instead of sounding the sirens. Does anyone know how, why, when, what criteria they use to sound the sirens versus sending out a fire department to check it out?

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  8. Tornado sirens are sounded when a tornado warning is issued by the National Weather Service or when the fire departments spots an actual tornado and requests that the sirens be activated.

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  9. Uneducated civilianApril 26, 2010 at 12:15 PM

    "Didn't know there where sirens in that area. And it was broke up prior to the sirens needing to be activated. There is alot more to sounding the sirens than people think. If they were sounded everytime an uneducated civilian wanted them to go off then they would just be another car alarm in wal mart parking lot going off"

    Maybe you are the "uneducated" one, there are sirens that cover Stebbins field where one of the photo's were taken from.

    So fill us in on what all is involved in setting the sirens off.

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  10. "...what criteria they use to sound the sirens versus sending out a fire department to check it out?"

    The Sheriff's Office dispatch doesn't have the ability to activate sirens anywhere in the county. This is done by the local police and/or fire departments. Each community that has sirens establishes their own criteria for setting off those sirens.

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  11. I know the tornado sirens in New Madison can be activated by the Sheriff Dispatch, it is usually activated by the FD or PD, but it can be activated by the SO if the emergency comes up.

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  12. Thank god this turned out to be not that serious but this shows how weather can turn scary so fast! Too many times there are tornados that pop up across the country with no warning and the outcome is alot worse. I just remember a time last summer when darke county had a tornado warning and there was a funnel cloud spotted on the outskirts of Greenville and no sirens went off. The 911 coordinator calling into the news telling people to stay inside but if someone's outside and do not have the tv on - how else are they supposed to know unless there are sirens that go off. I remember growing up in Arcanum, the sirens went off everytime there was a tornado warning for Darke County - maybe that's alittle overkill but I'd rather be safe than sorry. I realize that the National Weather Service did not issue a warning on Sunday but at some point we have to take responsibility for our own citizens' safety - maybe the funnel cloud had gone away before the sirens could've been activated. Don't get me wrong I have much respect for those in charge of keeping us safe but I think people wouldn't be upset if someone just said - "We weren't prepared and did not have a chance to activate the sirens." I hope the people that saw the funnel cloud had enough sense to get everyone to safety.

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  13. wow! I wasn't in town so I had know clue

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