Attitude, decision-making, and behavior among a small group of citizens near the path of the Siren, Wisconsin tornado of 18 June 2001

National Weather Digest, Dec, 2003 by William Monfredo, John P. Tiefenbacher

Unfortunately, a majority of people attempted to visually verify the tornado before taking shelter in a basement. In fact, some residents did not take adequate cover until they noticed trees starting to go down near and around them. The National Weather Service does not recommend searching for a tornado before taking action. Many regretted opposing this safety recommendation, stating that they realized it was a "stupid" response that they would refrain from doing in the future. The Siren tornado was at least partially shrouded and obscured by curtains of rain by the time the tornado struck the village, and so was not visually apparent to most people. Given the long summer day, improvements in film emulsions, and enhanced video cameras of today, most residents would have had little if any problem recording the images of a tornado on film or video, had there actually been something resembling a typical "funnel" in Siren. This is especially true given the ample amount of time that some residents spent on their front porches searching the sky for a funnel cloud during the low-contrast storm.

Some residents on the south side of village near the edge of the damage path viewed the rotating thunderstorm with a low cloud base and a mostly rain-wrapped tornado that was largely blocked by trees. Indeed, some witnesses said that enough moisture and/or debris existed in the air such that they could see the wind effects. Essentially, persons looking west along State Highway 70 likely observed the southern and southeastern periphery of the large tornado due to a significant "clear slot" in the sky near the rear flank of the storm and the attendant very localized and strong backlighting.

Several people believed that they lived in a "mini tornado alley" that encompasses the region northeast of the Minneapolis-Saint Paul metropolitan area. This proved particularly surprising and fascinating given that this storm is the only documented significant tornado in the southern part of Burnett County in the last 50 years according to the National Weather Service in Jackson, Mississippi. Additionally, one might argue that the area remains one of the least affected by tornadoes along the Minnesota/Wisconsin border.

7. Conclusion

This field study enhances our understanding of the less-studied individuals involved in a "close call" with a tornado: a spatially variable and sudden onset event. Common beliefs, behaviors, and attitudes reflecting a "near miss" experience were identified among a small group on the periphery of a tornado path in Siren, Wisconsin. This examination of individual perception of responses to storm warnings suggests that it may not be prudent for the public to rely exclusively on any one method of warning dissemination, such as a community siren or television. Additionally, for this study group, the perceived risk of a future strong tornado is too low to illicit many modifications to houses such as roof clips or safe rooms. However, findings hint that NOAA weather radio remains a largely untapped and potentially successful resource if publicized properly in this part of the country. The detailed information collected herein relating to the Siren, Wisconsin tornado of 18 June 2001 can inform risk and emergency managers so that they may induce and reinforce more effective mitigation measures undertaken by the public. Future activities might include researching regional variations in both group thinking and behavior.