Severe weather in the region early Monday morning resulted in a tornado warning for parts of Allen County — but no tornado sirens for area residents.
Allen County Emergency Management Director Jason Trego told the Register that in the case of severe weather, the National Weather Service creates a polygon where they expect the storm path to travel. The geographical area covered by the polygon is then triggered for alerts in Genasys, the county’s emergency notification system.
“On Sunday night, the tornado warning polygon did not cover any area that is covered by an outdoor warning siren,” Trego said. “That’s why we made the decision not to sound any of the tornado sirens. We were in communication with Iola Police and constantly monitoring the situation.”
As was the case early Monday morning, Genasys alerts won’t necessarily occur for the whole of Allen County. In fact, the alerts may even split the same city.
“When you sign up for Genasys, you select your phone and address,” Trego said. “An anomaly we found from Monday is that the town of Elsmore was split in half by the polygon, so the north half of town got a notification, while the south didn’t. This was because the National Weather Service’s polygon split the town.”
The storms first caught Trego’s eye early Sunday evening, as the weather system progressed through northern Greenwood County. “Initial reports are that there was a tornado in Greenwood County, one in Woodson County near Neosho Falls, and one in Coffey County near Le Roy,” Trego said. “But I’ve been taking phone calls and attempting to close loops to verify those.”
Trego also said residents west of Mildred reported dime-sized hail.
To sign up for the Genasys weather alerts, residents can do so online here. You can also sign up by calling the Allen County Emergency Management Office at 620-365-1477.
