Why Did the Sirens Go Off in Northern Owatonna Yesterday?
Yesterday, July 8th, was a beautiful day. Mostly sunny, a few clouds blowing past, and a light wind. The sounds of summer in the air, lawn mowers, children playing, construction noises, and what was that? Are the tornado sirens going off? After 1 pm? My daughter actually asked if it was the first Wednesday of the month. It took me a minute to realize it was in fact, NOT the first Wednesday of the month, nor was it a Wednesday at all. Holidays will throw off my schedule for sure.
The first thing I did was look at the sky, of course, then look at the time, because even if I was way off and it was the Wednesday, it is not 1 pm, and I am not getting a call from Steele County explaining that this is just a test. After that, I checked Facebook, specifically the Steele County SkyWarn page, as they are great at getting information out to the public. Lots of comments, but nothing definitive as to why the sirens were sounding, and only on the North end of town it seems.
Today, I contacted Steele County Emergency Management and found out that one of the sirens did malfunction. They are planning some maintenance, but most likely not today, July 9th, due to the possibility of severe weather moving in. If you heard the sirens yesterday, you are not imagining anything and there were no alerts yesterday.