Since no tornado was actually spotted in the area I don't think it should have been called a warning. It's usually called a watch when the conditions are favorable for the formation of a tornado but one hasn't yet been spotted. I don't know why they called it a warning.
There used to be air raid sirens in Long Beach. Once a month they would test them. People who didn't know, or had forgotten, that it was the day and time for them to go off would really freak out -- which was understandable. I think they stopped doing that about 20 years ago. My memory isn't too good for some things. Probably are some people who know the exact day they were last tested!
LaurieManny
· 1 year ago
Great warning system we have here in Long Beach! I left the office about 8:30 PM and this post is the only place I have found mention of this. I guess Long Beach is planning on waiting for a disaster to realize the need for a coastal warning system.
Theo Douglas
· 1 year ago
I was ready for this tornado to really be proactive--but sadly, it wound up a victim of the whole weather system paradigm: it didn't think outside the box. As for air raid sirens, we sure did have 'em. In fact, I remember them going off while I was in grade school--last Friday of the month. What a treat. My sense of it is that their fate is probably that of the air raid shelter at the downtown post office: still there (I think), but unused. I'll bet there's probably one or two rusty, silent air raid sirens on poles somewhere around town here. Maybe over by West Coast Choppers, where there's still a lot of old buildings.
Rachel Powers
· 1 year ago
I have a faint memory of hearing the sirens as a child....but then the city website says "Long Beach does not have bomb shelters or civil defense sirens." Could it be that the sirens have been dismantled, and the shelter converted into a secret bachelor pad for the mayor? A storage facility for excess Lowenthals?
Chris Ziegler
· 1 year ago
where's the shelter at the post office? my air warden told me to go to the st. anthony one when the missiles hit.
The Commish
· 1 year ago
One also wonders about the reverse 911 call system - where registered phone are auto dialed with important information. I know the Signal Hill P.D. has used that system at times. Well, if there's a tsunami, run toward the hill.
Guest
· 1 year ago
I just found out I was supposed to be concerned about the tornado threat when I read this post.
Hilarious.
Dan Kelson
· 1 year ago
This reminds me of the interview with the worker at the munitions factory, when asked if he was worried about a bomb falling and hitting the floor along the assembly line. The response was that if you heard a bomb hit the floor, then you're just fine. I think Long Beach's tornado warnings follow this model.
jesus
· 1 year ago
Pat Robertson and Mike Huckabee stopped the Tornado.
Dave Wielenga
· 1 year ago
Oh, I thought it was a TORONADO warning -- you know, some kind of Internet alert system for people like myself, who still dream of owning one of the two-door coupes with the flip-up headlights -- and the first front-wheel drive car produced in the US since the demise of the Cord in 1937 -- that Oldsmobile made between 1966 and 1992. My bad.
Chris Ziegler
· 1 year ago
gran torino warning -- hot shit in area!
Corky
· 1 year ago
Tornado warning for Long Beach?!?! How often does that happen? And, if it was forming over water, wouldn't that be a hurricane?
Lindsay
· 1 year ago
since when does CA have tornado warnings? thought you were talking about Florida for a second.
All Comments
There used to be air raid sirens in Long Beach. Once a month they would test them. People who didn't know, or had forgotten, that it was the day and time for them to go off would really freak out -- which was understandable. I think they stopped doing that about 20 years ago. My memory isn't too good for some things. Probably are some people who know the exact day they were last tested!
As for air raid sirens, we sure did have 'em. In fact, I remember them going off while I was in grade school--last Friday of the month. What a treat.
My sense of it is that their fate is probably that of the air raid shelter at the downtown post office: still there (I think), but unused. I'll bet there's probably one or two rusty, silent air raid sirens on poles somewhere around town here.
Maybe over by West Coast Choppers, where there's still a lot of old buildings.
Hilarious.