Weather station in Greenfield is up and running

Area public safety officials want to make sure they're making the most informed decisions possible when they're deciding whether to sound Greenfield's outdoor warning sirens this storm season. That's why they've recently installed a new device that will give them the most accurate and timely information possible.

A new weather station was installed last week on the tower that sits just south of the Adair County Public Safety Center, which houses the Greenfield Police Department and Adair County Sheriff's Office.

The new weather station broadcasts data to a phone application you can download to your smart phone called WeatherLink. Those who don't have smart phones or wish to not have the application on their phone can visit www.weatherlink.com to get the same information. A free membership is required, which asks for a username and password.

There were concerns in Greenfield last year after the heavy windstorm the city experienced in late June that the sirens were not sounded for that event. That's when city officials began to take action and looked into their siren policy and ways it can be more concrete.

"Obviously we typically sound them when there's rotation or a tornado, but as far as wind speeds go, the National Weather Service recommends sounding them at wind speeds of 70 mph or greater," Greenfield Police Chief Jesse Lund said. "We kind of got into an argument of when we should sound it for wind speeds."

Lund explained that many times the NWS will issue a Severe Thunderstorm Warning with an advisory attached to it saying there's a potential for wind speeds in excess of 70 mph, but he says that if Greenfield sounded its sirens every time that verbiage comes with a warning, people would accuse the city of crying wolf.

The city's outdoor warning siren system is also tied into Cardinal IG so that when the sirens in town sound, their plant shuts down. Sounding the sirens too often when there really isn't a threat to the city unnecessarily interrupts that plant's work day. The city even has to warn the plant when it is going to perform a test on Saturdays.

"We've had a lot of people say that the weather station should be here or it should be there. Obviously we should have one on every corner of town, but that's not cost effective," Lund said. "It gives us real time wind speeds. I set a wind speed alarm on it so that when it reaches 66 mph it sends me an alarm."

Lund says that when that alarm goes off, it will signal him or whichever official is on duty to have a meeting of the minds as to whether or not the sirens should be sounded. The city, according to Lund, is in the process of drafting an official siren policy so that there is a concrete chain of command for who can call for the sirens to be sounded.

While the smart phone app may not be what everyone wants because it only shows conditions in Greenfield, at the same time, it's an advantage for those who only want to see conditions in Greenfield. The sirens are only an outdoor warning system, so for those who can't hear them inside their homes, the weather app may be a good consideration to make so residents know when they need to take cover.

"The National Weather Service's app only updates every so many minutes and ours is a live feed," Lund said. "We've gotta thank Cardinal because they sponsored us for the $600 to purchase the unit, and that pretty much paid for most of it. Greenfield Municipal Utilities built the bracket that we mounted it with and we installed it with their bucket truck. Hopefully it's something we can utilize to help with the safety here."