Software malfunction to blame for Outdoor Tornado Warning Sirens continuing to sound

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    NASHVILLE, TN (WSMV ) — A software malfunction is to blame for Tornado Warning sirens continuing to sound after the warning expired.

Officials say sirens in a polygonal area designated within a Tornado Warning area sounded at 12:47 p.m. when the National Weather Service issued the Tornado Warning.

The NWS then canceled the Tornado Warning at 1:07 p.m.

Officials say the Polygonal Outdoor Tornado Warning Siren System is fully automated and are activated when the NWS issues a Tornado Warning. When the NWS terminates a Tornado Warning, the system is designed to automatically shut off the sounding sirens.

However, crews discovered after a review that a radio connection to three to four sirens in the warning area failed to turn the sirens off.

Over the course of that time, the sirens continued sounding for three minutes before going silent for seven minutes and then sounding again.

“I hope they get it right, because we do rely on those very very much,” North Nashville resident Jeffery Patterson said.

Dispatchers with OEM were made aware the sirens were still sounding and began manually overriding the sirens to deactivate them.

OEM is continuing to work with the NWS as well as the contractor that installed in the upgraded system in order to address the issue and to prevent this type of malfunction from happening in the future.

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