Vanderbilt University is upgrading its outdoor tornado siren system and will conduct a one-minute test of the siren at noon on Saturday, March 16.
Vanderbilt’s tornado siren, which has been a “wail-type” device, is changing to a steady tone. It’s being updated so that the siren tone differs from those in Metro Nashville, which are changing to the “wail-type” siren.
“It’s important that the Vanderbilt community know that the Vanderbilt siren has a distinct tone that is very specific to Vanderbilt,” said Johnny Vanderpool, emergency preparedness coordinator for Vanderbilt Environmental Health and Safety.
The Metro Nashville siren system is activated countywide any time the National Weather Service issues a tornado warning for any part of Davidson County.
The Vanderbilt siren is designed to warn of a threat specifically to the Vanderbilt campus. If a tornado is detected and is within 15 minutes of reaching campus, the Vanderbilt Police dispatcher activates the Vanderbilt Severe Weather Warning System, which includes the outdoor warning system and notification via AlertVU messaging. AlertVU notifies subscribers via text messages, phone calls and email. At Vanderbilt University Medical Center, notification also is made through the overhead announcement system.
For more information about Vanderbilt’s severe weather warning system, visit the Emergency Preparedness and Planning website.