Tornados

goldduster318 said
They're trying to save lives, there's a pretty solid chance based on doppler radar, especially with a hook echo present that there is one trying to drop. In some cases it's night or rain wrapped so seeing it for real is tricky.

They actually do have levels... Radar Indicated, Confirmed (Meaning someone saw it), PDS (Particulary Dangerous Situaton) - which means on the ground and extremely strong, and Tornado Emergency - meaning its especially life threatening and going to hit a populated area.

The better radar apps have this on their warnings - like RadarOmega.

Ryan Hall Y'all on YouTube's live streams have explained all this.

In the case of my parent's storm on Dec 9, they had a Tornado emergency.

Glad you have gotten lucky because where my parents are they've had 4 tornadoes within 5 miles in the last 20 years. Even where I'm at we've had 2 in the last 8.

I hear you. I know they have our safety at heart. Don't get me wrong, I am just saying that over time, people will get to the point where they may disregard the tornado sirens when the last 50 times they went off, there were no actual tornados.
I am very familiar with doppler radar. I am a retired USAF Navigator with 9600 flying hours. I have hundreds of hours with my face glued to a radar scope.
We don't see or hear those levels here. We have Tornado Watches and Tornado Warnings. If you happen to be watching a local weather channel at the time the tornado sirens went off, they might tell you the source of the warning. If not, all you hear is the tornado sirens going off. I don't know what the answer is, but I do know that never ending warnings with sirens is going to build up a 'resistance' to those warnings.