Dallas County is making changes to its severe weather siren protocol.

During this year’s severe weather season, there were inconsistent criteria for the activation of outdoor warning sirens in different areas of the County. Cities on the eastern half of the County adapted Polk County’s system of activating their sirens both during tornado warnings and when there’s a threat of 70+ mile per hour wind gusts during a severe thunderstorm. While communities in the western half of the County, including Perry and Adel, only activate sirens during tornadic activity. Dallas County Emergency Management Coordinator AJ Seely tells Raccoon Valley Radio he was working on fixing this towards the beginning of the year. The issue came to the surface during August 10th’s derecho storm that featured straight-line winds above 70 miles per hour. Many residents in Perry and Adel asked why their sirens didn’t go off.

The changes take effect Thursday. When activated, sirens will go off every 15 minutes until the severe thunderstorm or tornado warning is lifted from the National Weather Service.