Menominee Tribe moves tornado siren tests to Wednesday mornings

The Menominee Indian Tribe of Wisconsin is moving its weekly tornado siren test from Saturday at noon to Wednesday at 11:30 a.m. beginning May 6, a change meant to better fit operational needs and outdoor warning siren best practices.

The new schedule matters immediately for people in Keshena, Neopit, Zoar and surrounding reservation areas, where the sirens are part of the public warning system. Residents, schools, workplaces and community facilities that have built Saturday routines around the old test time will need to reset those procedures now, since the test will no longer come at midday on weekends.

The tribe said the test will run only weather permitting. If severe weather is present or expected, the siren test will be postponed rather than carried out as normal. That safeguard is designed to reduce confusion during spring storm season, when a routine test could be mistaken for a real warning if thunderheads are already building.

A routine test should sound different only in context, not in tone, so the clearest way to tell it apart from an actual warning is timing and weather conditions. Outdoor warning sirens are only one part of the alert system, which also includes NOAA Weather Radio, Wireless Emergency Alerts, law enforcement and media notifications. When storms threaten, those channels work together, and a test should not be expected during active severe weather.

The notice also reinforces that the siren network is a shared countywide public-safety tool. Menominee County 911 handles emergency 9-1-1 calls and text messages, non-emergency calls that require public safety dispatch, and dispatching for all cities, townships, villages and the Hannahville Indian Community. Menominee County Emergency Management is responsible for all-hazard planning, drills, public awareness and disaster response. The county’s 911 Emergency Communications Center was established in 1996 and now has 9 full-time dispatchers plus 1 director.

The timing lands in the middle of Wisconsin’s severe-weather readiness season. Severe Weather Awareness Week ran April 13-17, and the National Weather Service Green Bay hazardous weather outlook on April 30 includes Menominee County. Wisconsin Department of Health Services materials say the state averages about 23 tornadoes a year. Menominee County also tests weather sirens monthly in several townships, with Daggett and Hannahville tested at noon on the first Monday of each month, underscoring how closely local warning systems are tied to everyday life across the county.