The Problem of False Alarms
The context is tornado warnings:
The basic problem, Smith says, it that sirens are sounded too often in most places. Sometimes they sound in an entire county for a warning that covers just a sliver of it; sometimes for other thunderstorm phenomena like large hail and/or strong straight-line winds; and sometimes for false alarm warnings warnings for tornadoes that were incorrectly detected.
The residents of Joplin, Smith contends, were numbed by the too frequent blaring of sirens. As a result of too many past false alarms, he writes: “The citizens of Joplin were unwittingly being trained to NOT act when the sirens sounded.”
John Campbell • May 30, 2012 7:27 AM
“False Positives”… like clicking “OK” on Windows…