So in Leawood, what exactly triggers the sirens to sound?

So there are really two ways they can sound.

So first, and probably the most common, is it's tied into the National Weather Service.

And anytime they issue a tornado warning for whether a spotter has seen a tornado or radar indicates rotation, they issue what's called a polygon, and it's just a projected path for the tornado.

And our sirens actually activate automatically for any siren that falls within that polygon.

Um, the other way they can be activated is manually.

And when that would happen is if maybe a spotter that's working directly with the county sees something that they think indicates a tornado, and they call it in, and maybe the National Weather Service hasn't seen it on radar yet, then the county can activate manually, and then we would do it by district.

How often are the sirens in Leawood tested and maintained?