I take Mayor Tully at his word and will gladly give him and the Village time to "learn from this experience and adjust where necessary." But I have two qualifications in my mind as I type that...

First, if the learning process does not result in any changes, I'll be profoundly disappointed. It will be a long while before I forget seeing trees bent sideways in rapidly increasing wind as I sprinted up to our second floor to grab my 2.5 year old out of his crib before sprinting back to the basement with him (quite frightened) just seconds before a massive tree from our neighbor's yard came crashing onto our property against our house (sheer luck and divine providence making the difference between the tree being against our house and actually being IN our house)...all the while breathlessly repeating "Where are the sirens, where are the sirens?"

Second, I'm going to hope that Village officials aren't quite so quick to speak before they think/evaluate and post to Facebook just minutes after a storm that sirens were "not needed" when, in fact, hindsight may well prove, as it did in this case, that they were indeed quite needed, appropriate and certainly would have done no harm.

Given that this is among the most significant life/safety issues a community can manage, I hope there is a credible official process undertaken and a credible official outcome that is clearly communicated when complete.

If a tornado was sighted in Naperville, but current procedures didn't consider that sufficient reason to activate the sirens, one is left to assume that the current policy might mean no siren until a tornado is going through my front door. I continue to believe we need a wiser, more common sense approach to this basic public safety issue. Just apples here, Mr. Mayor...the oranges were all blown away.

One look at the radar and common sense should have been enough to sound the sirens. Not to mention that Fishel Park was full of people for the bandshell grand opening!

Count me in with those behind a policy change. A desire for certainty before setting off the sirens must yield when the possibility exists (and came to pass) that a tornado can tear through town without being seen prior to entering the Village limits. A siren during severe weather that does not happen to include a funnel cloud is much preferable to the terrifying ordeal Scott described above.

This article begins, "Downers Grove's decision to hew to a policy that requires the sighting of a funnel cloud in order to activate storm sirens..." Does this mean, on a dark and stormy night, there will never be sirens because there will be no light for a sighting? It's in the middle of such a night, in bed with the television off, that we most need such a warning siren!

The sirens should have been sounded. I live in the South neighborhood, and feel fortunate I heard the Woodridge sirens. My family and I quickly retreated to the basement. Our house was fine, but neighbors had large trees crash on their homes. Again, we were fortunate there was not further damage or lives lost in our neighborhood.

I assumed the sirens were going simply based on the tornado warnings we read on Accuweather and Weather.com. Safety, and lives, require a proactive approach. I think all residents would prefer to err on the side of caution.

How many trained spotters live in Downers Grove?

Mayor Tully, as a storm chaser/spotter of 19 years, I ask you based on what you were quoted of saying;

"Rest assured, once the heavy-lifting is over, we’ll revisit best practices, learn from this experience and adjust where necessary," he wrote. "There is always room for improvement."

Why are you waiting. It could take weeks to "Clean up" the physical and infrastructure damage that this storm has caused. By that time it could be too late. This is the issue with politics, everything has to be dragged through processes. It is not a matter of "There is always room for improvement.", it is a matter that changes need to be made before the next storm system hits.

There has been too many deaths this year due to tornadoes. And it seems that Chicago has forgotten about the F-5 tornado that hit Plainfield in August of 1990 and fresh in our minds; Tuscaloosa, Birmingham, Raleigh, St. Louis, and the worst one, Joplin. Your job, Mr. Mayor, is to protect your communities residents and although too late in the minds of many, they are now watching how quickly you make these changes.

It is up to you to act with a sense of urgency because the next storm system moves in on Sunday. Will your community be ready?

Amen to that Erik. You hit that right on the money. Its so true. Its time to stop playing politics. It dont take that much improvement Mayor to hit a siren button when the NWS issues a tornado warning. Why does that have to be dragged out through a process as Erik stated. I have been a chaser/spotter for 16 years and lets say theres a meeting in 3 weeks and a EF-5 hits next week? Than what will the excuse be?? Something needs to be done asap. Like Erik pointed out, it may be to late. Relying on a spotter to see a tornado first put alot of stress on us as well rather than listening to the trained professionals at the NWS. This should ahve been prevented. When everey town around you has the sirens going off and you dont, theres a problem there. Just so happens the tornado lands in the town that didnt sound them. Please fix this problem. thats why we are here to protect and save lives but its useless if the cities dont help us out as well. these were rain wrapped tornados. A spotter would not have seen it anyways. Please think about that for a moment. Rain wrapped, no spotter sees it. So sirens didnt go off. Many deaths could have been the result. thank God there werent any.

Voc's policy is not that trained spotter must see the tornado in the town there are several reasons the OUTDOOR WARNING SIRENS are activated.

It should be noted that dg's policy is approved by nws.

Mr. Mayor, NWS called "tornado warning" for our area before it hit! Why do you, Mr. Neustadt, Mr. Barnett, and other village leaders continue to suggest the Village took correct action?? Stop worrying about defending the Village's failure to sound alarms and please just fix the problem immediately. Thank you.

Just so Village leaders stop mixing apples and oranges on this situation. The issue citizens have is not whether our Village did, or did not, follows NWS guidelines. Most of us could not care less! Our very serious concern is simply that procedures that were used Tue. evening failed to properly protect DG citizens and property. Please focus on that, not who said what, when...

To play devil's advocate, I hope that changing the village policy doesn't result in a rash of "why do the sirens go off every time there's a dark cloud overhead?" complaints in coming years.

Remember when the lightning detectors were put in the parks a few years back and they were set too sensitively? That may end up being similar to a policy of "Set off the sirens whenever there is a tornado warning!"

While some have demonstrated a tin ear by adhering to the "we followed protocol" line, I don't think anyone has attempted to "play politics" with this event. The facts are that severe weather, especially tornados, are inherently unpredictable, that a tornado hit Downers Grove, and that the warning sirens were not activated. Simply put, the failure to activate the sirens could have cost lives if the unseen tornado had been stronger. Had that happened, little comfort would have been found in the knowledge that the Village's severe weather plan - which did not call for the activation of the sirens - was followed.

I am glad that Mayor Tully has committed to a review of the Village's severe weather procedures and, like many others, I hope it takes place sooner rather than later.

How many times have meteorologists gotten the weather forecast wrong? Its the earth! It's the weather!
Stop pointing fingers and take some personal responsibility. Today most of us have access to the same information our Village leaders have through TV, radio, cell phone radar apps, text message alerts etc. I find it amusing and perplexing that everyone was satisfied with the Village's response until the NWS told us there was a tornado 24 hours after the storm. Hindsight is always 20/20.

Personally I don't rely on local government warning me about approaching bad weather. Following the storm seeing all the wires down in the street I didn't need local government to warn me I should stay away. When flooding covers the roadway and don't rely on local government warning me not to drive through. Personal responsibility. Think for yourself. I looked out the window and knew what to do. I listened to the TV warnings and knew what to do. If I were to rely on this columns comments I would deduce that common sense is not all that common in Downers Grove.

Don, No, I meant what I wrote. Intelligent, common sense use of warning sirens protects both lives and property. (e.g. one might move their auto from beneath the old, large tree or pull patio furniture and grills away from the middle of the deck, etc. etc.)

What would protocol be if this storm had hit during a school day? Does D58 act based on sirens or other alerts?

Dan, that is probably good advice, but in this case, if the sirens had gone off when the DuPage county TORNADO warning was first issued, DG residents could have taken a couple minutes to have gotten all their expensive cars and other toys to a safe spot and still have had plenty of time to head to the basement. It's my life and my car so, as John C. insists, I would be the one taking personal responsibility for my decision to protect select personal property. As it was, those of us near DGS were left to think it was just another summer storm...

I might add I like the risk/reward calculation of taking 5 seconds to remove the patio umbrella from the table if I think the winds are likely to be really high. (Even if that isn't proper protocol...)

Perhaps complaints should also be directed towards the National Weather Service, if it's guidelines indicate that sirens shouldn't be sounded unless a tornado is confirmed visually. The smaller municipalities won't have weather experts on staff, and so it makes sense to follow recommendations from the NWS.

That doesn't mean that policies shouldn't be changed to err on the side of caution after situations such as last Tuesday and public debate.

@John C....well said!

OK well first off "Perhaps complaints should also be directed towards the National Weather Service" that is what you said...there it is in black and white. Second I wasn't attacking anything, and if I was you would really know it!! Again, I will just ask you a little nicer this time.... Pretty please with sugar on top.. Please educate yourself about the NWS!!! and stop reading stuff in the local paper. Call the NWS and ask them about their policies directly.. They will tell you!! That way you know for yourself.
"That appears to be your primary intent, however. But, then, those who lack rigor in their arguments often resort to insults and personal attacks." I really have no idea what you are talking about here... If you are referring to me telling you to stop pointing fingers at the NWS well I call it like I see it...
as for me...I am out of this loop, because I don't like dealing with people like you. I am from Southern IL. I was only trying to point out the error of your ways and help you to understand that the NWS is not the BAD Guys here! There is not one thing that I said in my statement or reply to you that isn't absolutely true.. Sorry I offend you so badly Sir. Y'all go to fixin' your problems up there in Downers Grove, We don't have a problem like this where I live. I was only trying to help you! But I can see my help is not needed. You have yourself a nice day!

Protocol, Policy..whatever you call it does not matter. Both failed to warn the citizens of Downers Grove. Because of that, a review WITH changes are needed. Not just a review with possible changes. May end up to late. Mayor Martin Tully, I applaud your comments/commitment which show your resolve to correct policies which clearly did not work.

Included in this article and others written by Elaine Johnson, there are still things being quoted which frighten me. As a storm spotter with advanced training and certification, the critique of storm spotters not doing their duty shows me this very important obligation (some may even call it a moral obligation giving back to the community I grew up in) is clearly misunderstood. I hope this wasn't a "shift the blame" on the villages policies. The statement below was quoted in this particular article and also shows big-time misunderstanding..

"In fact, Tuesday's weather event was unusual in that the National Weather Service announced the Downers Grove tornado after the fact instead of in advance of the storm, he said. "I think this is pretty unique. I have never seen that happen before."

Never before? Impossible! This is what damage assessment teams are for. The NWS issued a county wide Tornado warning. They could not issue ground truth until a day later. Why? Because it was dark with torrential rain, and rain-wrapped at night. Most dangerous. Can not be seen, so waiting until a sighting is clearly wrong.

WX9SPT, Wayne

Thank you, again, to all of the spotters/chasers who have been kind enough to share their expertise here—you're doing another great service by educating all of us.

I'm going to give the Village of DG the benefit of a doubt: I think they've attempted to explain what they did, and why they did it, to the best of their ability. They've never—thankfully—had to understand how the NWS or spotting works until today.

The criteria used in DG are terribly and dangerously out of date, and they're going to update them—I think the comments here are going to help immensely; I love Patch and appreciate everyone who has participated!—and citizens like me are going to demand that they're updated.

I should clarify... Ideally, village staff already would have understood NWS, etc., but they haven't had a storm like this one (in many, many years) to remind them of how important public storm safety is. None among us are perfect, and this is one area of our village that needs to be changed.

Jennifer Waldorf, communications coordinator for District 58, forwarded this information regarding the district's severe weather policy. It can also be found in the District 58 handbook:

All schools within District 58 receive severe weather information. If a tornado watch has been issued, all students participating in outdoor activities are brought into the school building. Regular bus service continues during a tornado watch. If a tornado warning has been issued, all regular school activities cease. Students move to a designated area until the warning is lifted. If the warning is not lifted, a student will not be dismissed until his/her parent (or the parents' designee) arrives at the school to take the child home. The classroom teacher and building principal must be advised before a student leaves the building. Tornado drills are scheduled throughout the school year.

Looks like a sound policy. It seems District 58 did as policy dicates during the last tornado warning, bringing in students if I heard correctly. Since no tornado watch was in effect, it should be a reminder how these things can spin up at any time and how serioudly warnings should be taken if severe weather is even threatened.