Emergency officials in an Alabama county plan to sound tornado sirens in specific areas where storms are, and will no longer activate all sirens in the county with every tornado warning.
Madison County's system is designed to alert only those in the vicinity of a dangerous storm and not alarm residents who may be 40 miles away and out of harm's way.
The Huntsville/Madison County Emergency Management Agency purchased the system for $88,000 and can now tailor outdoor siren alerts via sirens to match areas in the track of storms as determined by the National Weather Service office in Huntsville.
It essentially matches the outdoor warning system to the polygon-shaped warning area identified by the weather service.