Dublin's Tornado Sirens Never Went Off — Here's Why

Local News

If you’ve got a kid who loves to sing, dance or just wants an excuse to be a fish for a few weeks, the Abbey Theater has its fall show picked out: Finding Nemo.

And this year, they’re doing it a little differently.

For the first time, the Abbey is staging two versions of the same musical. There’s the usual Finding Nemo Jr., along with a new, 30-minute Finding Nemo Kids designed specifically for ages 6 to 9.

Both tell the story you probably already know: Marlin is an overprotective clownfish dad, Nemo is his son who’d like to see a little more of the ocean than their family anemone, and when the two get separated, what follows is a trip across the ocean to find each other again.

The difference is mostly who gets to be on stage. The shorter Kids production gives younger performers their own chance to get into the show, while the Jr. version is geared toward older kids.

Registration for both just opened to Dublin residents, and opens to everyone else Aug. 18.

Sign up here.

Local News

The Coffman Homestead opens back up Sunday afternoon, and this month’s theme is Farm Chores — a look at what everyday life on the farm used to involve.

The Dublin Historical Society will have the Civil War-era house, historic barn and replica one-room schoolhouse open for guided tours from 1 to 3 p.m., along with the Homestead’s heirloom garden.

And, as usual with these open houses, there’s ice cream.

Everything is free, there’s no registration required, and you can stop by anytime between 1 and 3 p.m. Sunday at 5200 Emerald Parkway. Parking is available at the Municipal Building and nearby Coffman Park.

Local News

Yesterday we told you about the possibility that a tornado came through Dublin during Tuesday's storms. Since then, one question has been coming up all over Columbus: if that's what happened, why didn't the sirens ever go off?

Part of the answer is that tornadoes are harder to catch in real time than you'd think. Radar can pick up rotation inside a storm, but that doesn't necessarily mean there's a tornado actually on the ground — some form fast, some never form at all, and sometimes the clearest proof doesn't show up until afterward, once meteorologists can look at the damage itself.

That's why the sirens aren't triggered just because a storm looks dangerous or radar shows rotation. In Franklin County, they're tied specifically to tornado warnings issued by the National Weather Service — when one goes out, Franklin County Emergency Management activates the sirens in that area. Tuesday, that warning never came. We were only ever under a severe thunderstorm watch.

So even if the National Weather Service eventually confirms a tornado did touch down here, we now know why the sirens stayed quiet: no warning was ever actually issued for Franklin County. NBC4 has more here, including how tornadoes get officially confirmed after the fact.