I grew up in the western US, and because of that, we didn’t really use weather sirens (or air raid sirens, civil defense sirens, etc.). They were definitely there, but you were much more likely to receive an alert via phone than siren, given that barring war breaking out, there just wasn’t much anticipated use.

I recently moved out east, and they test the sirens weekly. I’ve been to Colorado many times, and found it to be the case there too. It’s my understanding that most places that may experience severe weather (specifically Tornados) test frequently.

Why is this? I understand why states prone to Tornados would want to make sure they are functioning properly, but is a weekly test really necessary? Are they that fragile, or would people just forget about them that easily?

Where I currently live sees tornados, but very rarely. And still we have weekly tests. Why is that?