TornadoNet is a community-funded early-warning network for towns that removed traditional tornado sirens over cost — designed to bring back a loud, physical, outdoor alert without asking a town to foot the whole bill again.
Outdoor warning sirens are expensive to install and maintain, and a growing number of towns have simply stopped funding them. What's left is a patchwork of phone alerts and opt-in notification services — useful, but none of it is a loud, physical, outdoor signal for someone outside, unregistered, or without a phone in hand.
That gap isn't hypothetical. It's the reason this project exists, and the reason we're moving on it now rather than after the next storm.
Weather and infrasound sensors — hosted by residents, businesses, and the town — feed hyper-local readings into the network around the clock, alongside official radar and warnings from Environment Canada.
Readings are cross-checked across nearby devices before anything triggers — reducing false alarms while catching hyper-local conditions that a single, distant radar signal can miss.
Confirmed high-confidence detections sound neighborhood sirens — solar-powered and independent of local power or cell service, exactly when a phone alert isn't enough.
Anyone can host and fund their own weather sensor or smaller siren unit, extending the network's coverage into their own street or block.
The municipality only funds a small number of larger, louder units at sites it already staffs — fire halls, city hall — instead of a town-wide siren grid.
Everything reports into one shared network with cross-checked data, so coverage stays hyper-local and redundant — this is meant to work alongside official warnings and existing town alert systems, not replace them.
TornadoNet is a serious engineering effort, not a finished product. The core network software and hardware design are built and being tested; no town has an active deployment yet.
We're reaching out to towns and municipalities now — not to ask for a commitment today, but to start the conversation about whether a small feasibility pilot makes sense.
If you're with a town or county evaluating warning options, a reporter following today's storms, or someone who wants to host a device on their own property — we'd like to hear from you.