Strong storms swept across the region Friday, April 17, spawning tornadoes and damaging wind, including an EF2 tornado that struck near Lena, Illinois, just south of the Wisconsin border. In Green County, one tornado warning was focused on the county’s far southeast corner near Brodhead, but not New Glarus.

After the immediate threat had moved on and with no active tornado warning for New Glarus, the village’s outdoor warning siren sounded anyway, prompting confusion, criticism and renewed questions about how the system works. A National Weather Service statement issued at 5:41 p.m. said the severe thunderstorm warning for eastern Green County had been canceled because the storms had moved out of the warned area.