Severe Weather Preparedness 101: Weather Alert Radios And Why You Should Own One

 One of the most important things that you can have as part of your emergency safety kit for severe weather is a weather radio.  It is the best line of defense when severe weather strikes.  What is a weather alert radio you might ask?  Weather alert radios are special radios that receive emergency alerts for dangerous weather events, natural disasters and other hazards.  These alerts are broadcast by the U.S. and Canadian governments over special high frequency radio networks.  In the United States, the network is operated by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). For this reason, the term "NOAA weather radio" is often used in the U.S. interchangeably with the term "weather radio."   A "weather alert radio" is a weather radio with a special feature that allows it to remain silent until an alert is detected.  When a severe weather hazard is detected by NWS, a warning is issued and an alert is put out and the radio activates with an alarm, usually followed by a recording specifying the hazard for your area.  As soon as a NWS forecaster enters the warning, it is sent to the weather radio voice and the text is turned into speech depicting the specific threat in that area.  It is an instantaneous process and therefor more reliable than relying on TV news reports or even text alerts to your phone.

  Did you know that roughly 50 percent of the population today are unaware of a severe weather warnings when they occur, or only know because someone called them on a telephone?  This is a disturbing statistic and stresses the importance of staying informed.   This can be particularly dangerous during night time severe weather events when many people are in bed.  In today's age we often rely on cell phones and televisions for our information, but only the NOAA weather radio is loud enough to wake you up during a severe weather emergency in the middle of the night.

 Weather alert radios are also unaffected by poor cell reception or loss of power.  You can download weather alert radio apps for smartphones, which isn't a bad idea, however if a cell tower is damaged by high winds in a storm and cell service is lost, they are rendered useless.  You can watch TV news reports or tune into you favorite local meteorologist for weather warnings and updates, but if power is lost, you are "left in the dark."   Only a certified weather alert radio is 100 percent reliable.  While no technology is fool proof, weather alert radios also come with a very low probability of the possibility of interruptions.

•  Are you looking for a radio for a home, office or school?

If so, you'll probably want a weather alert radio that will sit on a desk or counter-top and silently monitor the "all hazards" networks for an emergency alert broadcast. When an alert is detected, the radio will sound an audible warning tone followed by detailed information on the threat.  This type of radio is designed to remain stationary and function on AC power. Most radios in this category are SAME weather radios, which can be programmed to only activate if a threat specific to your local geographical area is issued. 

• Are you looking for a portable weather or emergency radio?

Portable weather radios are perfect for staying informed on the go. If you're looking for a radio to take hiking outdoors or even to a safe shelter area when a threat occurs, this is the type of radio you probably want. Portable radios are powered by replaceable or rechargeable batteries, and many are hand crank radios which can be powered by built-in generators.

• Do you want to be able to choose which types of events trigger an alert?

You'll want a feature-rich weather alert radio that allows the user to silence some types of events (for example severe thunderstorms) while still providing alerts for other types of more dangerous events (for example tornadoes and hurricanes). Two desktop radios with this ability are the Sangean CL-100 and the Midland WR-300.

• What are the most common weather radio features?

Alert - The most important feature of most weather radios is the "alert" feature. This feature allows the radio to remain silent until it detects an emergency alert broadcast.  Once an alert is detected, the radio will "activate" and broadcast a warning tone and the entire emergency alert. Weather radios with this alert feature are sometimes called weather alert radios, but since most weather radios have this feature the terms weather radio and weather alert radio are somewhat synonymous (which can be confusing). Basic weather radios (without the alert feature) are either on (in which case they constantly play all weather radio broadcasts including normal forecasts) or off.
SAME - Specific Area Message Encoding is a new technology that allows users to program their radio to only receive warnings specific to their county rather than for the entire area that a weather radio station serves. To function in SAME mode, a weather radio with this feature must be set to a specific county.


How does a Specific Area message Encoding (SAME) weather radio work?
 These weather alert radios can be easily programmed specific to the county you live in to receive weather alerts from you nearest NWS office.  All you have to do is simply plug in the radio or make sure it has batteries (It is strongly recommended to instal batteries as a backup power source in case you lose power.)   Press menu, then the up arrow three times until the display reads "same set."  Press select.  Then press the up arrow to "single"  since you probably want just the county you live in.  You do have the option to choose "any, single or multiple" however.   " Multiple" means you want to program for more than one county.  "Any" means that you want to receive the watches, warnings and advisories for any county in the radio's coverage area.  Press select. You should see "same 01."   Press select again. You will see a series of dashes. Now, you are going to enter the code for whatever county you live in. The NOAA county codes for the U.S. can be found at http://www.nws.noaa.gov/nwr/coverage/county_coverage.html.   The codes are listed under the column labeled SAME# and are 6 digit codes.    Let's use the code for the county I live in as an example.  My county code is 017053.  To set this code into the radio, press the up arrow button to get the desired number, which in this case is 0. Then press the right arrow button.   Press the up arrow until you see 1. Then press the right arrow button again.  Press the up button until you see 7.   Then press the right arrow button again.  Then press the up arrow button until you see 0.  Press the right arrow button again. Then the up arrow button until you see 5.  Press the right arrow button one more time.   Finally, press the up arrow button until you see 3.  Press select and you are done. It's just that easy!

So next time severe weather strikes, don't be caught unprepared or uninformed.  Go get a NOAA weather alert radio today and ensure you and your family is safe!

 Weather alert radios can be found at most major retailers including Radio Shack, Wal-Mart, Walgreen's, and  Lowe's just to name a few.

Weather alert radio smartphone apps for Android: https://play.google.com/store/apps/similar?id=com.globalcanofworms.android.simpleweatheralert

Weather alert radio smartphone apps for iphone: https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/noaa-weather-radio/id410148139?mt=8

here is a link to some useful facts.
http://www.weather.gov/media/lmk/pdf/posters/poster-NOAA_Weather_Radio.pdf