NOAA Weather Radios

[breeze]

My Midland 74-109 has been one of my best friends for several years!

~Annette~

[Tamora]

I've been looking for one for a long time and cannot seem to find one. Maybe if I visit Tornado Alley I will get one...

They don't sell them at Radio Shack?

If all else fails, you can always order online.

I've had one for years and I like it... make sure you get one with SAME capability.

I got mine at Radio Shack. It has SAME capabilites. Mine is a Public Alert portable one. I bring it to school with me when I know the day may have bad weather. My town doens't have a siren system and we are on the outskirts of town in a newly developed area, so I don't trust that we will be alerted in time my the police. The only downside is that it did not come with an AC adapter ( I need to buy one) b/c the batteries go down very fast when left on all night.

[Tamora]

Good point Kristi, re: setting it for surrounding counties, particularly if you live near a border. I have mine also set for the counties directly south and west. It's a good idea for fast moving storms, like the ones today.

KC area got clobbered last night! Those cells were scary looking. Looks like most were south of town.

I have mine set for three counties b/c we are right on the line for those three counites. It is nice to have control over which alerts you have going off.

[brunota2003]

Bump, seeing todays high risk area, I think it is important for people to get one, especially if they dont have one! If you live in the threatend areas, do not forget to check your BATTERIES as well.

[tomboudreau]

I have fresh batteries in my radio and I will be carrying my HAM radio with me tomorrow since it looks like it is going to be a very active afternoon in Western PA. That way, if anything pops, I will know about it instantly on the HAM radio (my radio has the 7 weather bands programmed into it), and the wife will have the WX radio.

[brunota2003]

Bumping this topic again, seeing how it looks like we might be in for another possible outbreak.

[wall_cloud]

Always have fun with the overnight activations for advisories... woke up the entire family last night for the first time since we got ours for a wind chill warning. My mom thought the smoke alarms were sounding.

a WSW shouldn't be SAMEd overnight under those circumstances. the NWS issued the product incorrectly in that instance.

[brunota2003]

Just bumping this topic up.

[somethingfunny]

Always have fun with the overnight activations for advisories... woke up the entire family last night for the first time since we got ours for a wind chill warning. My mom thought the smoke alarms were sounding.

a WSW shouldn't be SAMEd overnight under those circumstances. the NWS issued the product incorrectly in that instance.

This is what worries me about buying one. There ought to be an option to filter only specific types of warnings to my radio.

[Siberian Express]

Always have fun with the overnight activations for advisories... woke up the entire family last night for the first time since we got ours for a wind chill warning. My mom thought the smoke alarms were sounding.

a WSW shouldn't be SAMEd overnight under those circumstances. the NWS issued the product incorrectly in that instance.

This is what worries me about buying one. There ought to be an option to filter only specific types of warnings to my radio.

You can. I've got a Reecom SAME last year and I'm able to filter.

[senorpepr]

Let me share an experience that happened in Omaha last year. Around 2 am on June 8th, 2008, a tornado developed in western Omaha. It didn't have a well defined radar signature. Matter of fact, if memory serves me correctly, the tornado developed and weakened between scans of the 0.5° base reflectivity.

Being 2am, many folks were asleep. No tornado sirens went off.

I, among others in the area, were woken up by a tornado warning over our NOAA Weather Radios. The NWS activated the warning as soon as the first report came in. It didn't give folks a lot of lead time, but it gave them something nonetheless. As people went into their basements, they turned on the TV to get the story of what was going on. Only one meteorologist stuck around and was airing. Everyone else thought there was little chance in severe storms, so they went home. Viewers, instead, got to watch '60s western and infomericals.

My point is everyone thought it was a non-event. No emergency managers to sound warning sirens. Only of TV meteorologist to tune in. If folks had turned off their NOAA Weather Radios overnight--they had nothing. But for the few folks who had their radio... they had *some* head ups to seek shelter.

In result in this storm: EF-2 passed through a well-populated part of Omaha. Luckily only minor injuries. Several homes severely damaged or destroyed.


I strongly encourage everyone to get a NOAA Weather Radio. Specifically, get one with SAME capabilities. You can set those radios to only alert for specific counties and specific warnings. If you're not much of a weather nut and want it strictly for safety, you can set it up for only your county (as well as a county upstream) and for only severe thunderstorm warnings and tornado warnings (or solely tornado warnings). With the SAME capabilities, you get to control what you are alerted to. Many of them are only $30-40. That's only a dollar or so a day for an entire month. The savings in the long term (i.e. your life) definitely outweigh the cost.

http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_ss_gw?ur ... io&x=0&y=0

[jammer609]

i dont know how long ive had a NOAA radio becuase its been in my house for some time. atleast i am safe with my radio