Why Do You Need a Weather Radio?

I am not sure why I never knew about weather radios. Perhaps I thought they were just radios with temperature and humidity settings, but now I know better!

Owning one, as one source called it, is like having a "smoke alarm for severe weather and hazards." If I lived in an area with very active weather, I think I would like to own one, since it is good for just more than one specific alert. The alerts can start from an avalanche warning to volcano alerts so it indeed does cover the alphabet in alerts and warnings! It depends where you live.

A weather radio receives signals from weather stations and broadcasts on frequencies not used by regular radio stations. Your AM/FM radio will not have these frequencies, so it will not pick up these broadcasts.

The purpose of a weather radio is to alert citizens of severe weather conditions or other hazards ( like for instance chemical spills) so there is time to find shelter or react. The frequencies are reserved for emergency broadcasts. Weather radios are designed to set off an alarm or turn on when there is an emergency.

Recently, the Canadian Weather Network featured an interesting article on weather radios and their usefulness in severe weather conditions. The web site mentioned weather radios are excellent early warning systems for emergencies such as the tornadoes that swept across the Southern United States recently.

The radios can warn of many other impending hazards such as the the flooding that has occurred in parts of the Canadian prairies. Flooding often requires fast evacuations when the water levels crest. Weather radios make a huge difference in getting the alarm out to residents, especially, in the middle of the night when people are sleeping.

A weather radio is a practical addition for "emergency preparedness" in homes across North America or wherever there are weather radio stations to broadcast alerts.

The NOAA weather radio broadcasts on frequencies not used by normal radios. While there are emergency broadcasts on radios and televisions,in case of an emergency, the weather radio continuously forecasts weather in your area and is designed to wake up and alert you whenever there is a significant risk of any type happening in your area.

If you live in an area where severe weather events happen, live in an earthquake zone, even an area prone to flash floods and live in North America; you might think of purchasing a weather radio for your “emergency survival kit”.

The two following links provide current local weather radio listings by their frequencies in Canada and the USA

Listings of Radio Frequencies of Local Canadian Weather Stations by Province:

Environment Canada Weather Radio stations ( called Canadian Location Codes - CLC) :

http://www.ec.gc.ca/meteo-weather/default.asp?lang=En&n=1CD5BDF2-1

Listings of Radio Frequencies of Local American Weather Stations by State:

NOAA Weather radio stations in the United States:

http://www.weather.gov/nwr/nwrbro.htm

Typically, a weather radio broadcasts the weather forecast when there are no emergencies. You won’t find music or entertainment. However, in the event of severe weather, the broadcast stations are the first line of defence warning of damaging thunderstorms, tornadoes, earthquakes and other natural disasters, as well as, civil emergencies like chemical spills or other hazardous conditions unrelated to weather and nature. The stations also broadcast amber alerts.

How is a weather radio alert system better than regular broadcasting that is interrupted for emergencies?

Weather radios can be set to sound an alarm; some models will turn on whenever an alert is issued so that it will wake up residents during the night. This would not happen with a normal radio. This is especially good if there are no sirens in the area to waken people.

Depending on the radio purchase, some models let you select which types of events you want to be notified of, so that if you are not in a flood zone; you will not be woken up to a flood alert.

A good weather radio should be able to display SAME codes. SAME codes are (specific area message encoding) for example the code for a child abduction emergency is: CAE, a dust storm warning is: DSW. The radio manual should have the description of all the current SAME codes.

What should I look for in a good weather radio?

Ideally, the radio will have more than one source of power; AC and battery. There are crank models that will keep running when all other sources of power are exhausted.

There should be a strong alarm so that it can be heard from various rooms in a house since persons may not be in the vicinity when it goes off.

It must have good reception for the local weather radio transmitter ( I will provide links further down to both Canadian and American locations and frequencies)

How can I test my weather radio?

The NOAA Weather radio sends out test signals from various stations at specified times to test the systems. It is advisable to find out when your local test signals happen so you can test your radio to find the ideal location in your residence with the best reception, find out if your alarms are loud enough and to check if you require an antenna to pull in the local broadcast signal. Note: there are a few areas where signals are not accessible.

Are there any accessories required for weather radios?

There are various accessories depending on the radio selected and functions wanted, or if, a test of the broadcast system determines you need a stronger signal etc. There are outdoor antennae available and accessories of flashing lights and more powerful sirens.