NOAA Weather Radio
NOAA Weather Radio (NWR), also known as NOAA Weather Radio All Hazards, is an automated 24-hour network of VHF FM weather radio stations in the United States that broadcast weather information directly from a nearby National Weather Service office. The routine programming cycle includes local or regional weather forecasts, synopsis, climate summaries or zone/lake/coastal waters forecasts (when applicable). During severe conditions the cycle is shortened into: hazardous weather outlooks, short-term forecasts, special weather statements or tropical weather summaries (the first two are not normally broadcast in most offices). It occasionally broadcasts other non-weather related events such as national security statements, natural disaster information, environmental and public safety statements (such as an AMBER Alert), civil emergencies, fires, evacuation orders, and other hazards sourced from the Federal Communications Commission's (FCC) Emergency Alert System. NOAA Weather Radio uses automated broadcast technology (since 2016: Broadcast Message Handler) that allows for the recycling of segments featured in one broadcast cycle into another and more regular updating of segments to each of the transmitters. It also speeds up the warning transmitting process.
Type
Weather radio/civil emergency services
NOAA Weather Radio All Hazards
National (through radio transmitters, some commercial radio and television outlets, and Internet availability via streaming audio from other organizations)
National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration
- 1950s (in selected cities)
- 1967 (nationwide)
Weather radios are widely sold online and in retail stores that specialize in consumer electronics in Canada and the US. Additionally, they are readily available in many supermarkets and drug stores in the southern and midwestern US, which are particularly susceptible to severe weather—large portions of these regions are commonly referred to as "Tornado Alley".
There are a variety of different types of weather radio receivers available in the U.S., including:
Historically, it was not uncommon to sell portable radios that featured AM, FM, and TV audio (VHF channels 2–13), with the weather band included some distance down the dial from TV channel 7 (after the U.S. digital TV conversion, the television sound function of these radios became obsolete).
One of the early consumer weather alert radios (model KH6TY) was designed and manufactured by Howard (Skip) Teller, who was issued a patent on the alerting mechanism[25][26] and was instrumental in the design of the PSK31 Digipan software and hardware,[27] and the Amateur radio NBEMS emergency communications system.
Since April 2004, radio models marketed as "Public Alert-certified" must include these features and meet certain performance criteria, as specified in electronics industry standard CEA-2009.[28]
The price of a consumer-grade weather radio varies depending on the model and its extra features.[29]
Live streaming[edit]
Several websites provide internet audio streaming of a subset of the NOAA Weather radio stations. The most prominent of these, the Wunderadio section of weather information website Weather Underground, discontinued live streams of NWR broadcasts in April 2017.[63] As the Wunderadio internet streaming service dissolved, Many sources such as noaaweatherradio.org, broadcastify.com, weatherusa.net/radio and PlanoWeather developed, allowing previous users of the service to continue monitoring livestreams from Wunderadio, as well as newer broadcasts from different locations.