Why Every Home and Business Should Own a Weather Alert Radio

One of the most important factors in survival of a weather related disaster is early awareness of severe weather conditions, their current location, and expected path of travel. Although weather alert radios have been available for quite some time, the technologies and tower locations have been much improved in recent years. Most of population of the United States can receive these transmissions using a weather alert radio.

A weather alert radio is a receiving device that monitors radio transmissions from The National Weather Service. When a weather alert is broadcast for a particular area or region, the weather alert radio will automatically announce the alert so that listeners are aware of and can prepare for the event.

In the event of tornadoes and flash floods, a few minutes of early warning from a weather alert radio can minimize both serious injuries and loss of lives. Even hurricanes that are tracked for days or weeks can contain tornadoes, severe thunderstorms, damaging hail, and rapid flooding. In fact, most loss of life during hurricanes historically has been from flooding, not the wind event.

Weather alert radios are available in many styles, shapes and sizes to accommodate the different needs associated with severe weather. There are desktop models, hand held models that are built into 2 way radios, and even portable, crank powered models. Most are modestly priced, and anyone should be able to find one that they can afford. Some models will receive additional alerts such as Amber Alerts, chemical spills, emergency action notifications, 911/local system outages and even terrorist attacks. Many newer models have SAME (Specific Area Messaging Encoding) system specifications and can be programmed to announce only in specific areas related to their location.

Every home and business should have a pre-determined plan for natural disasters, and should review and practice their plan often. Employing a weather alert radio is an integral part of the plan that will allow the additional time needed in order to enact the plan for an otherwise unannounced major weather event.