tornadoes and weather alert radios

[Grits]

I live in NC, and counties very near me were hit last night by tornadoes, killing two people as they were sleeping. We don't have anything like warning sirens here, so if a tornado comes during the night and you don't happen to be watching tv or listening to the radio, you will be completely unprepared.

Do any of you have a weather radio just for watches and warnings? Can you recommend one or give me any helpful information about them?

I am pretty sure I want to get one, but honestly, after seeing pictures of the damage, I don't think knowing it was coming would have helped. These houses were completely flattened, and most houses here don't have basements and certainly not storm shelters. I don't know where anyone could have gotten that would have been safe. One of the victims was an 11 year old boy in his bed. Just heartbreaking.

Thanks for any information.

[Aggie_Ama]

Lori, I do not have a weather radio but my inlaws have a NOAA one. The thing about it is it announces watches for adjoining counties. In Texas spring means thunderstorm watches, flash flood, tornado. I hate to be this way but the weather is so unstable I don't even listen until they say warning because on sunny days we will have thunderstorm watches. My SIL found the NOAA radio so annoying with the adjacent county thing she unplugged it. My mother in law loves hers though, she also listens to the police scanner so the radio doesn't annoy her.

I am sorry for your area, we have been through that here and it is a horrible feeling. We are all on thick limestone, basements are not cost efficient or practical here.

[OakLeaf]

In hill country it's important to have a radio that will accept an external antenna... and to attach the antenna on your TV tower so that it receives alerts from the appropriate direction. Here's the one we're looking at, although we haven't got around to buying one yet. As it is, up on our side of the ridge without an external antenna, we only get the alerts about an hour after the storm has passed.

Ama, all the radios are programmable so you can select the counties you receive alerts for. Maybe a little help from someone in the family who's better at RTFM eh?


ETA: It's important also that your radio be powered by plug-in with a backup battery. I believe that the Reecom units we're looking at will maintain a charge if rechargeable batteries are installed, but the website doesn't say that, so I'm not sure.

[wellness4you]

Grits I do have a weather alert radios and I live in Huntsville AL. This day I think is was in 1992 or maybe it was 1995 we had a tornado in Huntsville and 21 people were killed so if I am not to late get a radio it could save your life.

[Aggie_Ama]

Ama, all the radios are programmable so you can select the counties you receive alerts for. Maybe a little help from someone in the family who's better at RTFM eh?

My family bless them are probably too lazy. I would like to get a radio although I would probably get annoyed with it, I will keep in mind that it is programmable. The funny thing is the "TURN AROUND DON'T DROWN" in the robotic voice I hear on them. I don't know why and I know the sad statistics on the number of deaths we have here from flash flooding and people thinking they can cross a road but it humors me.

[crazycanuck]

I remember a post from earlier on this year about weather woes such as this & what folks do or don't do etc....Perhaps a quick search might get the info you require.

?

[Mr. Bloom]

Grits,

Twice, tornados have come within 1/4 mile of our house in terrible storms with multiple deaths. Both times, the sirens and warning system weren't activated until after the storm passed. I've lived in tornado prone areas nearly all my life and don't have a weather radio. There are plusses and minuses, but I simply don't find them useful...many counties are SO large that it's sunny in one corner of the county while the storm rages 50 miles away...and the radio irratatingly "cries wolf"

I am aware of an alert system that is being developed with precision down to the square meter, but it's still a few years off.

Good luck with your choice.

[wildhawk]

Living in a hurricane-prone state, we felt it necessary to have a weather alert radio - for the most part it is handy, but at times can go off constantly when we are getting tropical weather. I have “Turn Around, Don’t Drown” on the rear of my car since it was a former Florida Highway Patrol car - apparently the FHP ran those stickers on their patrol cars for a while. We always have people who think that the water is not “that deep” on the streets and try to drive through and get into trouble as a result. I would suggest getting a programmable alert radio - it would not hurt. Sorry to hear about the devastation - I am more afraid of tornados than hurricanes - we get tornados in the regular summer weather patterns here in Florida.

[Tuckervill]

I think it's unbelievable that people who live near warning sirens are not notified in time to take action!

I live on the border of Oklahoma. Our sirens go off frequently, and in plenty of time. We get Tulsa tv stations on our cable (Tulsa is about 80 miles from here), and if your tv is on you're going to get the information in plenty of time. Lucky for us, it seems the terrain at the border seems to take the punch out of storms in time, though I don't count on that!

Indiana could take some tips from Tulsa.

Karen

[OakLeaf]

I think it's unbelievable that people who live near warning sirens are not notified in time to take action!
...

Indiana could take some tips from Tulsa.

Karen

Well, considering the National Severe Storms Laboratory is in Oklahoma, no doubt you have the creme de la creme.

But, a few things -

*for one, no system is perfect, and while failures in the NOAA system do happen, they're rare. Individual county failures to maintain or activate sirens are a bit more common, which just underscores the need for weather radio.

*for another, the weather system we have in the USA is the best in the world bar none. Anyone who knows me, knows I don't have a nationalistic bone in my body, and our weather system is about the ONLY thing I will unequivocally say that we have that is "the best in the world." But just try to look up weather forecasts for anywhere else in the developed world - they barely exist. Even knowing that, it was a real eye-opener at this year's Indianapolis MotoGP race, when the remnants of Hurricane Ike blew through on race day. British and European commentators repeatedly expressed their amazement that track officials were able to predict exactly when there'd be a small window in the weather to be able to start the race. To an American, watching the radar loop was about as technologically marvellous as turning on the light in the oven to see if something's done yet.

*as I noted before, you have to make sure that your radio is able to receive alerts from the direction that storms generally travel, and since radio signals are line-of-sight, that may require an external antenna. And if you program it to receive signals only from that direction, you do take a risk of missing the rare storm that may come from an unusual direction.

*Lastly, I think people have to take some responsibility for their own safety, and that's especially true when we have the level of weather observations that we do. It only takes seconds to check the NOAA's site. If there's a severe weather alert but the radar shows it's at the opposite end of your county and traveling away from you, then you go back to what you were doing. If you're in the path, then you take precautions. (And if there's already a major power outage and cellular outage in your area and you can't get to the NOAA site, that alone should be an indication that you're potentially in the path.)


And yes - sometimes the precautions still aren't enough. It is heartbreaking when that happens. But it's important to remember that the vast majority of storm-related deaths and injuries in the USA are to people who ignore the warnings, for whatever reason.

[sundial]

We have a NOAA radio that sounds the alert for our county. Our town does not have an adequate warning system so we use the portable radio alert system. Also, check out www.weather.com for their weather alert system.

Glad you are safe! Tornados like to rear their ugly heads in the late evening.

[Tuckervill]

I'm just appalled that if they HAVE the system that they don't USE it.

We check the radar all the time to see what's happening when the weather is iffy. At times, at night, the sirens will go off before we know anything's coming, although there is rarely a day when we don't know whether there is a chance of thunderstorms. I've been grateful that the city I live in is on the ball that way. If we are awakened at night by thunder or lightening and don't hear sirens, the first thing I do is turn on the TV and see if they're talking about anything (I check local stations first, and then Tulsa who will always be on the air when there are storms). If not, I will occasionally just check the radar on the interactive weather channel or online or on my blackberry. I usually want to know if it's going to be an extended storm or just a squall line. (We have lots of old oaks around our house.)

I agree that there is a measure of personal responsibility involved--but not everyone is as wired as we are. That's why we have sirens. If the powers-that-be aren't willing to use them properly, then I'd probably have to do more to change that. But, that's behavior I just wouldn't expect in my area of tornado alley!

Karen

[Aggie_Ama]

I live in the same county as Jarrell, Texas. In fact I am only about 20 miles away. Google Jarrell to read about the two large tornadoes that have decimated the town in 1989 (a F3) and again in 1997 (a F5 with 27 deaths). Our county DOES NOT have sirens. Our county uses the local media for information and that is it. The only thing I must say is my cable company does have a pretty good thing, if you are watching DVR during a warning a red message comes up on top of your recorded program telling you the current alert. That is something needed since I rarely watch live TV.

I grew up in Texas, I know what to do. I am amazed at people who move here who do not learn what to do in a weather emergency.