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More
about the TampaScene Weather Radio
A
family is awakened in the middle of the night by an alarm on its weather
radio. The special receiver carries a tornado warning advising listeners
to seek cover. The family retreats from its mobile home to a nearby shelter
moments before a twister tears through the community, scattering lives
and mangled aluminum in its wake.
A
recreational vehicle owner in a campground picks up a flash flood alert
on his weather radio and moves his RV to higher ground. Minutes later a
wall of water sweeps through his former campsite.
Lives
are saved thanks to a small radio receiver (weather radio) available for
about the cost of a new pair of shoes.
Weather
reports and warnings like those mentioned above are broadcast directly
to specia radio receivers around the clock by the National Oceanic and
Atmospheric Administration’s (NOAA) Weather Radio network, the “Voice”
of the National Weather Service (NWS). Some weather radios have
the capability to receive a tone alarm signal, triggering a built-in alarm
to warn listeners of severe weather announcements.
But
despite real-life stories like those mentioned above, NOAA Weather Radio
remains one of the best kept secrets in the United States.
NOAA
Weather Radio advises people of severe weather watches and warnings, buying
extra time for people to react before dangerous storms hit their areas.
When you’re in the path of something like a tornado, minutes and seconds
can mean the difference between life and death.
Weather
service offices tailor their NOAA Weather Radio broadcasts to suit local
needs and commercial interests. For example, broadcasts in New England
may focus on marine weather conditions for recreational boaters and fishing
and shipping vessels.
Routine
information is updated every one to three hours, and the broadcasts continuously
repeat. Weather service offices immediately interrupt regular reports when
a severe weather situation requires a live alert or warning. Reports air
on one of seven VHF high-band FM frequencies between 162.400 and 162.550
megahertz (MHz).
NOAA
Weather Radio broadcasts began in the 1950s when the old Weather Bureau
started broadcasting weather information over two stations. In the 1960s,
stations were added for the marine community, and by the late 1970s, the
system included more than 300 stations.
Now
more than 475 transmitters are within the listening range of most of the
Nation’s population. In 1975, NOAA Weather Radio became the only government-operated
radio system for providing direct warnings to private homes for weather
and other significant hazards. It’s also the primary source of information
for activating the Nation’s Emergency Alert System.
Currently
the National Weather Service is modernizing, building a network of improved
radars, satellites, automated weather observing systems, supercomputers
and telecommunications capabilities aimed at saving lives and preserving
property.
But
state-of-the-art forecasting technology and accurate warnings and forecasts
are of little value if people who need the information don’t get it in
a timely manner. That’s why the Weather Service also is modernizing the
NOAA Weather Radio network. Additional transmitters funded through partnerships
with local industry and government agencies, are expanding the system’s
coverage to unserved areas. New audio consoles with programmable, computer-based
systems will automatically convert weather messages directly from electronic
text to speech and broadcast them at appropriate times.
All
NWR transmitters are now equipped with Specific Area Message Encoding (SAME)
technology. SAME technology provides direct activation of the Emergency
Alert System, the Federal Communications Commission’s (FCC) replacement
for the Emergency Broadcast System, on commercial radio, television and
cable outlets. In addition, SAME technology will allow for direct warnings
of severe weather in a specific locale (county or sub county level) to
those who have radio receivers programmed to receive SAME broadcast signals.
A digital audio code (quick high-pitched tones similar to what is heard
on some telephone transmissions) precedes every severe weather alarm broadcast
by the National Weather Service over NOAA Weather Radio. The digital code
identifies the type of warning being sent and denotes the specific geographic
segment of the listening area receiving the alarm. New SAME-capable receivers
now on the market can be programmed by consumers to screen out alarms for
areas they don’t want. The technology change has no effect on older NOAA
Weather Radio receivers.
Following
a tornado that killed more than 20 people in a rural Alabama church on
Palm Sunday in 1994, Vice President Al Gore set a goal to make NOAA Weather
Radio receivers as common as smoke detectors in American homes and to extend
the coverage provided by the NOAA Weather Radio transmitter network to
95 percent of the United States.
Since
the Gore NOAA Weather Radio initiative began, the National Weather Service
and other members of the Gore task force have been actively promoting public/private
sector partnerships to provide the needed resources. More than 75 new weather
radio transmitters have been installed since 1994 through grass roots partnerships
combining resources of private enterprises, associations, and local, state
and federal government agencies.
The
NWS also broadcasts non-weather emergency information, making NOAA Weather
Radio an “all-hazards” network. All-hazards broadcasts air warning information
on earthquakes, volcano activity, and man-made hazardous conditions will
be used for communicating relief information after such disasters.
The
goal of the NOAA Weather Radio Initiative is to someday have a NOAA Weather
Radio in every home, and in all schools, hospitals and other public gathering
places, to give people the kind of information they need to safeguard themselves
and their homes during a disaster. |