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NWS now offers text/email/SMS alerts!

sebenste

EF1
Joined
Dec 17, 2005
Messages
71
Location
Chicago, IL
A few products aren't updated nationally, but if you want text messages for
tornado, severe thunderstorm, flash flood, winter storms and many other
products...these can be sent to your email or cell phone, for any
county/parish in the country.

http://inws.wrh.noaa.gov/

To test it out, I turned on the "hydrology" alerts and chose Rockford, IL
which is under a river flood warning for the Rock River. As soon as I chose
the "hydrology" alerts checkbox for Rockford, and activated email alerts,
this hit my inbox:

From: [email protected]
To: Gilbert Sebenste
Subject: InteractiveNWS Alert
Parts/Attachments:
1 Shown 1 lines Text (charset: ISO-8859-1)
2 OK 1 lines Text (charset: ISO-8859-1)
----------------------------------------
Event extended (time). Flood Warning from 02/16/09 07:56 PM CST to 02/17/09
06:00 PM CST for 61105.

---
Now I might get unhappy having that wake me up at 2 AM in the morning, but tornado warnings...no. :-) Anyway, this just started early this month;
check it out...they warn that this is still an experimental system, so use
with caution and keep your other warning devices on.
 
I've never really checked into other services, but the service I have now does send out messages. I have it so it sends out only tornado warnings in my three nearby NWS CWAs. If this works well and is free I can drop the service and use that money to switch to unlimited text messages on my cell (currently restricted to 250 per month). Then I can go to a chat type text message cell phone...etc.

Will surely check it out.
 
The service is really cool. You can customize you alerts by zip code, state or even draw a polygon around the area you want alerts for. You are limited to 30,000 sq. miles of coverage area though.
 
rdale said:
I'm not sure why you'd bash the NWS. If the private sector is unable or unwilling to provide text alerts, then the NWS should step in and take it over using our tax dollars.
Click to expand...

I'm not bashing the NWS; of course, you're not either these days. You've decided to take subtle jabs.

I think it's a great idea and I like the fact that I can get a return investment of my tax dollars from the NWS instead of having to rely on profit driven commercial and media sources.
 
rdale said:
I do think it's a bad idea, but anyone ever critical of the NWS gets bashed around here ;)

The private sector already does it. Some even give it away for free. NWS isn't doing anything better, they are just taking money away from profit-driven entities. If those entities lose money, they cut back. Which takes jobs away from people, which hurts the economy. And I don't consider making the meteorology field even MORE unattractive for students to be a good thing. Why develop something new? Five years later, the NWS will do it for free and you're unemployed.
Click to expand...

It's not the job of the NWS to stimulate the economy and to make sure Met students have a job when they graduate. The NWS's directive is the protection of life and property and one way they do this is by issuing and disseminating watches and warnings. If there is a way to do this using proven methods and technology then why shouldn't they use it? To protect a few companies' bottom lines? I would like to see the numbers of people who sign up for this new service compared to those who got their warnings from private companies. I'd guess that the NWS will be reaching many more people, and after all, isn't that a good thing?
 
I didn't say it's their job to support the career paths of college students ;)

I said that IF the private sector is already doing something, and has a history of it, don't duplicate the service to offer it for free.
 
rdale said:
I didn't say it's their job to support the career paths of college students ;)

I said that IF the private sector is already doing something, and has a history of it, don't duplicate the service to offer it for free.
Click to expand...

I realize that, and I said that if the private sector is doing something that protects lives and property, why shouldn't the NWS do it on a broader scale and offer it for free so that EVERYONE can get the information? I care more about losing lives than profits.
 
In an era of limited resources, I think it's better to allocate those resources to things ONLY the NWS can provide.

If you can afford a $40/month cellphone, you can afford a $2 text warning service.

When dual-pol radar is deployed, nobody outside NWS will get most of the DP data because NWS doesn't have the resources.
 
How much faster is the pay text service vs. the free service from the NWS? I have always used the free service. Is it like 10-15 minutes faster?
 
I signed up for it and had 16 msgs on my cell the next morning. Most of them letting me know that an area of thick fog is rolling in from the Gulf of Mexico :cool:. I like that it also sends you special wx statements and such.
 
I can access parts of the site, but can't get it to send a test msg. Doesn't seem to be working right.
 
rdale said:
I didn't say it's their job to support the career paths of college students ;)

I said that IF the private sector is already doing something, and has a history of it, don't duplicate the service to offer it for free.
Click to expand...

Its the job of the NWS to issue and distribute warnings in a manner to protect the public's safety. These days everyone has a cellphone, some people two or three.

Cell phones are much more common then NOAA Weather Radios, and usually go with the person wherever they are. This offers a great way for the NWS to do their job.
 
I really wish you could have it set for just Tornado Warnings instead of sever, the only reason I even want it is in case there is a TOR warning near me in the middle of the night.
 
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