Tornado Watch notifications to my mobile device - HELP

[Andy Orth]

Noob here. Is there any way that I can receive a SMS or Push Notification to my cell phone of ALL Tornado Watches issued in the U.S.? I am aware of several services that allow you to enter your location and they alert you for those in that particular area, but I am looking an alerting service for all tornado watches (and/or severe thunderstorm) issued throughout the country.
Many thanks!

 

[rdale]

http://weathermessage.com

 

[Verne Carlson]

Andy,
If you have an Android phone you can use my SPC Widget app to 'see' all the watches as they come in. At least on a 15 minute update basis. Not sure if that helps. Here's the link:
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.apexice.android.spcwidget

 

[Andy Orth]

Andy,
If you have an Android phone you can use my SPC Widget app to 'see' all the watches as they come in. At least on a 15 minute update basis. Not sure if that helps. Here's the link:
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.apexice.android.spcwidget

Verne, I sent you a PM. Not sure if it went thru or not (nothing in my Sent box), so rather here is my question:
"Thank you very much for replying. Yes, I do have an Android phone. If I download your widget, can I get push notifications every time a Tornado Watch is issued somewhere is the US?" Many thanks...

 

[rdale]

It doesn't alert......

 

[fyrfyter]

You MIGHT be able to make this work via Twitter. SPC and a number of other people and groups send tweets every time a Tornado Watch is issued. The two that come to mind are @severestudios and @IEMbot_SPC If you follow these, you might be able to get one of the following to alert you when it detects WW XX TORNADO from the iembot_spc account. This account posts all SPC udpates. the xx is wildcard for the watch number, which by end of the year is 3 or 4 digits long.

Found these that will send twitter alerts. http://tweetbeep.com/ http://www.twilert.com/ http://www.tweetalarm.com/ http://www.twitteralerts.net/

Good Luck, and let us know what you figure out!

 

[Andy Orth]

Using Twitter user Mesoscale Discussions (@WeatherEvents), I created an RSS feed on search.twitter.com using the keywords "ww" and "tornado". That way, only the tornado watches will show up in the feed. I subscribed to the feeds using Google Reader (for now, as it appears they will be discontinued this year) and installed the gReader Android app and set up notifications to my phone. We'll see how it works over the next couple days. Thanks!!

 

[fyrfyter]

Does the RSS feed seem to be working correctly? Have you found a different RSS reader that will alert you, even after Google Reader is discontinued?

 

[Jared Smith]

Heads up that Twitter is going to discontinue its RSS feeds within the next month or two with the API 1.1 release: https://dev.twitter.com/docs/api/1.1/overview

You could still have @NWSSPC or @iembot_spc text your phone (send follow <username> to 40404) but you'll get the whole feeds for them including convective outlooks and mesoscale discussions.

It sure strikes me that the only reliable and reasonably easy way to get just watches is to spin up a Weather Message server and pluck them off EMWIN. I tried Weather Message out and liked it -- it's fairly straightforward to set up and it can ping you in many different ways.

 

[Nick Hester]

On my android I have Pro Weather Alert from Global Can of Worms. Works well the free version is ok too but the pro has tracking that can be turned on as well as multiple locations.

 

[Chris Strahan]

imap weather radio
https://play.google.com/store/apps/...GwsMSwxLDMsImNvbS53ZHRpbmMuYW5kcm9pZC5td3IiXQ..
not free, but will send you alerts based off your location.

 

[rdale]

Those are location based, so won't alert on all issued.

 

[TJKLECKNER]

On my android I have Pro Weather Alert from Global Can of Worms. Works well the free version is ok too but the pro has tracking that can be turned on as well as multiple locations.

I have yet to try this out.....the cold spring has limited severe alerts in my area....I would like to know how well this app/service works. Any one have good luck with this app/service? What is the average delay time on important alerts?

 

[Ethan Stonnill]

Location tracking allows you to use your GPS or network location enabled phone to track your location, adding and removing counties as they come within your range, and monitoring alerts for those areas. In this way, your alerts list will always show you alerts for areas around you, no matter where you travel to.

This app sounds fantastic if it can do all it says it can.

Also found a screenshot of this feature.