Weather radios

[Chad Cowan]

Hi all- I would like to open a discussion about the public's use of NOAA weather radios and hopefully get some information about; a) what percentage of households use them, b) what percentage of households are not within earshot of an EAS siren and possibly, c) tornado fatality numbers correlating to these percentages.

I'll be the first to admit that I left my weather radio off for a few years due to the alert going off for things that didn't concern me (ie flood warning, weekly test). I've heard that there are newer radio models that can be programed to only go off for certain hazards. Does anyone have one of these? Can they be programmed to only trigger the alert when there is a Tornado Warning?

Any links to published papers or other reference materials and statistics would be appreciated.

Chad

 

[Melissa Jablonski]

Yes, Mine can be programed to only go off for whatever hazzard you want. You can even program it to go off if there is a chemical spill or volcanic eruption. I can't speak for anyone else. I have three weather radios.
Melissa

 

[Andrew Ryan]

The number of households that use weather radios is pretty low, about 10% at best. The main reason why the number is so low is because the radios go off to often and people don't know how to program them. Most people are within range of the transmitters. Here's a link to the range of the transmitters. http://www.nws.noaa.gov/nwr/usframes.html

 

[Wes Carter]

We have two weather radios in our home. Until we got radios that can be programmed with SAME codes our radios would let us know when things were going on anywhere in Middle Tennessee.

No one else that I know locally uses weather radios to my knowledge. They all think they are more hassle than they are worth. Maybe if more people had them here then Tennessee wouldn't be near the top in tornado fatalities.

 

[MatthewCarman]

I have a weather radio for at home and a mobile radio for when I am traveling. I turn my home radio on if there is a good chance for severe storms but I am usually up anyways. I can turn off certain warnings for the alarm but some like tornadoes etc can't be turned off. I also have a weather emergency kit that comes with a crank up radio but I have not used it yet.

 

[Rob Wadsworth]

Keeping a weather radio in your motel room with you on a chase can be a life saver. I take one with me in my bag, and then set it up so that if something should happen overnight - I can be waken. Last year on the nights of 22/23 May in KS - I didn't need it - but it helped me relax and sleep. In that sense - it does have some value...
...dos centavos...

 

[Mike Smith]

At least three surveys show NWR use is 3-5% of households.

 

[Jason Bolt]

Not sure where you are heading with this but a study comparing the usage of weather radios against the use of cell phone warning notifications would be interesting.

 

[Karla Dorman]

Have two: a plug in with battery back up - trust me, when it tones, I'm up and so are the neighbors on either side of me. It's that loud. Carry a portable with me wherever I go. Have to be informed!

 

[Melissa Jablonski]

Indiana now requires all new mobile homes to have a weather radio. I think if other states followed suit it could save lives.
Melissa

 

[Jen Metcalf]

I think IN has a good idea.

I have 3 weather alerts. Two are the kind that you plug in and the other is portable. I had a brand- can't remember the name now- but that thing would go off for the weirdest counties and that was after several times of resetting it. Finally I got two new ones that work great- when I remember to turn it back on after a night of storms.

 

[markstauss]

2 Weather radios in the house. One in the office where all the weather station pc's are located and one in the bedroom that will actually wake us up when something happens. Bought the one in the bedroom because the office one did not wake us up when the severe t-storm warning was issued that resulted in the french doors in our living room being blown open and it raining inside for an hour or two before we woke up. I can deal with being woke up for a minute or two to determine if something is actually going on or not after cleaning up after that.

 

[John Wetter]

I have the WR-300 which can filter out alerts you don't want. As far as use, it's in the 3-4% ballpark. We'll have to see what the new cellular alerting thing from the DHS does in the future. I personally think that while weather radios are a great asset, they're old technology that is really costing the NWS a lot of money and manpower. Time to think of something that will work with current GIS systems...

 

[Chad Cowan]

Thanks for the input everyone. Yes, that new Indiana law is hopefully the start of a trend. It's pretty shocking that around half of all tornado fatalities occur in mobile homes, even though only about 7% of the population live in them. Weather radios are, in my opinion, just as important as smoke alarms, yet only 3-5% of households have them.

I've decided to establish a non-profit organization called Weather Radios Across America (WRAA). The ultimate goal is to get a user friendly NOAA weather radio (NWR) in every home east of the Rockies. I'm hoping to accomplish this by raising money with tax-deductible donations from individuals and socially responsible corporations, and further down the road, possibly even a government grant. I'm hoping that the radio manufacturer(s) will sell WRAA the units at cost, or possibly donate units. How the radios will be distributed is still up in the air, but I'm leaning towards letting the communities' Emergency Managers distribute them while prioritizing for mobile home residents. Also, I believe lobbying for legislation to make it mandatory for mobile homes to have a weather radio will be important. The biggest challenge right now is finding a radio model that is not only cost effective, but also easily programmable for the location and the warnings the user wishes to be alerted to.

This is an ambitious project, I know, especially given the scope, but 1-in-20 households having a weather radio is something that absolutely needs to change. Tornado sirens are NOT meant to be heard indoors but the majority of the public rely on them for that. I am hopeful that the market saturation for the new SMS text and reverse-911 warning systems will be better than NWR's, but I strongly believe that a phone call or a text is not going to efficiently get someone out of bed at night when 32% of tornado fatalities occur, and tornadoes are 2.5 times more deadly (study by Walker Ashley). The NWS does a great job issuing timely warnings and the media (generally) does a good job of disseminating them to those who have a TV or radio on, but all the lead time in the world doesn't matter if the public doesn't receive the warning.

To start off, I'm donating $5 from each of my DVD sales to WRAA and I encourage fellow chasers to do the same. Like the Storms of DVD series, this is a great way for us chasers to give back to the residents that are in the crosshairs of the storms we pursue.

I'm very open to ideas, criticisms, and help with this project. Post here, PM me, or email me (ChadLCowan @ gmail.com) if you want to help out in any way.

 

[Scott Weberpal]

My question is, how will a wx radio get someone out of bed at night any better than a text or "reverse 911" type call? I only ask, because I'm trying to imagine myself in that situation and if I get a text in the middle of the night I at least look and see who it is, whereas if the weather radio alarm were to go off, I'd probably turn it off and go back to sleep like I would an alarm clock.

[start personal opinion rant]
On another not related to the same subject, I think weather radios are great, but I also think its no ones responsibility but the homeowners to make sure they are protected. Its up to me to protect myself and my family from any potential hazards which may exist in life. Our local FD sold weather radios at a low cost ($20) and they sold out in a matter of minutes. If given the chance, I think many people would buy them at a reasonable price, however, the responsibility to get weather radios in someones home shouldn't go beyond the homeowner.
[end rant]