NOAA All Hazards Weather Radio

General Information
NOAA Weather Radio is directly available to approximately 90 to 95 percent of the U.S. population.

For as little as $20, you can have current weather information and forecasts broadcast into your home, business, boat or automobile 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. You can pick up one of these radios at your local electronics store such as Radio Shack. Cost of the radio will vary from around $20 for the basic radio, and more for the more advanced. Most of the radios are portable and can be taken with you almost anywhere, even different parts of the country!

By nature and by design, NWR coverage is limited to an area within 40 miles of the transmitter. The quality of what is heard is dictated by the distance from the transmitter, local terrain, and the quality and location of the receiver.

There are three basic types of weather radios:

Scanner...Marine Radio...Basic Weather Radio - monitor only
Tone Alert Weather Radio - automatically activated when a 1050Hz tone issued for any of the counties in broadcast range; cost range $20-50
Specific Area Message Encoder (SAME) - automatically activated for only the counties you choose; cost range $40-70

Broadcast Schedules
Currently, the Houston/ Galveston National Weather Service Office is responsible for the programming of SIX Weather Radios: Houston, Galveston, College Station, Onalaska, Bay City and New Taiton. Information on NWR broadcasts in other parts of the U.S., can be found on this site which has a list of stations nationwide.

Look below for the broadcast schedule of your favorite NWR station. Remember...all times listed are LOCAL times.

Houston/KGG-68 Broadcast schedule	Galveston/KHB-40 Broadcast schedule
College Station/WXK-30 Broadcast schedule	Onalaska/Lake Livingston/KXI-55 Broadcast schedule
Bay City/WWG-40 Broadcast schedule	New Taiton/KJY-78 Broadcast schedule

FIPS Codes and Coverage Maps
The National Weather Service uses several different codes to identify counties during varying weather events. One such code, FIPS Codes, helps identify specific states and counties during severe weather events. When combined with a specific event such as a severe thunderstorm or tornado warning, the FIPS Code will identify which state and county the warning affects. For example, when we here at the National Weather Service issue a tornado warning for Montgomery County, the FIPS Codes would follow as: 048339. The 048 part of the code signals to the public that this product refers to a county in the State of Texas...with the 339 part of the code specifically identifying Montgomery County. If you put it in a handy reference manual and you know the state identifier and the list of county identifiers...you can pinpoint any county in the United States without reading the text. Thus...this code helps computer programmers with television...radio...private companies...and the National Weather Service help automatically monitor severe weather around the country and...more specifically...their specific areas of interests.

Houston (KGG-68)	Galveston (KHB-40)
College Station (WXK-30)	Onalaska/Lake Livingston (KXI-55)
Bay City (WWG-40)	New Taiton (KJY-78)
All of Texas