Severe thunderstorms containing large hail, damaging winds, tornadoes and frequent lightning with heavy rainfall will spread from the Mississippi, Ohio, Tennessee Valleys today then to the East Coast on Monday. Meanwhile, a significant ice storm continues across parts of the Upper Midwest and Great Lakes and Upstate New York and northern New England. For the Southwest, critical fire conditions. Read More >
Strengths: (1) Immediate alert and receipt of warnings. (2) Service is free (text message charges do not apply). (3) Service is automatic. There is no need to sign up for the messages, although you can opt out by contacting your service provider. (4) The system allows you to receive warnings for your location anytime, anywhere.
Weaknesses: (1) Warning messages originate from cell towers that are located within a warning area. Any phone within range of a tower can be alerted, so some customers outside of a warning area may receive alerts. (2) Some older mobile phones may not be equipped to receive the messages. (3) These alerts are only being created for certain types of warnings.
Figure 25. Example of a warning alert from a smart phone application utilizing National Weather Service “warning polygons” along with the smart phone’s GPS functionality. This particular application alerts only if the phone is located within the “warning polygon,” illustrated by the black box on the display screen at the lower right.