NOAA Weather Radio All Hazards Awareness Day 2023

Nebraska's NOAA Weather Radio

All Hazards Awareness Day

May 31, 2023

Sponsored by the National Weather Service offices serving Nebraska, May 31st is declared NOAA Weather Radio All Hazards Awareness Day in Nebraska. NOAA Weather Radio All Hazards Awareness Day reminds the public that NOAA weather radios are a key component to the warning process and provides audible warning information specific to your locations.

NOAA Weather Radio All Hazards is a service provided exclusively by the National Weather Service. These broadcasts provide continuous forecast and warning information along with post-event information for all types of hazards. These radios are similar to smoke detectors in that they are silently monitoring, but ready to rapidly provide warning information direct from the source when hazardous weather conditions or other hazards pose a threat to life and property.

With NOAA Weather Radio All Hazards, you will always have access to potentially lifesaving emergency information. During severe weather, National Weather Service personnel can interrupt routine weather broadcasts and insert warning messages concerning immediate threats to life and property. A special alert tone can also be activated to trigger an alerting feature on specifically equipped receivers. In the simplest case, this signal activates audible or visual alarms indicating an emergency condition exists within the broadcast area of the station. Most receivers are equipped with Specific Area Message Encoding (SAME) technology which allows listeners to choose a specific county and what events their radio will sound an alarm for when official NWS watches and warnings are issued.

NOAA Weather Radio All Hazards broadcasts watches, warnings, statements and weather information for all types of hazards; natural (including tornadoes and floods), technological (hazardous materials spills), non-weather (amber alerts and 911 outages), and national emergencies (terrorist attacks). Working with other Federal and local agencies, NOAA Weather Radio is an “all hazards” radio network. This makes NOAA Weather Radio All Hazards the single source for the most comprehensive weather and emergency information available to the public.

NOAA Weather Radio All Hazards provides the timeliest forecast and warning information from your servicing National Weather Service office. This information can save your life! Please take the time to learn more about NOAA Weather Radio All Hazards. More information is available at the National Weather Service’s NOAA Weather Radio All Hazards Web Site: https://www.weather.gov/nwr/

NOAA WEATHER RADIO ALL HAZARDS FACTS

• NOAA Weather Radio Broadcasts:

o NOAA Weather Radio All Hazards broadcasts watches, warnings, statements, and forecast information for all types of hazards, both natural and technological.

o NOAA Weather Radio All Hazards is your around-the-clock source of weather. Routine weather information is normally repeated every 4 to 6 minutes, 24 hours a day.

o The routine broadcasts are specifically tailored to the weather needs of our listeners within the service area of our transmitters.

• NOAA Weather Radio National Infrastructure:

o Broadcasts from over 1000 stations across the United States.

o VHF band, ranging from 162.400 to 162.550 megahertz (MHz). These frequencies are outside the normal AM or FM broadcast bands.

• NOAA Weather Radio Reception:

o By nature and design, NOAA Weather Radio All Hazards coverage is limited to an area within 40 miles of the transmitter.

o The quality of the signal depends on such things as distance from the transmitter, terrain, and the quality of the receiver.

• Specific Area Message Encoding (SAME) is the primary activator for the Emergency Alert System.

• NOAA Weather Radio All Hazards capability is currently available for some automobiles, aircraft, watercraft, citizens band, and standard AM/FM radios.