NOAA Weather Radio

NOAA Weather Radio (NWR), also known as NOAA Weather Radio All Hazards, is an automated 24-hour network of VHF FM weather radio stations in the United States which broadcast weather information directly from a nearby National Weather Service office. Its routine programming cycle includes local or regional weather forecasts, synopses, climate summaries or zone/lake/coastal waters forecasts. It can be shortened to specifically include hazardous weather outlooks, short-term forecasts, special weather statements or tropical weather summaries during hazardous weather events. It occasionally broadcasts other non-weather-related events such as national security statements, natural disaster information, environmental and public safety statements such as Amber alerts, civil emergencies, fires, evacuation orders, and other hazards sourced from the Federal Communications Commission's (FCC) Emergency Alert System. NOAA Weather Radio uses automated broadcast technology that allows segments featured in one broadcast cycle to be recycled into another and enables consistent, regular updating of segments to each transmitter.

Weather radios are widely sold online and in retail stores that specialize in consumer electronics in Canada and the US. They are available in many supermarkets and drugstores in the southern and midwestern US, which are particularly susceptible to severe weather—large portions of these regions are commonly referred to as "Tornado Alley". They are also useful in a region called "Dixie Alley", which is in the southeastern portion of the United States. This region also hosts large quantities of tornadoes and severe thunderstorms, similar to "Tornado Alley".

History

The U.S. Weather Bureau first began broadcasting marine weather information in Chicago and New York City on two VHF radio stations in 1960 as an experiment. Proving to be successful, the broadcasts expanded to serve the general public in coastal regions in the 1960s and early 1970s.