Be Alert for Summer Radio Weather Advisories in Cobb County

7/26/2019 (Permalink)

Better safe than sorry. Be prepared with an emergency weather radio!

One of the best steps you can take to prepare yourself for summer storms, is to purchase a good quality weather radio. A weather radio is designed to alert you to dangerous weather situations, such as an approaching tornado. It allows you to be warned ahead of approaching storms providing you time to seek shelter. A weather radio is one of the most reliable sources for weather alerts. Weather radios have improved in design and have made many other advancements over the years. They are now readily available and very affordable. Most basic weather radios average cost is around $30 and will warn you of all types of weather advisories and public announcements. Some models can be programmed to only alert you of specific weather alerts you designate.

When shopping for a weather radio, look for the following key features:

• Reviewable alerts (The ability to scroll through alerts and turn off the siren for alerts you do not wish to hear can be very helpful).
• Specific Area Message Encoding (SAME) is the protocol used to encode the Emergency Alert System (EAS) and NOAA Weather Radio (NWR).
• Make sure the model you choose is easy to program.  Like any electronic emergency ready tool, it is critical that the device is reliable and simple to use. 

If you need help programming your weather radio, you can contact your local National Weather Service Office or for additional information, including county codes for Georgia, visit NOAA Weather Radio website at www.nws.noaa.gov/nwr.

Learn More About Wireless Emergency Alerts

Wireless Emergency Alerts (WEA) are emergency messages sent by authorized government-alerting authorities through your mobile carrier. Government partners include local and state public safety agencies, FEMA, the FCC, the Department of Homeland Security, and the National Weather Service.

Alerts receiving them  at the right time can help keep you safe during an emergency. With WEA, alerts can be sent to your mobile device when you may be in harm’s way, without need to download an app or subscribe to a service. WEA may be used to share:

• Extreme weather warnings

• Local emergencies requiring evacuation or immediate action

• AMBER Alerts

• Presidential Alerts during a national emergency

A WEA will look like a text message. The WEA message will typically show the type and time of the alert, any action you should take, and the agency issuing the alert. The message will be no more than 90 characters.

Visit www.ctia.org/wea to learn more about Wireless Emergency Alerts, including how to determine if your mobile device is WEA-capable.