NOAA Weather Radio

Spring is here and with it comes tornadoes. Right now the area where I live is under a tornado watch. I know this because I have a NOAA weather radio. It just sounded an alert. Not many people I know are familiar with the weather radio, but it should be in every home right along with smoke and carbon monoxide detectors. I have found that my radio will alert as much as 15-20 minutes before the local television stations air the alerts. Those are precious minutes that might save lives.


Not only does the weather radio turn on automatically when an alert is issued. It is also programmed to alert for your specific area. The area shown in red on the map is the area covered by the Beaumont, TX, station. I entered the code for Jefferson County in mine so that I only receive alerts for the area where I live. If you live in one area and work in another, you might want to have more than one code entered in the radio. The radio covers a broad range of hazardous conditions besides tornados. It alarms for chemical spills, flash flood, severe thunder just to name a few. More information can be found at NOAA Weather Radio