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Old 04-26-2010, 01:21 PM
 
Location: Austin, TX
16,787 posts, read 48,822,728 times
Reputation: 9477

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Watching yesterdays World News Report from my digital recorder today I learned that there was a tornado warning for a couple of counties NE of Travis County. This got me wondering if there was some way to get severe weather warnings for our area sent to my computer, to alert us if there was a threat in the area. Once years ago we were blissfully ignorant of a tornado that touched down several blocks either side of where we lived, but skipped over the apartments we were in. We learned about it the next day!!

I found that the National Weather Service has RSS feeds set up for every county in Texas here: NOAA's National Weather Service - Texas Watch/Warning RSS Feeds by County Forecast

If you set up your web browser or email software to receive the RSS feed, the latest warnings will be sent to you whenever they are issued.

There may be other ways to do this, but this is the best I have found so far.

I know that it is possible to buy weather radios that sound an alert if there is a warning for your area. Please share any other ideas that you might have.
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Old 04-26-2010, 04:11 PM
Bo Bo won $500 in our forum's Most Engaging Poster Contest - Tenth Edition (Apr-May 2014). 

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Location: Ohio
17,107 posts, read 37,946,932 times
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I'd go with the weather alert radio and text message weather alerts to the wireless phone.

A weather alert radio can wake you up at night. Nothing on the computer can do that. Plus the weather alert radio will work without Internet and without power (if it's battery operated). Doesn't it seem logical that you might lose one of those during a storm?

Text messages to your phone will cover you if you're away from home. If the storm hits while you're at work or out shopping, you'll know about the warnings. I get my weather alert text messages from Welcome to Weather Underground : Weather Underground .
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Old 04-26-2010, 04:32 PM
 
9,418 posts, read 13,414,955 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Bowie View Post
I'd go with the weather alert radio and text message weather alerts to the wireless phone.

A weather alert radio can wake you up at night. Nothing on the computer can do that. Plus the weather alert radio will work without Internet and without power (if it's battery operated). Doesn't it seem logical that you might lose one of those during a storm?

Text messages to your phone will cover you if you're away from home. If the storm hits while you're at work or out shopping, you'll know about the warnings. I get my weather alert text messages from Welcome to Weather Underground : Weather Underground .
Agree about the weather radio. I wouldn't live in this area without one.
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Old 04-26-2010, 04:51 PM
 
Location: Austin, TX
16,787 posts, read 48,822,728 times
Reputation: 9477
Quote:
Originally Posted by Bowie View Post
I'd go with the weather alert radio and text message weather alerts to the wireless phone.

A weather alert radio can wake you up at night. Nothing on the computer can do that. Plus the weather alert radio will work without Internet and without power (if it's battery operated). Doesn't it seem logical that you might lose one of those during a storm?

Text messages to your phone will cover you if you're away from home. If the storm hits while you're at work or out shopping, you'll know about the warnings. I get my weather alert text messages from Welcome to Weather Underground : Weather Underground .
Thank you for that information, it sounds promising. From what I can gather from that website it appears that "text message weather alert to a wireless phone service" costs $10 a year for premium membership. "Ad-Free U.S. Forecasts & Alerts Through E-Mail"

That is pretty insignificant cost. But I'm wondering how often to you get forecasts and alerts? Do they send out notices for every little update or only major events? I wouldn't want my cell phone going off several times a night for minor stuff.
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Old 04-26-2010, 05:00 PM
Bo Bo won $500 in our forum's Most Engaging Poster Contest - Tenth Edition (Apr-May 2014). 

Over $104,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum and additional contests are planned
 
Location: Ohio
17,107 posts, read 37,946,932 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by CptnRn View Post
Thank you for that information, it sounds promising. From what I can gather from that website it appears that "text message weather alert to a wireless phone service" costs $10 a year for premium membership. "Ad-Free U.S. Forecasts & Alerts Through E-Mail"

That is pretty insignificant cost. But I'm wondering how often to you get forecasts and alerts? Do they send out notices for every little update or only major events? I wouldn't want my cell phone going off several times a night for minor stuff.
During storms, you might get between 1 and 2 dozen messages per storm if you subscribe to nowcasts and discussions. The weather service issues a lot of updates. I signed up for most of 'em, but you may prefer fewer.

The beauty of wunderground alerts is that you can zero in on the warnings and watches you care about. If you live at the top of a hill, you can set the alerts to never tell you about flooding. You can send weather emails to 3 accounts for your $10/year. If you want to send watches and warnings to the computer email, but only warnings to the phone, you can do that.
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Old 04-26-2010, 05:12 PM
 
Location: Austin, TX
16,787 posts, read 48,822,728 times
Reputation: 9477
I signed up for the free account and am looking at the preference settings for it now, for the email alerts. It looks like I can designate exactly what kind of alerts I want to receive, to minimize the routine stuff. I assume the cell phone alerts are similar. It looks like a good service, I'm going to try it out.
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Old 04-27-2010, 02:05 PM
 
Location: Metromess
11,798 posts, read 25,079,672 times
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If you really want detailed weather, get a scanner or VHF radio which can pick up the amateur radio repeater (one or more in each county) which hosts the emergency weather net which is called up any time there is a severe weather warning. Here in Fort Worth, I can listen to the hams give weather reports in all parts of Tarrant County, with hail size, winds, direction and speed of movement, etc. You can find out whether your car is about to be damaged by hail or not! The repeaters are usually in the 2-meter ham band between 145-148 MHz.
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Old 04-27-2010, 04:03 PM
Bo Bo won $500 in our forum's Most Engaging Poster Contest - Tenth Edition (Apr-May 2014). 

Over $104,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum and additional contests are planned
 
Location: Ohio
17,107 posts, read 37,946,932 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by catman View Post
If you really want detailed weather, get a scanner or VHF radio which can pick up the amateur radio repeater (one or more in each county) which hosts the emergency weather net which is called up any time there is a severe weather warning. Here in Fort Worth, I can listen to the hams give weather reports in all parts of Tarrant County, with hail size, winds, direction and speed of movement, etc. You can find out whether your car is about to be damaged by hail or not! The repeaters are usually in the 2-meter ham band between 145-148 MHz.
I used to be a devoted listener to the weather nets when I lived north of Texas. Here in San Antonio, I have never been able to find a weather net on either the 2-meter or 440 bands. That's why I have resorted to getting weather alerts via text message.
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