"I did not want a warning." #WRN #skywarn

In the USA, for someone to say they did not get a warning is essentially to say "I did not want a warning."

Emergency Managers, for years, have encouraged the Citizen to be more  active in getting their warning information.  The days of the siren to wake us up in the middle of the night is over.  As one emergency manager pointed out:
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When I was MUCH younger, the windows were open in the spring, the black-and-white TV was not on all the time, folks did not listen to MP3 players with headphones, and sirens could be heard inside the house.

With the cell phone tied to every waistband, some jurisdictions are turning to products such as Everbridge, Nixle, BlackboardConnect, MyStateUSA, Code Red, and EmergencyE to encourage the public to get their warnings.  The National Weather Service offers this  “LISTING OF ALTERNATIVE SOURCES OF WEATHER ALERTS”.

Popular smartphone operating systems such as the Android and Iphone offer applications such as Storm and WeatherBug that automatically alert when the resident is in a warning area as well as for areas where the Citizen has an interest.

The Weather Service has offered Interactive NWS for a few years now.  This service sends email and text messages to subscribers (who are members of the emergency management community).  This supplements the Weather Radio network that has been in place for a number of years.

Of course, amateur radio plays a big part in keeping the resident aware as do local media partners.  Even newspapers are joining the electronic media to give their own Twitter and Facebook information. 

You may get automated information from your Federal partners with the Integrated Public Alert and Warning System (IPAWS) and the Wireless Emergency Alert system.

Indeed, today, there's no need to go without a warning.  However, you must WANT to get one.

Radio Shack has an interesting Weather Radio with AM/FM for Skywarn folks.

Since Jackson County has a grant to get a 75% rebate on the purchase of a new weather radio with SAME technology, it was not hard to say "yes".

The radio has an amazing additional feature. It's a scanner for two-meter and 440 mHz Skywarn channels, programmable. That's 20 channels for the local Skywarn enthusiast.

The radio specifications list .3 microvolt for both the weather radio and Skywarn band. That's not great sensitivity but locally it works to hear the local Skywarn repeaters and the County NWS transmitter, with the telescoping antenna collapsed and folded into storage.

Reading the reviews on the Radio Shack site, some complaints are:

low sensitivity
can't program a local Skywarn channel
no balance in audio between bands

One EXCELLENT feature is the BNC antenna adapter that comes with the radio. This makes having an outside antenna to improve reception of both weather and amateur radio signals.

Overall, this is a good unit, especially if you live in Jackson County, OK and are involved in the Skywarn Program.

Pryor Snow
Originally uploaded by colston

This weekend has been terrible for the folks in Northwest Oklahoma.

Twitter has been ablaze with stories and reports from #OKice. Amarillo National Weather Service office reported final snow reports for the blizzard.

Nevertheless, the photo here is from Pryor. The current radar shows the storm continues in the area.

The Oklahoma Amateur Radio Emergency Service group was placed on standby for the event. This is a dedicated group of volunteers who give up their time for special events and disasters.

At any rate, this week Oklahoma has seen thunderstorms, thundersnow, fire weather, blizzards, and clear blue skies.

Check your local forecast EVERY day. Then you won't be in flipflops going into winter weather to rescue someone.