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These people weren't sleeping. They were just enjoying a Sunday afternoon out with their families. This storm moved across the area very quickly. Were it not for the "weather radio" in the theater, this story would have had a long list of names of casualties, not the name of a hero. There are many stories like this every year, where lives are saved
because people had enough warning due to the
The NOAA weather radio is a part of the national Emergency Alert System (E.A.S.) These radios sit quietly on your counter, bed stand, desk or whatever - doing nothing but collecting dust - UNTIL AN EMERGENCY SITUATION DEVELOPS! Then it saves your life. The National Weather Service sends out a tone that turns on this radio automatically sounds an alert, and announces the reason for the alert ( Tornado, Flood, etc). And it is quickly becoming more than just a weather alert system. Many states now use this system as part of their "Amber Alert" system, and is also being incorporated into the Homeland Security Emergency Alert System. How It Works Long ago, our tax dollars afforded the National Weather Service (NWS) the funds to install special radio stations in most inhabited areas of the United States. The NWS broadcasts local and regional weather information 24 hours a day, 7 days a week on these radio stations. However, they operate on a group of frequencies that are not receivable by the average AM/FM radio that we are familiar with. They transmit on "channels" in the 162.mHz frequency area. The graphic below give you a "picture" of where these channels are in relation to broadcast services you are familiar with.
There is one "channel" assigned to each geographic area Each channel is programmed by the local NWS office that covers that area.. For example: In Southwestern Ohio, there are 3 NWS Channels. One in Columbus, one in Dayton and One in Cincinnati. (simplified explanation. In some areas, a county may be covered by more than one channel). These 3 channels, or stations, are controlled and programmed by the Wilmington, Ohio NWS office, which does the forecasting for these 3 regions. When a severe weather situation is developing in any of the areas that this office covers, the NWS will put a "Special Weather Statement" on their radio stations to be broadcast in those areas. 'Special Weather Statements" do not normally trigger the alert to sound, but you can hear this information at any time by turning the radio on. These statements are simply notifications that the weather might get severe in this area. ( Often these statements are read in the morning broadcasts. This give you an idea of what to expect during the day) If the Storms
Prediction Center (SPC) office in Norman, Oklahoma, determines
that a certain area is beginning to developed weather that may become
severe, they will issue a 'Watch" This will cause the alert radio
to set off it's alarm and plays the information to make you aware of
the potential situation. A Weather Watch statement (Tornado, Sever
Thunderstorm, Flood) lets you know that the conditions are ripe for the
event to develop, but is not yet occurring. |
