Severe Weather Awareness Tip 2: How Will You Know?

Yesterday we talked about family preparedness and having a plan for when weather strikes. But how will you know when bad weather is on its way? A variety of means exist to obtain weather warnings. They include:

• All-Hazards NOAA Radio - The Department of Commerce's National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) All-Hazards Radio broadcasts warnings, watches, forecasts, and other emergency information for ALL hazards and disasters that require immediate notification. The radio operates on 162.550 MHz and is re-broadcasted in the local Amarillo area on 1610 AM.Once you purchase your radio, program in the SAME code for the counties you would like to receive emergency information. The SAME Codes for our two counties are: Potter County: 048375 Randall County: 048381. Radios can be bought at local stores and usual run for about $30.00.

• Warning Sirens - Amarillo/Potter/Randall Office of Emergency Management currently operates over 85 outdoor warning sirens that are designed to alert people who are outdoors of a potential emergency in the community. Outdoor Warning Sirens are NOT designed to be heard indoors. In the event of an emergency, the Office of Emergency Management will activate the Outdoor Warning Sirens on a steady tone for 5 minutes. When sounded, you should immediately move to shelter and listen to local radio or television stations for emergency warning information.

• Indoor Warning Systems - Our office has the ability to do Cable-Cut in alerts which is broadcasted over some cable TV channels in our area.

• Reverse 911 Systems - A variety of services exist where you can register your home phone and/or cell phone (usually you can between 2-4 phones numbers per address) so that when a warning is issued, it will call you. Most of us carry our cell phones with us everywhere so it's a convenient way to stay informed of bad weather on its way. In our area there are a few that offer this service for free and others may charge you ~$7/month to ~$36/year.

• Local Media - The NWS, our office, and the local media are in constant communication when severe weather threatens. Local TV stations provide the public information of where storms are developing, warnings issued, and visual feedback of what is going on.