How do you monitor weather

[LI Pets]

How do you stay on top of bad weather?

How do you stay out of harms way for example from tornados or other severe weather.

Local radio stations are limited in many areas are there any special weather radios?

Bob

[overlander63]

Noaa weather radio, you can buy receivers for around $20 that pick up the six closest stations to you. All NWS weather, all the time.

[redeagle313]

On our first outing of this year, we were returning to our Airstream from an evening out with friends in Indianapolis...also our first time at White River Campground (which is about 25 miles north of Indy) we are only slightly familiar with the area. We noticed some very menacing weather approaching. Turned on the tv and discovered there were several tornadoes heading toward our location. No time to hitch up the Airstream. We loaded our girls back into the truck and tried to get out of its path. It was scary and frustrating because we had a very difficult time locating local radio stations(static)...and when we did...we had no idea of the location of the counties they mentioned. Fortunately, after a few hours it was safe to go back. No damage to the Airstream even though were was hail reported in the area of the campground.

For Father's Day the girls got their dad this radio...pricey...but worth it for the peace of mind.


Hope the link comes through...
http://tinyurl.com/mq6e7

Randi

[redeagle313]

Grrrrrrrrr......

www.weatherradiostore.com



Randi

[wahoonc]

I LIVE by the weather In my job a wrong decision on one day of weather could make or break the profit on a job, not to mention causing untold $$$$$'s worth of damage. I use a Weather Radio, I have the Weather Channel on my cell phone (not the most accurate BTW but the portable radar is good), I use a laptop with a cellmodem to track weather on the NOAA site, I also use Weatherunderground, watch the local news...look at the sky...wait for my knees and hands to start/stop hurting then there are the wooly catepillars, snakes and birds

Aaron

[bake315]

CB with weather bands in the truck, tabletop radio in the trailer, and a pocket weather radio for when we're out hiking.

[Coloradobus]

www.weather.com

[azflycaster]

You can go to the NOAA web site and find the radio coverage for your area. The bad news for me is that most of the areas I camp in are green (weak signal) or red (no signal). The good news is, we are almost tornado free! We do have masive thundestorms and awning damaging rain. Local radiio stations and an eye to the sky are the systems I use.

[Boondocker]

NOAA weather radio on alert status 24/7 with battery backup.

[DJ Bassett]

Originally Posted by redeagle313

For Father's Day the girls got their dad this radio...pricey...but worth it for the peace of mind.
Randi

Good one Randi! I've seen a lot of weather alert radios, but they were all rather cheap. This one looks to be very nice!

I also use a Davis, Vantage Pro wireless weather station. I haven't yet tried to apply it to mobile use. Anyone out there done that? Would love to see how you did it.

http://www.davisnet.com/weather/products/vantage2.asp

DJ

[AZstreamin]

My In-Laws live in S. Florida several months of the year so I bought my father in-law this radio for Christmas last year. The cool thing about it is that it has a hand crank on the side and you don't need batteries which always seem to be a problem when you need it most. It also has a slot to charge your mobile phone so if you lose power you still have a charging source... If I remember right I bought it online at circuit city.

[codybear]

Originally Posted by AZstreamin

My In-Laws live in S. Florida several months of the year so I bought my father in-law this radio for Christmas last year. The cool thing about it is that it has a hand crank on the side and you don't need batteries which always seem to be a problem when you need it most. It also has a slot to charge your mobile phone so if you lose power you still have a charging source... If I remember right I bought it online at circuit city.

Hi AZstreamin,

I've seen those crank style radios and wondered how good they worked! thnx

[maxandgeorgia]

Our son gave us the Midland shown in Randi's link when we moved to the country, out of sound of town alerts. It's worked well for us. Like Gen Disarray, we keep ours on all the time and some alerts have surprised us. You'll not sleep through one, I promise! Does anyone on the forum use the hand crank variety shown above? I've thought about one of these for road trips-sans batteries. ~G

[wahoonc]

Geogia,
I have one of those handcranked in my emergency kit. It works fine I believe mine is a Grundig...but I can't find a link to it I also have a couple of the cranked LED flashlights.

Aaron

[Over59]

This will be on the agenda for the NEU business meeting as a new item. Ligthning is the most common problem here in the Northeast as a personal threat. http://www.spectrumthunderbolt.com/comparison.html

[extiger]

If you are into gadgets, here is a link to a cool weather radio. Sharper Image : Oregon Scientific Portable Public Alert Radio & Weather Station : Radio Alert System

It is a portable weather radio with a base. It is also an alarm clock, auto set clock and weather sensor. It can handle up to 5 temperature remotes. So we now have temperature remotes for outside, refrigerator and freezer! My wife wanted to know why we would want to monitor the freezer temperature. My response of "because we can" was met with rolled eyes! Some people just don't undersand the allure of gadgets.

[jzelle]

Noaa weather radio with SAME (Specific Area Meassaging) alert system.SAME allows you to program the radio to respond ONLY to the county or counties that you are interested in, doing away with Alarms not intended for those counties.
With a weather radio you can almost always get weather forecasts and alerts without having to find the proper local radio station for an area you just arrived in.

[jcanavera]

Originally Posted by jzelle

Noaa weather radio with SAME (Specific Area Meassaging) alert system.SAME allows you to program the radio to respond ONLY to the county or counties that you are interested in, doing away with Alarms not intended for those counties.

I very much concur with this. Be sure to get a unit with the SAME technology since in many cases you may pick up a warning but it might not be for the particular county which you are located in. Also buy a radio that can monitor multiple county codes at the same time.

When planning my trip itenary I lookup the counties in the states where I will be overnighting. From the NOAA site, I'll find the SAME code for each county and load those into my radio. From there all I need to do upon arrival is to set my radio for the best receiving channel, and I'll know that if the county I'm in gets an alert, my radio will sound the alarm. No need to load the proper county code at each stop.

Here is the model I use.

Portable Public Alert Weather Radio with SAME Model WR108

Jack

[Silvertwinkie]

Well, where I typically boondock there are no signals, NOAA or cell for that matter. So, I defer to prayer when I see very dark clouds coming.

I also listen to the radio and see what is expected FWIW!

When in an area where I can get a NOAA signal, my Motorola walkie talkies get me the info in addition to the local radio broadcasts. If I haul the TV with me, I get the info also from the local TV stations.

[CanoeStream]

Imprecise as all get out, but turning on the AM radio and listening for loud lightning static should at least tell you if thunderheads (source of hail and tornadoes) are within 25-50 miles or so.