KSDK - You may have heard the tornado sirens going off the afternoon of Tuesday, March 3. It wasn't because there was a weather threat that day, it was only a drill. But the real thing can happen any time.
Even on New Year's Eve. Back in 2010 Lewis Place, in the City of St. Louis and Sunset Hills, were very hard hit. That isn't the typical time of year for tornadoes but they certainly can happen.
You see and hear vital warning information right here on NewsChannel 5 and certainly on our First Alert Weather App. But what if it's 2 a.m. and you're sound asleep? That's when having a NOAA Weather Radio could save your life.
Jim Kramper, warning coordination meteorologist for the National Weather Service (NWS) here in St. Louis, says it is a 24 hour information source and goes out automatically from computer to computer. It's not an actual voice but voice synthesized. A NOAA weather radio is very fast so when they issue a forecast or warning, it only takes seconds to go out over the air.
The NWS has more than a thousand transmitters nationwide and they are constantly broadcasting weather information. All you need is a NOAA Weather Radio. Just put the batteries in, plug it in, and program it to alert for only your county or the counties around you.
Bruce Jones is a meteorologist and spokesperson for Midland Radio. He says it is very easy to program and very important to pick your county or if you want a wider area, the counties around you. All the counties are included in the radio. You can even pick and choose what type of warning you want to receive. All this information comes directly from the NWS office here in St. Louis.
The NOAA Weather Radio goes along very nicely with our First Alert Weather App. You can track the storms on radar, listen to the warning and get to a safe place quickly. These multiple ways of getting the message all work together to make this a Weather Ready Nation.
Kramper says that it is very important to pay attention when the media starts talking about the possibility of severe weather. Check your NOAA Weather Radio to see what's going on and that way you won't be caught by surprise.
A NOAA radio is not a huge expense, especially when it has saved lives. We found some as inexpensive as $19 dollars. Of course you can spend much more, over $700 in some cases.
