Set up alerts that wake you up.

NOAA Weather Radio: alerts without cellular service

NOAA Weather Radio All Hazards is a network of more than 1,000 transmitters that broadcast warnings, watches and forecasts straight from your nearest National Weather Service office, 24 hours a day. It covers all 50 states, nearby coastal waters and the U.S. territories. It needs a special receiver, which listens on one of seven VHF frequencies between 162.400 and 162.550 MHz.

The feature that matters is SAME, short for Specific Area Message Encoding. A SAME radio stays quiet until an alert is broadcast for the county codes you entered, then sounds an alarm. Without SAME, a radio either stays silent or alarms for every county the transmitter covers.

Set it up once

1. Look up your county’s SAME code and transmitter. The NWS county listing shows the six-digit code for your county and which transmitters cover it.
2. Tune to that transmitter’s frequency. If reception is weak, try the radio near a window or away from other electronics.
3. Enter your county code. You can add neighboring counties if storms usually approach from there. Each one you add means more alarms.
4. Decide on watches. Leave warnings on. Watches are useful on active days, but some households turn them off to avoid late-night alarms for storms that never arrive.
5. Install backup batteries. The radio should keep working when the power goes out, which is often when you need it.
6. Put it where you sleep. A radio in the kitchen will not wake you in the bedroom.
7. Check it with the weekly test. Most transmitters broadcast a routine weekly test. If your radio shows or sounds for it, your programming is working.

What to look for in a receiver

• SAME county programming.
• Battery backup.
• The Public Alert logo, which marks radios built to a common standard for alerting features.
• An accessory jack for a strobe light or bed shaker, if anyone in the house is Deaf or hard of hearing. The NWS has a guide for Deaf and hard-of-hearing households.

We keep buying notes for two common home radios, the Midland WR400 and the Midland WR120B. Those pages contain affiliate links.

Wireless Emergency Alerts: automatic, but selective

Wireless Emergency Alerts are the loud alerts that show up on your phone like a text message, with a distinct tone and vibration. You do not sign up for them and they are free. Cell towers broadcast the alert to every compatible phone in the warned area, so network congestion does not block them and the system does not track who receives them. If you drive into a warned area after an alert goes out, your phone receives it when you arrive.

The National Weather Service sends a Wireless Emergency Alert only for its most dangerous warnings:

• Tornado Warning
• Extreme Wind Warning
• Severe Thunderstorm Warning, only when the damage threat is “destructive” (hail at least 2.75 inches, baseball size, or wind at least 80 mph)
• Flash Flood Warning, only when the damage threat is “considerable” or “catastrophic”
• Hurricane, Typhoon, Storm Surge and Tsunami Warnings
• Dust Storm and Snow Squall Warnings

That list leaves out most severe thunderstorm warnings, standard flash flood warnings and every watch. Those gaps are why a phone alone is not enough.

Check your phone settings

iPhone: open Settings, then Notifications, and scroll to Government Alerts at the bottom. Keep Emergency Alerts on. Inside that setting, keep Always Play Sound on so alerts sound even when the phone is silenced. Older versions of iOS call it Always Deliver.

Android: search Settings for “Wireless emergency alerts.” Depending on the phone, it may sit under Safety and emergency, or inside the Messages app’s settings. Allow alerts, keep extreme and severe threats on, and leave the alert sound on.

Menu names change between phone models and software versions. If you cannot find the setting, search for “emergency alerts” in Settings. Newer iPhones also offer Enhanced Safety Alerts, which Apple delivers over Wi-Fi and cellular data. They sound different and supplement government alerts rather than replace them.

Weather apps: close the gaps

A good weather app is how you hear about the warnings the phone’s built-in system skips, like a standard severe thunderstorm warning at 2 a.m. What to check before you trust one overnight:

• It alerts on warning polygons for your location, not only on whole counties, and follows your phone’s location as well as saved places.
• It is allowed to sound through silent mode. On iPhone, some weather apps ask for Critical Alerts permission. Allow it only for an app you trust not to cry wolf. On Android, look for an option like Override Do Not Disturb in the app’s notification settings.
• Location access is set to Always if you want alerts for wherever you are, not just a saved address.
• You have tested it. Many apps can send a test notification. Send one with the phone on silent.

Two reliable sources beat five noisy ones. If alerts go off for storms that never come near you, people start ignoring them, and that habit is the real risk.

Why nights need extra layers

At night you cannot see a storm coming and you are not checking your phone. Outdoor warning sirens do not solve that. They are built to warn people who are outside, not to wake anyone in a closed house.

Tornadoes after dark are especially dangerous for exactly that reason. The February 1998 central Florida outbreak, during a very strong El Niño winter, killed 42 people after dark. With another very strong El Niño expected this winter, the Gulf Coast and Florida are worth watching. Our El Niño winter guide explains why.

Before bed on a stormy night

• Radio on, batteries fresh, in the bedroom.
• Phone charging within earshot, not in airplane mode, emergency alert sound on.
• Shoes, a flashlight and helmets by your shelter spot. Our storm kit checklist covers the rest.
• A look at the day’s SPC outlook, so you know whether the overnight setup is ordinary or unusually dangerous.

Questions people ask