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We love the summer months for their warm temperatures and generally agreeable RVing weather. However, the warmer weather brings with it the most dangerous weather of the year, in the form of severe thunderstorms, hail, flooding, tornadoes, and hurricanes. It is imperative that RVers be able to react in the event a natural calamity should occur.
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, or NOAA, as part of its National Weather Service (NWS) has a system of automated weather radio transmitters located all over the United States. Called NOAA Weather Radio (NWR), and transmitting on the 152 MHz band, these stations provide detailed forecasts 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, 365 days a year. In addition, and more importantly, they broadcast various watches and warnings, and these are the most important for RVers.
The newest radio sets, available at many retailers, are called SAME weather radio units. SAME, or Specific Area Message Encoding, allows a radio to alert owners of specific emergency notifications for their area. Also, the NWR SAME system now delivers emergency notifications for civil emergencies, security alert status changes, etc., which they call All Hazards Radio.
It is extremely important that RVers, for their own safety, have one of these units operational in their RV at all times. For more information, visit one of the following links:
http://www.nws.noaa.gov/nwr/geninfo.htm -- general NWR info.
and
http://www.nws.noaa.gov/nwr/nwrsame.htm - SAME encoding info.
Included on the general info page are PDF files of posters and brochures which include transmitter maps, and more detailed information about the NWR/All Hazards radio system.
Be safe out there! Until next time, we’ll see you on the highway!
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