NOAA Weather Radio

Weather radio provides early warning for tornadoes, disasters and hazardous conditions.

Natural disasters and life-threatening weather, like tornadoes, hurricanes, wildfires, earthquakes, flash floods, dust storms, and heat advisories, are regularly grabbing national headlines. Preparing your household has become more important than ever before.

AcuRite Weather Alert Radios receive advisories, watches and warnings from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). NOAA’s National Weather Radio (NWR) service is the most effective, technologically-advanced and reliable means for US and Canadian citizens to receive critical information before and during severe weather events.

NOAA National Weather Radio

NOAA Weather Radio (NWR) is a network of radio stations that continuously broadcast National Weather Service (NWS) forecasts, warnings, watches and other hazard information 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. During an emergency, NWS forecasters interrupt routine broadcasts and send a special tone that activates AcuRite Weather Alert Radios to notify you of the oncoming danger.

NWR includes 1000 transmitters, covering all 50 states, adjacent coastal waters, Puerto Rico, the U.S. Virgin Islands, and the U.S. Pacific Territories.

AcuRite Weather Alert Radios sound a loud alarm when inclement weather is approaching, giving you and your family time to seek safety.

Press PLAY to hear an AcuRite NOAA radio recording.

All-Hazards Emergency Messages

NWR is an "All Hazards" radio network. NWR works with the Federal Communication Commission's (FCC) Public Safety & Homeland Security Bureau's  Emergency Alert System (EAS) and federal, state, and local emergency managers, and other public officials. AcuRite NOAA radios respond to hazards and warnings for NOAA, the National Weather Service, the Department of Defense and Weatheradio Canada.  

NWR broadcasts warning and post-event information for all types of hazards – including natural (e.g., earthquakes, avalanches, forest fires, volcanic activity), weather (e.g., tornadoes, floods), environmental (e.g., chemical releases, oil spills, nuclear power plant emergencies), national emergencies (e.g., terrorist attacks) and public safety (e.g., AMBER alerts, 911 Telephone outages).NWR is the most comprehensive single source of life-threatening weather and emergency information available to the public.

Non-Weather Emergency Messages

For non-weather emergencies, NWS activates the emergency alert system at the request of local and/or state officials. Local or state officials then provide text information about the non-weather hazard directly to the local NWS offices. In most areas, the local or state Office of Emergency Management or Preparedness, civil defense, police or mayor sets up linkages to send messages on systems such as the EAS and NWR.

Specific Area Message Encoding (SAME)

Specific Area Messaging or SAME is the protocol used to encode NWR systems so that your radio will only alert you of weather and other emergencies for the county(s)/ area(s) programmed. SAME is also used in the Emergency Alert System. When an NWS office broadcasts a warning, watch or non-weather emergency, it also broadcasts a digital SAME code. This SAME code contains the type of message, county(s) affected, and message expiration time. NWR radios without the SAME capability alert for emergencies anywhere within the coverage area of the NWR transmitter, typically for several counties, even though the emergency could be well away from the listener.

All AcuRite Weather Alert Radios are equipped with SAME technology. In order to receive SAME alerts, you must program your area's SAME code into the radio.


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