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What you need to know about Weather and Emergency Alert Radios

A few years back, weather radios were pretty simple.  If you were within range of a National Weather Service transmitter, you could receive an up to the minute weather report and reports of dangerous weather conditions in the area covered by that transmitter.  Since then, weather radios have been improved to also alarm when dangerous conditions are present, and the system has been broadened to include other threats besides weather, including earthquake, fires, and toxic waste and chemical spills, among others.  Here is what you need to consider to pick an alert radio.

Alert Selectivity: The least expensive weather radios around generally have no alarm or alert capability, they are radios that can be tuned to listen to National Weather Service forecasts.  The more advanced alert radios come in two types, standard alert radios and S.A.M.E. alert radios.  A standard alert radio, when left in alert mode, will sound an alarm whenever your National Weather Service office broadcasts an alert.  Since an office can cover a lot of ground, you may find yourself receiving a lot of alerts that don't concern you.  This can get pretty old when an alert about a storm 60 miles away sets off an alarm that wakes you up in the middle of the night.  I didn't get much sleep in the spring with one of these sitting on my nightstand in alert mode.  The S.A.M.E. radios can be programmed on a county by county basis to only alarm when there is a concern in your immediate area.  If you are in a stormy part of the country, and want to leave the alert capability turned on, S.A.M.E. is worth the money and the effort to program it.

Power: Some weather radios plug into the wall.  Check to see if they also have battery backup.  A weather radio that doesn't work during a power failure is pretty useless.  All of my AC powered radios have battery backup power.  Some radios only run on batteries.  If you leave those on in alert mode too long, the batteries will die.  They should not be considered for long term alert monitoring.  Some portables can run on both, but may not come with an AC supply.

Portability: Consider whether you are planning on leaving it on the table, or want to take it with you.  If you may ever want to take it with to work, on vacation, or just to another room, you may want to get a portable and just leave it plugged in on the nightstand most of the time.  Some portables are also weather resistant, for boating, camping, hiking etc.