Guide
NOAA Weather Radio
NOAA Weather Radio All Hazards is the National Weather Service's own broadcast network: continuous weather information from your nearest NWS office, 24 hours a day. A weather radio with an alarm turns itself on for a warning, works when the power and the cell network are down, and wakes you at 3 a.m. when a phone on silent would not.
- Transmitters
- 1,000+
- Frequencies
- 7
- Typical range
- ~40mi
- On the air
- 24/7
What it broadcasts
The routine broadcast is a loop of forecasts and current conditions for the area the transmitter covers. When a warning is issued, the NWS office interrupts the loop with an alarm tone and the warning itself. The transmitters cover all 50 states, adjacent coastal waters, Puerto Rico, the U.S. Virgin Islands and the U.S. Pacific territories.
"All Hazards" means more than weather: the network also carries earthquake and avalanche warnings, chemical releases and oil spills, AMBER Alerts and 911 outages, in coordination with local emergency managers.
The seven frequencies
- 162.400MHz
- 162.425MHz
- 162.450MHz
- 162.475MHz
- 162.500MHz
- 162.525MHz
- 162.550MHz
Each transmitter uses one of the seven. Neighboring transmitters use different ones, so you may hear two stations: pick the one whose broadcast names your county. Radios label the frequencies as channels (WX1 to WX7), but the numbering differs between makers, so match by frequency, not by channel number.
Any receiver that covers 162.400 to 162.550 MHz can listen: dedicated weather radios, most scanners, marine VHF radios, and many handheld two-way radios with a weather band. AM/FM radios and shortwave radios do not cover it.
Setting one up
Find your transmitter
The NWS county coverage list shows which transmitters serve each county and on which frequency; the station listing has every transmitter. Note the frequency and the call sign (a station ID such as WXK27).
Get your county's SAME code
SAME (Specific Area Message Encoding) is a short digital header sent before each alert, naming the counties it covers. A SAME radio sounds the alarm only for the codes you program, instead of every warning the transmitter carries. Each county has a 6-digit code; NWS also gives them by phone at 1-888-NWR-SAME (1-888-697-7263).
A code starting with 0 is the whole county. A code starting with another digit is part of a county, used where NWS splits a large county; use it only if your area is listed that way.
Program it
Enter the frequency, then the SAME code for your county. Add the neighboring county a storm usually comes from if you want earlier notice, and any county you drive to daily. Most radios also let you choose which alert types sound the alarm; leave warnings on.
Place it and test it
Reception is line of sight: a window, an upstairs room or an external antenna helps, and steel buildings and hills hurt. Put the radio where you will hear it at night. Fit fresh batteries, so it still works when the power fails.
NWS sends a weekly test, normally on Wednesdays between 10 a.m. and noon local time, moved to the next good-weather day when storms threaten. If your radio stays silent through the test, check the frequency, the code and the antenna.
Choosing a receiver
Look for
- The Public Alert logo: the Consumer Technology Association and NWS standard for alert radios (SAME, alarm, battery backup).
- SAME programming, so it alarms only for your county.
- Battery backup: storms knock out power.
- The 1050 Hz alarm: NWS sends this tone before most warnings, and it turns the radio on even when muted.
Useful extras
- An external antenna jack, for weak-signal areas.
- An output for strobe lights, bed shakers or pillow vibrators, for people who are deaf or hard of hearing.
- A text display that shows the alert type and the counties.
- A hand crank or solar panel, on portable models, for long outages.
Shortwave and HF weather broadcasts
NOAA Weather Radio is not on shortwave. It is VHF only, with a range of tens of miles. A shortwave radio cannot receive it. What shortwave does carry is long-range weather for mariners, and during hurricanes, an amateur radio net that relays advisories. These need a receiver with single sideband (SSB) and a decent antenna.
US Coast Guard HF voice broadcasts
The Coast Guard reads NWS offshore and high seas forecasts, with hurricane information, on HF for vessels beyond the reach of coastal weather radio. Tune upper sideband (USB). Not every frequency is used at every broadcast time; the NWS schedule has the detail.
| Station | Frequencies, kHz (USB) | Broadcasts, UTC |
|---|---|---|
| Chesapeake, Virginia NMN | 4426, 6501, 8764, 13089, 17314 | 0330 0515 0930 1115 1530 1715 2130 2315 |
| New Orleans, Louisiana NMG | 4316, 8502, 12788 | 0330 0515 0930 1115 1530 1715 2130 2315 |
| Point Reyes, California NMC | 4426, 8764, 13089, 17314 | 0430 1030 1630 2230 |
| Kodiak, Alaska NOJ | 6501 | 0203 1645 |
| Honolulu, Hawaii NMO | 6501, 8764, 13089 | 0005 0600 1200 1800 |
| Guam NRV | 6501, 13089 | 0330 0930 1530 2130 |
Closer to shore, the Coast Guard announces coastal forecasts and storm warnings on VHF marine channel 16 and reads them on channel 22A (157.1 MHz).
Hurricane Watch Net
Volunteer amateur radio operators who activate when a hurricane is within about 300 miles of land, or when the National Hurricane Center asks. They read NHC advisories for islands, ships and anyone without other news, and pass ground-level reports back to the forecasters through the amateur station at NHC, WX4NHC.
Listen on 14.325 MHz (upper sideband) by day and 7.268 MHz (lower sideband) at night. Anyone may listen; transmitting needs an amateur license. Net procedures.
HF radiofax
NWS also sends weather charts (surface analyses, wave forecasts, tropical charts) as radiofacsimile, which an SSB receiver and decoding software turn into images. Frequencies and times are in the radiofax schedule.
- Boston NMFNorthwest Atlantic
- New Orleans NMGGulf, Caribbean, tropical Atlantic, Southeast Pacific
- Point Reyes NMCNorth and Southeast Pacific
- Kodiak NOJAlaska and North Pacific
- Honolulu KVM70Central, Southeast and North Pacific
WWV and WWVH, the NIST time stations, no longer carry storm warnings: NWS ended them on January 31, 2019.
Weather radios, power for them, and two-way and ham radios are in the storm prep kit.
Weather radio and other alerts
Wireless Emergency Alerts reach phones in the warned area for the most dangerous warnings; the Emergency Alert System interrupts TV and radio. Weather radio carries every warning for your county, and does not depend on a phone signal or on a station staying on the air. Having more than one way to hear a warning is the point.
storms.report shows the same NWS warnings in text, with a link to each original. It is not a warning system: it can be minutes behind, and it cannot wake you. Check alerts for where you are.