Tuesday, April 10, 2012

Top 5 Reasons to Buy a Weather Radio

As we have done for the past 3 years, the WTOL 11 StormTrack Weather Team will be out in full force this spring to sell and program weather radios. There are still plenty of people who don't see the need to for these radios, don't understand them or simply haven't realized how valuable these life saving decives can be. So here is a list of the Top 5 reasons you should buy yourself or family members a weather radio:

1) Always Be Alerted During Severe Weather -- Seems like a no-brainer right? It's not only the most obvious reason but the biggest one to get a weather radio. From a dead sleep or a lazy Sunday afternoon, you don't have to be constantly monitoring the weather to be alerted when severe weather is set to strike.

2) Programmable County by County -- Don't be annoyed with warnings for every county but yours. With the new generation of weather radios, we can program it so you're only alerted when your specific county is affected. Want to add more? Sure we can do that too but that's the beauty of the weather radios. It's up to you!
3) Information When Power Fails -- Ever been in a bad storm after you've lost power? It can be a struggle to find out EXACTLY what's going on with the weather around you. Is the storm severe? Could it produce a tornado? Or is it simply a weak thunderstorm? With battery back-up power on weather radios you can know everything about the storms around you with the simple push of a button.

4) No Longer Relying on Sirens -- If you have ever been caught off guard by a storm before and you're first alert was a siren sounding, you have waited too long. Sirens are a last ditch effort to warn residents who are outside, not inside. NEVER again rely on a siren to warn you about strong storms heading for your front porch.

5) Always Awake -- No matter what time of day or night, your weather radio is on standby to alert you and your family about any significant storm approaching. Many lives have been saved when an alert is issued for a storm in the middle of the night and weather radios have warned owners of an impending storm. Never be caught unaware again.

We still have many weather radios programming sessions left this year at area Kroger stores. Stop out, buy a weather radio and have it programmed for your specific county. Take safety into your hands before severe weather season ramps up in Northwest Ohio and Southeast Michigan.

Community Track 11 Weather Programming Events:
  • April 10, 5-7:00 pm, Kroger on Woodville Road
  • April 14, 8-10 am, Kroger in Lambertville, MI
  • April 18, 5-7:00 pm, Kroger in Waterville
  • April 24, , 5-7:00 pm, Kroger in Port Clinton
  • April 26 5-7:00 pm, Kroger on Suder Ave
More Information on weather radios can be found here: http://www.wtol.com/global/Story.asp?s=12681658
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5 comments:

  1. Ohiomom9977April 11, 2012 at 9:50 AM

    Is there any reason programmable weather radio wouldn't work in a certain area? I live in Wayne, Ohio and have had problems twice now with the programmable radios. My first was several years ago and was a Midland handheld. Just a few weeks ago I got the Midland WR300. I called midland and verified that it was programmed correctly, yet I don't receive any alerts or even the weekly tests. However I am getting the weather radio broadcast in clearly. I'm in the process of returning it to Amazon. I also have a Eton FR300 hand crank that just uses the 7 NOAA channels and have no problems with that. I purchased the WR300 so I could turn off some alerts and just keep the important ones (a feature my Eton doesn't have) but it just doesn't seem to work well where I live. Hopefully my post isn't too confusing. Any thoughts?

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    Replies
    1. CalebApril 16, 2012 at 2:13 PM

      Even though you my receive weather radio doesn't mean you can get tone alerts. You can hear weather radio a long ways away but the tones don't generally go as for, resulting in your weather radio not alerting you.

      Caleb Chapman
      technoweather.blogspot.com

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    2. Ohiomom9977April 18, 2012 at 9:46 AM

      I can get the warnings on my plain-jane basic weather radio, just not on the SAME programmable ones. I'm about 35-45 miles from the 3 transmission towers that broadcast to Wood County. - side effect of living in the middle of nowhere I guess :) Thanks for the reply Caleb!

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    3. CalebApril 18, 2012 at 1:56 PM

      I haven't heard of that before... Well I know how it is living in the middle of nowhere! I have a Oregon Scientific weather radio and HIGHLY recommend them. I had a cheaper one that I used all the time and upgraded to the best of the best. I love them and never have had a problem.

      Caleb Chapman
      technoweather.blogspot.com

      Delete
    4. Ohiomom9977April 18, 2012 at 2:14 PM

      I had a midland handheld several years ago that only got the warnings sporadically. The recent programmable one was also a midland and I could get the radio broadcast clearly - but no weekly tests, or alerts would go off. I placed several calls to midland and they said everything was programmed correctly. Midland was a bit of a pain to deal with because they don't have a toll free number so every time it was a long distance call and I had to sit on hold to get customer service. Amazon.com was excellent on the return though because I was within the 30 days and I got my refund within a few days of sending it back to them. My Eton FR300 works great I just wish I could turn off some of the alerts (flood and wind warnings) as I don't need that info at 2am.

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