Weather Call: A New Severe Weather Warning System

In a year that has made weather history, a new program offered through a number of television stations nationwide, may be the ideal solution for families who worry about the weather. Weather Call is an inexpensive program - just pennies a day - that connects television viewers with the local meterologist. When severe weather - from severe thunderstorms to tornadoes - you'll get a call to your home phone or cell phone or even an e-mail alerting you to the threat. Best of all, Weather Call only calls when the warning is for your own immediate area.

As a tornado survivor and someone who lives in an area prone to intense severe weather, I was interested as soon as I heard about Weather Call. I also have the recommended NOAA weather radio and it has been a handy tool as well. But the NOAA weather radio often bursts into warning mode when the actual threat is in the far corner of the county or even for another town. During severe weather outbreaks, the NOAA weather radio may broadcast a warning tone repeated times during the night which for me just adds to the anxiety and causes loss of sleep.

But Weather Call only kicks in if and when the warning is for my immediate area. If a storm is threatening my part of town, I get the call but if the storm is about to hit another area, then I don't.

I have Weather Call set up to call my home phone, my own cell phone, my husband's cell phone, and to e-mail both of my main accounts, all for less than six dollars a year. It gives me peace of mind and if severe weather strikes and I get a call, I know it really is time to take shelter.

Since this year alone, two tornadoes have touched down in my area, one two blocks away (that destroyed a convenience store) and another major destructive tornado two miles north. An entire community in my region - Picher, Oklahoma - was totally destroyed and twelve people were killed in the most recent tornado, May 10, 2008.

Since my desire to to keep my family safe and to have peace of mind about weather events, Weather Call is a total dream come true. My personal weather call program is through KOAM 7 Strong, based in Pittsburg, Kansas but I checked and an increasing number of television stations are offering this fantastic, low-cost program.

Since the National Weather Service recently announced that with new technology they can reduce the area that will be affected by severe weather warnings by 75%, Weather Call is the way to go to keep up on weather conditions.

Unlike televised warnings, Weather Call isn't affected by power outages, either. Nor is it so broad that you are taking cover for a storm that may be as much as fifty miles away. Weather Call alerts you when the storm is a real, present danger to your immediate area - your own home or work location.

This state-of-the-art warning technology is one of the best new developments that I have seen in a long, long time.