WEA: Wireless Emergency Alerts

With today's modern technology, one should always have multiple outlets of receiving severe weather alerts. TV, Weather Radio, warning apps for phones, and programs such Weather Call and Code Red are great outlets to receive weather information. It is important to be able to receive severe weather alerts not only at home, but also on-the-go and while traveling. A program I highly recommend that can accomplish this task is Wireless Emergency Alert (WEA) system.

WEA stands for Wireless Emergency Alerts, and it functions just as it sounds in its name. The alerts function virtually anywhere in the U.S. WEA does not track your location, but when an important alert must be disseminated to the public, cell towers of various cell carriers send the alert to mobile phones in the area that are capable of receiving the alerts. There is no charge for the service, and one is not required to sign up--just enable the service on your phone. National Weather Service warnings that are transmitted via WEA include Flash Flood Warnings, Tornado Warnings, Dust Storm Warnings, Tsunami Warnings, Hurricane/Typhoon Warnings, Extreme Wind Warnings, and Storm Surge Warnings. A phone's original location does not matter, as all phones capable of receiving the alert from a particular carrier will receive the alert. For example, a person who bought an iPhone in Texas should still be able receive WEA notifications if he or she traveled to Chicago.

Here's an example of how a warning would be broadcasted to WEA enabled phones:

Twenty people are in movie theatre in Dallas, TX when the National Weather Service issues a Tornado Warning for that location. Five people from New York using Verizon as their carrier receive the alert instantly. Another five people from Dallas using AT&T as their carrier receive the alert next. After that, five people from Chicago using Sprint receive the alert. Lastly, five people from Los Angeles using T-Mobile as their carrier receive the alert.

*Make sure you have your sound turned up your device When an alert comes across, you will hear a repeated loud buzzing tone.

Setting up WEA on your iPhone is very easy to accomplish. See info graphic below.