Bad weather strikes Iowa at least once per year – and usually more. From severe weather to winter weather to fire weather to flooding – we depend on a source to alert us when the weather will be turning bad. We rely on Mobile Alerting Systems, Social Media (us!), Television, Radio, or Outdoor Alerting Systems. In the day when we are not sleeping, it’s fairly easy to know if there is a storm, right?

Correct, it should be fairly easy. Now, when you go to sleep, what do you do? Rely on NOAA Weather Radio? Usually most people do. Without no other means of getting the warning (except getting a phone call or text or having the slim chance hearing the sirens outside), you rely on NOAA Weather Radio to alert you when severe weather impacts the area. Well…how many times do I see these messages each year?:

You don’t want to know. Well hmmm….What to do now? Now of course let’s say this happen’s in the middle of the night. You don’t get notified that the NOAA Weather Radio is down, heck, I bet you didn’t even knew that they sent these messages out. Only those that visit there website (via link underneath logo) or people that have the NWSChat feed up knows about them. Well, later that night, a Tornado Warning gets issued for your area. People who are outside know about the warning – they hear the sirens. People who have a cell phone will get the message (via new Wireless Emergency Alerts. Landlines won’t. Let’s say that you don’t hear the cell phone or don’t have one…how will you know?

I’ll let you answer that one.