I tried to figure out where to post this question, hope I got it in the right spot. With all the reportings about tornados, and the devastation in Kansas, my question is about weather and those weather alert radios. I have looked at the ominous/scary weather in Howard and Linda's journal(and those pictures) and how they are like 'sitting ducks' in the middle of no-where! Do those campgrounds have storm shelters? When camping in areas in the west that seem to be in 'tornado alley', I think it would be important to find out if the campground has a storm shelter or where the nearest one is to the campground. (and how long it takes to get there!) When a warning is given on the weather-alert radio, does the warning tell you how much time do you have to seek shelter? Do you keep the radio on all night? especially when weather is bad in the evenings? If you do keep it on at night during bad weather, does it sound an alarm that is loud enough to wake you and warn you of an approaching storm? I guess I really don't understand how those radios work. Does it give a warning for a large area, then you have to figure out if you are in that area, or does the radio narrow the area to right where you are??? I guess if it(radio) worked and did warn of an approaching tornado, you have an escape plan.....grab clothes, jump in vehicle (tow) and get to shelter.
Just wondering about this safety issue. Ann and Tom
galeanna said
04:54 PM May 10, 2007
We haven't been in that situation ourselves in that area but my parents are fulltimers (almost 20 yrs) and have told us that some of the parks they have been in (in tornado alley) have actually come door to door to be sure everyone was aware of the storm situation and let people know where to go. Anna & Gale
wmalefyt said
05:43 PM May 10, 2007
A few years ago a small tornado came through a campground near Egg Harbor in Door County, WI. All the campers sought shelter in the concrete block bathroom/shower building and survived as that was the only structure still standing! Lots of trees were down all over the campground and several RV's were damaged. We weren't there, but lived just down the road in a park model we bought for weekends and summer vacations.
I'm sure Howard or some of the other posters can give you more information on the weather radios.
Bill
Linda said
07:04 AM May 11, 2007
Ann,
We do leave the radio on all the time. It even has a battery bank in case the electricity goes off.
When we arrive at a new destination, we program in the county we are in and several of the surrounding counties. The radio sounds an alarm that can wake the dead for any warnings, watches and even Amber Alerts. There are so many things the radio can inform you about (boil water alert, chemical spills etc)
The warnings usually reference a city or town and how many miles away and what direction the storm is traveling. We look at our maps if we don't recognize the town and determine if we are in the line of the storm.
A bathhouse seems to be the most common place for campers to take shelter.
We are so glad that we have the radio and recommend one to everyone.
I hope that answers your questions.
Auburn War Eagle said
08:33 AM May 11, 2007
Linda or anyone,
Can you make a recommendation on a weather radio and brand.(where can they be purchased?)
Thanks!! Ann
emeacham said
02:23 PM May 11, 2007
We also have a weather radio. I found it on the internet, it's an Oregon Scientific. I think it cost around $50 including shipping. Radio Shack also sells them, probably for around $35 - $50. It's easy to program, I just keep a link in my favorites to NOAA's website that lists all the county codes. I also program in the county we're in plus several surrounding counties. Our radio has a standby setting so that it's not "on" all the time, but will sound an alarm if there is a watch or warning.
We've had early warnings, but last night the warning came after the worst of the storm had already started. Luckily, there were no tornadoes associated with it.
I also ask the office when we check in to a park where the closest shelter is.
Happy (and safe) travels! Ellie
Linda said
06:43 AM May 12, 2007
Ann,
On this forum go to Technology on the Road topic. In that topic you will find Weather Radio post. Howard has put a picture and a link for the radio we have.
Travelin Duo said
06:22 PM Jul 26, 2008
We will be buying one for sure.
Thanks for the info.
-- Edited by Travelin Duo at 01:29, 2008-07-27
Judy said
07:41 PM Jul 26, 2008
We also have a weather radio with backup in case electric goes out and believe me it works. I would recommend to all to have one if full-timing. southwestjudy
jdensie said
06:42 AM Jul 27, 2008
Right after we went fulltimming we bought a Weather Alert Radio. While in Florida last winter, the TV news related that there were possible tornados in the forcast. We even told our fellow campers that we had the radio and if anything happened we would alert them. No alerts throughout the night. Only to find out the next day that the Weather Station had techanical problems and was down for the night. There were tornados about 75 miles from us, we were safe
retread said
10:45 PM Mar 26, 2009
I've been browsing the threads for the past 1/2 hour as it seems a big portion of the Southeast is in for severe weather alerts for the next 3 days!
The weather channel brings a mixed bag of comfort and anxiety with the amount of information and predictions! The info on the threads is helpful and we have a weather radio so we sit tight, pray and plot our path through the southeast back toward Vicksburg, MS and Texas in the next week or so. I also spied a pool table in the recreation building here that I would like to hide under with the kids, dogs and dh if things get really scary!
What about hail? We thought about pulling the slides in on our 5th wheel to try to minimize the damage if a hail storm crops up. Any other suggestions?
Cindy T said
08:01 AM Mar 27, 2009
Ellie mentioned the NOAA website that lists the county codes. I've been looking around on the NOAA website (www.noaa.gov) but I can't find the county codes. Can someone advise me where to find these codes? Thanks!!
Luvglass said
08:24 AM Mar 27, 2009
\We bought a weather radio when we first came out on the forums recommendations and found that we never used it, so it got put away in a drawer. We are at McKinney Falls State Park in Austin now and were unpleasantly surprised when we had a knock on the door Wednesday evening and the Ranger told us that there was a tornado watch and we might have to seek shelter if it became a tornado warning. Needless to say we went scrambling to find the radio, but discovered that we had misplaced the instruction book and didn't remember how to program it, so didn't trust it.
Cut to the chase - I turned on the computer and went to the Weather Underground
http://www.wunderground.com/
and we got up to the minute information on the storms track and intensity. If the storm had gotten bad enough we would have lost satellite reception at some point, but that would have been enough of a warning.
Just and option if you don't have a radio, or are as lame as us and have lost the instructions.
Fred
RVDude said
09:25 AM Mar 27, 2009
Fred's goes underground and so do I!!!
WeatherUnderground has so many local/home stations on line chances are you'll find a weather report just a couple miles from your location. They also have a RapidFire update alert feature for the very latest info. The long range tools are simply superb and are what I use to find breaks in the storms in order to sneak across the northern country during the middle of winter to (mostly) avoid the snow/ice.
Of course, it does require an internet connection - which during the darkest part of a storm might not be available...
Toto, oh Toto where are you?
NorCal Dan said
10:08 AM Mar 27, 2009
Here is a site with the SAME codes for your radios:
With all the reportings about tornados, and the devastation in Kansas, my question is about weather and those weather alert radios. I have looked at the ominous/scary weather in Howard and Linda's journal(and those pictures) and how they are like 'sitting ducks' in the middle of no-where!
Do those campgrounds have storm shelters? When camping in areas in the west that seem to be in 'tornado alley', I think it would be important to find out if the campground has a storm shelter or where the nearest one is to the campground. (and how long it takes to get there!)
When a warning is given on the weather-alert radio, does the warning tell you how much time do you have to seek shelter? Do you keep the radio on all night? especially when weather is bad in the evenings? If you do keep it on at night during bad weather, does it sound an alarm that is loud enough to wake you and warn you of an approaching storm? I guess I really don't understand how those radios work. Does it give a warning for a large area, then you have to figure out if you are in that area, or does the radio narrow the area to right where you are???
I guess if it(radio) worked and did warn of an approaching tornado, you have an escape plan.....grab clothes, jump in vehicle (tow) and get to shelter.
Just wondering about this safety issue.
Ann and Tom
I'm sure Howard or some of the other posters can give you more information on the weather radios.
Bill
We do leave the radio on all the time. It even has a battery bank in case the electricity goes off.
When we arrive at a new destination, we program in the county we are in and several of the surrounding counties. The radio sounds an alarm that can wake the dead for any warnings, watches and even Amber Alerts. There are so many things the radio can inform you about (boil water alert, chemical spills etc)
The warnings usually reference a city or town and how many miles away and what direction the storm is traveling. We look at our maps if we don't recognize the town and determine if we are in the line of the storm.
A bathhouse seems to be the most common place for campers to take shelter.
We are so glad that we have the radio and recommend one to everyone.
I hope that answers your questions.
Can you make a recommendation on a weather radio and brand.(where can they be purchased?)
Thanks!!
Ann
We also have a weather radio. I found it on the internet, it's an Oregon Scientific. I think it cost around $50 including shipping. Radio Shack also sells them, probably for around $35 - $50. It's easy to program, I just keep a link in my favorites to NOAA's website that lists all the county codes. I also program in the county we're in plus several surrounding counties. Our radio has a standby setting so that it's not "on" all the time, but will sound an alarm if there is a watch or warning.
We've had early warnings, but last night the warning came after the worst of the storm had already started. Luckily, there were no tornadoes associated with it.
I also ask the office when we check in to a park where the closest shelter is.
Happy (and safe) travels!
Ellie
On this forum go to Technology on the Road topic. In that topic you will find Weather Radio post. Howard has put a picture and a link for the radio we have.
We will be buying one for sure.
Thanks for the info.
-- Edited by Travelin Duo at 01:29, 2008-07-27
southwestjudy
There were tornados about 75 miles from us, we were safe
I've been browsing the threads for the past 1/2 hour as it seems a big portion of the Southeast is in for severe weather alerts for the next 3 days!
The weather channel brings a mixed bag of comfort and anxiety with the amount of information and predictions! The info on the threads is helpful and we have a weather radio so we sit tight, pray and plot our path through the southeast back toward Vicksburg, MS and Texas in the next week or so. I also spied a pool table in the recreation building here that I would like to hide under with the kids, dogs and dh if things get really scary!
What about hail? We thought about pulling the slides in on our 5th wheel to try to minimize the damage if a hail storm crops up. Any other suggestions?
WeatherUnderground has so many local/home stations on line chances are you'll find a weather report just a couple miles from your location. They also have a RapidFire update alert feature for the very latest info. The long range tools are simply superb and are what I use to find breaks in the storms in order to sneak across the northern country during the middle of winter to (mostly) avoid the snow/ice.
Of course, it does require an internet connection - which during the darkest part of a storm might not be available...
Toto, oh Toto where are you?
http://www.nws.noaa.gov/nwr/indexnw.htm
Weather is my hobby...if I can help let me know...