By Wally Kennedy
wkennedy@joplinglobe.com
Consider this a heads-up. What you are about to read could save your life.
The National Weather Service (NWS) will unveil a new program in a couple of weeks that will enable your cell phone to receive a text message that a tornado warning has been issued where you live.
Think of it as a personal warning system.
What this means is that if you are traveling in your car you will have the ability to receive a tornado warning. That feature might have saved lives on May 10. Many of the 22 people who were killed in Northeast Oklahoma and Southwest Missouri were traveling in vehicles.
Here’s another example of how this new feature might help. You are asleep in your home. Your cell phone will go off and warn you that a tornado is nearby.
The service will be free from the NWS, but your cell-phone provider will charge you for the text message.
The NWS has been experimenting with this service for a while. The prototype has used ZIP codes. The new program will use geographic regions.
Aaron Supula, with the NWS’s regional headquarters in Salt Lake City, Utah, said, “You will be able to sign up for this program in about two weeks. We are in the process of developing the Web page for this program, which will be offered all over the country.’’
Supula said the new Web page will be more user friendly than the existing prototype, which relies on ZIP codes.
“You will be able to log into a map interface and create the geographic areas that you are interested in,’’ he said. “Within each geographic area, you will be able to specify the weather alerts that you are interested in. It could be for severe weather, winter weather, civil emergencies. There will be several categories.
“Once you choose the features you want and we issue a warning that is a geographic match, you will receive a text message through your cell phone. You will have to pay your provider for that text message.’’
Mike Albright, with Verizon Wireless, 2405 W. Seventh St., has been helping set up cell phones for that service under the prototype system.
“Most customers don’t ask about personal warning systems,” he said. “We have been showing people how to do that. It’s about knowing how to utilize it. That’s what we do here is train them how to use their phone.’’
Albright said his office will help anyone set up a personal warning system regardless of the cell-phone provider they use.
“About every provider offers this,” he said. “It’s available unless the user has opted to shut off their text messaging. Most every cell phone has the option to receive a text message.
“On May 10, my phone went off before the sirens.’’
Need help? Albright can be reached at (417) 624-2334.
Question
Why can’t the new electronic signs along Interstate 44 be used to warn motorists if a tornado might be ahead of them?
The Missouri Department of Transportation is trying to do just that. The department is talking to the National Weather Service about adding severe-weather messages to the message boards, according to Wendy Brunner-Lews, a spokeswoman for the department’s office in Joplin.
“MoDOT and the NWS are trying to come up with a process, but there are four NWS offices that serve Missouri,’’ she said. “We’re trying to determine how we could make sure the proper messages are installed in the proper regions with appropriate timing.’’
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