See this? This is a thunderstorm, and people are losing power.
Image Credit: WFTV9 Live Radar
And the reason they are losing power is, yes, the storm. But many of them were unprepared, and didn’t take proper measures to ensure they had access to reliable electricity.
Guess what, homeowners? It is SUPER easy to be informed about bad weather that can knock your power out for days. And if you’re informed, you can take action to avoid the negative impact of a sustained power outage.
I’m not talking about checking the weather. I’m taking about accessing free, publicly available storm alerts that 99% of people don’t bother checking.
If you’re informed about storms, then you will be prepared. Stay with me to the end of the article – I’ll show you exactly how to access this information.
Weather Data?
If you think that the only way to get up-to-date information about weather patterns is from someone wearing a suit on TV, you’re wrong.
Not only that, but we all know how inaccurate those reports can be. By the time the weatherman is done talking, the information is already out of date.
I’ve scoured through the National Weather Service’s (NWS) website so that you don’t have to. Let’s dig in so that you know how to access this free, timely information. I did all the work so you don’t have to!
What Kind Of Info Do They Have?
Lots. The NWS has information on the following:
- Severe Weather Alerts
- Forecasts (Short and Medium)
- Past weather for everywhere in the US
- Safety information for various different storms
- Temperature, wind speed, precipitation, and sky cover analysis
And much more. For today, we’ll focus on Severe Weather Alerts.
Here’s how to access: navigate to https://www.weather.gov/. Click on ‘Active Alerts’ near the top of the page.
On the next page, you’ll have to select your location. Easiest method: click ‘use my location’ then ‘Allow this time’ on the next prompt.
Next, you might not see anything – but stay with me. I’ll show you how to refine the results.
Click the ‘Refine Results / Archives’ button.
Then, refine as you see fit, and click ‘Refine’. You’ll see I selected All Locations for simplicity. Here’s what I filtered for:
Then scroll down. If your area has any indication of severe weather alerts, you now have access to that information.
Here’s one example of what I found on 8/14/24:
This gives you IMMEDIATE access to the type of warning, relevanttimestamp, amplifying information, locations affected, and any additional instructions (like safety) you should follow.
The beautiful aspect of this information is that you can refresh as often as you want, and you will get updated data!
Wrap Up
At the end of the day, facing weather patterns that can potentially knock our your power is up to you. If you choose to be proactive and stay informed about severe alerts, you’re ahead of the pack.
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