Severe Weather Notifications

[LIWeather]

Some time ago, Mycast was providing email alerts for severe weather events in a relatively timely manor. They no longer provide this service. I have an email subscription that is sometimes delayed and not nearly as timely.

I'm looking for a solution to receive timely notifications for severe weather events in my area. I subscribed to NWS SPC messages which covers the Convective outlooks, watches, updates, etc. but nothing for warnings. Any recommendations would be great. I'm looking for either email or text message alerts (uploading to a website would be a plus also).

[sacreyweather]

Hi,

Here are 2 links to a couple of sites for software that can be run on your computer.  Both are reasonably priced.  I have and use both.

Interwarn

Weather Message


John

[LIWeather]

Not that I'm a cheap skate but are there any reputable free ones?

I used to run software that pulled from emwin and it was awesome. Printed out out the alert automatically and it was instant. I know I looked at Interwarn a long time ago. Which one did you happen to like the best and why? Are these able to distribute info to a website?

[SylvaniaWeather]

You might try iNWS. http://inws.wrh.noaa.gov/.  You have to what they call a core partner to be allowed to use it.  I'm a trained spotter and run a weather website so I was able to keep my membership.  Most of the time I receive warnings before the TV stations can get them out.

[LIWeather]

Thanks for the additional link Sylvaniaweather. I registered and am awaiting an email with my determination.

Interwarn seems to be my other choice. Just curious about the frequency of updates to the software and if they charge you for updating or is it usually free of charge? I don't mind paying a one-time fee but don't want to get caught up paying for any/every update rolled out. Anyone able to chime in about the history of updating for this software?

[SylvaniaWeather]

It all free! It's very timely and you can control what and where you are warned for.  My only complaint is that I have it sent straight to my phone and it's not unusual to get a text at 2am telling me a tornado watch has been cancelled. At 2am unless it's a warning I soooo don't care. 

[DaculaWeather]

I use WXMesg for my alerts. They go to Facebook, Twitter, email, etc, almost instantly. It pulls the data directly from EMWIN, either internet or satellite or both.

[BigOkie]

I use WXMesg for my alerts. They go to Facebook, Twitter, email, etc, almost instantly. It pulls the data directly from EMWIN, either internet or satellite or both.

Same here...it's incredibly flexible in alerting.  You can set it to look for phrases within a product to trigger an event (email, sent to Twitter, Facebook, create a text file locally, FTP a text file, etc...).  It also has mapping capablities like InterWarn.

Danny (WxMesg developer) is also incredibly easy to contact via the Yahoo group if something goes afoul.  He's pretty responsive about updates.  I switched to this from RealEMWIN, which I had for over 6 years.  I liked Rob's product, there was just inherently more things available to do with the other software.

[LIWeather]

I appreciate the additional feedback. iNWS accepted my request so I'll start there. It appears that the filtering and options of where to send alerts is missing but that is ok.

I do plan on purchasing software as well. It looked like Interwarn was the clear winner b/c of user interface, ease of getting more info about the product on their website, etc. If it wasn't for the flexibility comments by BigOkie, I may have skipped past WXMesg. I didn't find it very easy to use their website to get information. Granted, I didn't examine either product more closely, but now I will give them a looksy.

Thank you a bunch guys. I am working on a personal website and sending watch/warning information directly to an email/phone, etc. and a website is important to me. I felt silly asking such a basic question but I am glad I did. I'm still open for any other options if there are any.

[pbleic]

I know this is an old thread, but I was searching and found it.  I found another site that does text/email alerts for free - http://www.weatherusa.net/alerts/

[DaculaWeather]

I do plan on purchasing software as well. It looked like Interwarn was the clear winner b/c of user interface, ease of getting more info about the product on their website, etc. If it wasn't for the flexibility comments by BigOkie, I may have skipped past WXMesg. I didn't find it very easy to use their website to get information. Granted, I didn't examine either product more closely, but now I will give them a looksy.

Thank you a bunch guys. I am working on a personal website and sending watch/warning information directly to an email/phone, etc. and a website is important to me. I felt silly asking such a basic question but I am glad I did. I'm still open for any other options if there are any.

WXMesg sends my alerts to Facebook, Twitter, and email.  I use other scripts for weather alerts on my website. It's highly flexible. There is a little bit of a learning curve to it but after that, you're set. I even have people subscribed to get Area Forecast Discussions in their email inbox.

[LIWeather]

Thank you for the additional notes guys. For some reason, I stopped receiving subscription updates for this thread.

[LFWX]

Here is a big list of options put together by the National Weather Service.
http://www.weather.gov/subscribe

[LIWeather]

Excellent source of weather alerting options WF. Thank you for posting this.