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The Voice of the National Weather Service |
The National Weather Service in Little Rock
broadcasts weather information 24 hours a day on NOAA Weather Radio. Read all about it
below. |
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For questions or comments about NOAA Weather Radio,
or to report an outage, please e-mail us at
SR-LZK.NWR@noaa.gov. |
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Voluntary Recall of Some Oregon Scientific Weather Radios
On August 29th, the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission
(CPSC), in cooperation with Oregon Scientific, announced a voluntary recall of
four (4) models of Oregon Scientific Weather Radios.
For more information, click here.
General Recall Information
For information on weather radio receiver recalls, go to the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) web site and
choose "Radios (Weather)" in the "Product Type" list.
Purchasing a NOAA Weather Radio
NOAA Weather Radios are available at many department and electronic stores. For
a listing of vendors, click here.
Mark Trail Award Winner
Mark Trail Awards are given to individuals or groups for their work
in promoting NOAA Weather Radio and getting it on the air. In 2007,
there were 19 awards given nationwide, and one of them was to
the Arkansas Department of Emergency Management. The award was presented on
June 21, 2007 in Washington, D. C. For
more details/pictures, click here. |
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Transmitters |
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The National Weather Service at
Little Rock, Arkansas programs 12 transmitters across Arkansas, with 25
transmitters statewide...as shown in the diagram below. |
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In the picture: As of October,
2005...there were 25 NOAA Weather Radio transmitters up and running
across Arkansas: (1) Grove OK...162.500 MHz, (2) Springdale...162.400 MHz,
(3) Harrison...162.525 MHz, (4) Yellville...162.500 MHz, (5)
Cherokee Village...162.475 MHz, (6) Wardell MO...162.525 MHz, (7)
Dyersburg TN...162.500 MHz, (8) Fayetteville...162.475 MHz, (9) Mountain
View...162.450 MHz, (10) Jonesboro...162.550 MHz, (11) Fort Smith...162.550
MHz, (12) Russellville... 162.525 MHz, (13)
Morrilton...162.475 MHz, (14) Russell... 162.400 MHz, (15) Memphis
TN...162.475 MHz, (16) Mena...162.400 MHz, (17) Mount Ida...162.425 MHz,
(18) Little Rock...162.550 MHz, (19) Marvell... 162.525 MHz, (20) Broken
Bow OK...162.450 MHz, (21) Gurdon...162.475 MHz, (22) Star City...162.400
MHz, (23) Texarkana...162.550 MHz, (24) El Dorado...162.525, and
(25) Fountain Hill...162.475 MHz.
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FIPS Codes & Program Schedule |
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Program
your WR-SAME
Weather Radio with the FIPS Codes below!
Prefix the codes in the graphic below with a
"005"
Example: Arkansas County would be "005001"
In the picture: Arkansas Federal Information Processing System (FIPS) codes for
Arkansas. Click to enlarge. |
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Check out the broadcast schedule
below!
Weather products and broadcast times for the
Little Rock listening area (12 transmitters). |
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Product |
Description |
Broadcast Times |
Zone Forecast |
A 7 day forecast for areas within 40 miles of the
transmitter. |
24 Hours/Day |
State Forecast |
A forecast for the entire state of Arkansas! |
24 Hours/Day |
State Weather Roundup |
Hourly reports of Sky Condition, Temperature, and Winds from reporting
stations across Arkansas. |
24 Hours/Day |
Weather Summary |
A summary of the recent past weather across Arkansas. (Also includes
forecast information.) |
530am-8am, 1130am-2pm, 430pm-7pm, 930pm-4am |
Short Term Forecast |
A 0 to 6 hour forecast of the expected weather conditions. |
Only when Precipitation is Present |
** Little Rock Climate Summary ** |
North Little Rock daily Max/Min temperatures, Precipitation,
Sunrise/Sunset times, and more! |
Only available on the Little Rock Transmitter from 8-10am and 7-930pm. |
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About NOAA Weather Radio |
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Under a January 1975 White House policy statement, NOAA Weather
Radio became the only Government-operated radio system with the purpose of
providing direct weather warnings into private homes. Besides weather warnings, Weather
Radio provided information about natural disaster along with warning the public
in the event of a nuclear attack! One of the main reasons people do not know about
Weather Radio is because it not broadcast on standard radio frequencies
like FM and AM bands. Weather Radio is broadcast on
frequencies similar to television stations. There are six main frequencies,
including: 162.400, 162.450, 162.475, 162.500, 162.525 and 162.550 Megahertz. In
order to hear the broadcast, it is necessary to have a specialized receiver. Fortunately,
a number of companies make these receivers.
Weather Radio broadcasts are originated at various
National Weather Service offices nationwide. Each transmitter has a normal range of 35 to
40 miles, but with high quality receiver and antennas, the signal can be picked up at
greater distances. One of the goals of the National Weather Service is to expand the
Weather Radio network to include nearly every location in the United States.
Weather Radio provides more than severe weather warnings,
it provides tailored area forecasts, hourly weather reports, summaries of the past
weather, and much more! The advantage is that the information you hear on Weather Radio is
routinely updated. During adverse weather, along with forecasts and warnings, safety
information is broadcast. You may be reminded to bring winter safety kit along with you
while traveling during the winter months. If a tornado warning has been issued, you may be
told what the safest locations are to protect yourself.
When it becomes necessary to issue a severe weather or tornado warning,
the National Weather Service can activate an alarm tone. This tone activates specially
equipped Weather Radio to alert you that very important information will
follow. The advantage is that you do not have to continuously monitor your radio, because
it will put out an audible alert. Since most Weather Radios are portable, you can take
them on vacations or other trips. If you are camping, you can hear the latest forecast and
information on potentially severe weather.
Weather
Radio Specific Area Message Encoders (WRSAME) are NOW being used operationally at the
Little Rock Office of the National Weather Service!
Weather Radio Specific Area Message Encoders (WRSAME) allow the National Weather
Service at Little Rock to encode watch, warning, special, and severe weather statements
with information that can be decoded for county by county alerts. Just program special
codes (shown near the top of the page) into WRSAME for your county and surrounding
counties, and you will be alerted when severe weather approaches. WR-SAME offers you
immediate notification of warnings for tornadoes, flash floods, severe thunderstorms, and
other hazardous weather events. Look for the new radios in an electronics store near you!
Console
Replacement System (CRS) is Here!
CRS is weather radio with computer generated voices. When National Weather
Service products are sent to CRS, the system reads the products to listeners
automatically. With CRS, forecast and warning information reaches listeners
immediately...the main benefit of the system. Admittedly, the voices of CRS will sound
a little different from the human voices heard in the past on NOAA Weather Radio. It may take
some time getting used to...but the National Weather Service has improved the
quality of the voices over time. CRS is now available...with most weather products
automated.
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