NOAA All Hazards Weather Radio KWO 39

KWO39 Chicago, 162.55 MHz

NOAA All Hazards Weather Radio station KWO39 serves marine interests on southern Lake Michigan and the Illinois and Indiana lakeshore, from a 300 Watt transmitter at the Sears Tower in downtown Chicago. The nominal effective range of the transmitter is about 40 miles. Continuous 24 hour programming is provided from the National Weather Service Chicago Forecast Office, located in southwest suburban Romeoville.

A map of the listening area is shown below, with Specific Area Message Encoder codes shown for each county. Severe weather watches and warnings are tone-alerted for all counties shaded in blue. Tone alarm tests for KWO39 occur each WEDNESDAY at approximately 11 AM.

County

Lake (IL)
Cook
DuPage
Lake (IN)
Porter (IN)

FIPS code

017097
017031
017043
018089
018127

Nearshore Areas (within 5 nm of shore)	FIPS code
Winthrop Harbor to Wilmette Harbor	092740
Wilmette Harbor to Northerly Island	092741
Northerly Island to Calumet Harbor	092742
Calumet Harbor to Gary	092743
Gary to Burns Harbor	092744
Burns Harbor to Michigan City	092745
Winthrop Harbor to Michigan City (open waters beyond 5 NM out to midlake)	092766

*Note that FIPS codes are used for programming SAME-equipped NWR receivers. This utilizes a six digit number for each county. The first three digits are the state code, with the last three digits being the county code.

Broadcast Cycle

Station ID Message
Hourly Temperature Roundup	updated between 5 and 10 min past the hour
Short Term Forecast	only when precipitation or active weather is near Chicagoland
Chicago Metro Forecast	updated 4 AM and 4 PM,, or as needed
Open Lakes Forecast for Lake Michigan	updated 3 AM, 9 AM, 3 AM and 9 PM
Nearshore Marine Forecast for Illinois and Indiana Shores	updated 4 AM, 10 AM, 4 PM and 9 PM
Marine Observations	updated every hour
Water Temperatures	updated everyday at 9 AM
Severe Weather and other special programming during "active" weather

NOAA National Weather Service Weather Forecast Office