[sbe-eas] Slate article: NOAA Weather Radio needs some serious upgrades

[Sean Donelan]

This article is primarly lobbying for additional funding to modernize the 
NOAA Weather Radio system.



https://slate.com/technology/2022/08/noaa-weather-radio-emergency-communication.html

AUG 04, 2022
Recent congressional action, however, has given new life to the 
possibility of systemic weather radio modernization. Rep. Stephanie Bice, 
a Republican from Oklahoma, has proposed the NOAA Weather Radio 
Modernization Act of 2021, which passed in the House of Representatives in 
May but has yet to pass in the Senate. From Oklahoma, Bice was well aware 
of the need for consistent weather communications during natural disasters 
like tornadoes, which affect her constituents.

The bill would authorize $20 million to expand coverage to the remaining 5 
percent of the country without access to NOAA Weather Radio 
communications, as well as $40 million to modernize its hardware and 
software, including upgrading communication from copper wires to Internet 
services. According to Wesley Harkins, a representative from Bice’s 
office, “this paves the way for future development and provides failsafe 
options, so NWR is never down for an extended period of time.”

  [...]

The NWS itself acknowledges the benefits of this legislation. Maureen 
O’Leary, deputy director of public affairs at the NOAA, told me via email 
that improvements would include “expanding NWR coverage to rural and 
underserved communities, national parks, and recreation areas.”

According to Jones, the legislation is “meant to put this modernization 
back into action, like it should have been done 10 or 15 years ago.” Even 
as technology has progressed, NOAA Weather Radio is a mainstay of the 
multilayered American alert system. And in emergencies, survival often 
depends on having a plan B—or C. “Fifteen years ago when the cellphone 
came out, people said ‘You may as well pull the plug on NOAA Weather 
Radio,’” Jones said. “But you can’t rely on just one single thing. 
Everyone needs multiple, redundant ways of getting alerts.”