When NOAA Weather Radio Goes Down, EAS Must Step Up

Lately, NOAA Weather Radio transmitters have been dropping off the air across the country — from Montana to Florida. Some have been out for hours, others for days. Equipment failures, broken microwave links, and even upgrade-related issues have all played a role. For broadcasters, it’s a reminder. When one piece of the emergency alerting chain breaks, the others have to be ready.

Many broadcast stations still rely on NOAA Weather Radio (NWR) as their main way of getting weather alerts. They get these alerts from the National Weather Service. The problem? That’s the only way to get NWS-originated alerts. Broadcasters can get FEMA IPAWS messages via the CAP (Common Alerting Protocol) feed. These messages include things like AMBER Alerts, Civil Danger Warnings, and local evacuations. Nevertheless, weather alerts from NWS don’t come through that pipeline. They’re still distributed the old-fashioned way: over-the-air via NWR.

When a NWR transmitter goes offline, broadcasters lose access to severe weather warnings. They also miss out on tornado alerts and other time-sensitive bulletins from the National Weather Service. During peak storm season, the consequences can be serious. This is especially true in a region with no backup.

To make matters worse, some of these recent NWR outages happened not because of failures. They were caused by planned system upgrades that didn’t go smoothly. In other cases, replacement parts are stuck in supply chains with no ETA. The bottom line: outages are happening, and they’re lasting longer than they should.

This is why it’s time for the National Weather Service to integrate with IPAWS. It is long past time for them to start delivering their alerts via CAP. Doing so would give broadcasters a redundant path to get weather alerts, even if NWR transmitters go down. CAP messages can be pulled via the internet, satellite, or other sources. This makes them far more resilient than relying on a single transmitter in a remote location.

Until that happens, broadcasters need to stay vigilant. Make sure you’re monitoring multiple sources — not just NWR. Check that your EAS equipment is CAP-enabled and polling correctly. Consider adding satellite or internet-based monitoring paths. Redundancy isn’t a luxury in this field — it’s a necessity.

And for listeners: don’t depend on just one alert source. Have multiple ways to get emergency information. Whether it’s a weather radio, a phone app, or your local FM station, guarantee redundancy in your alert systems.

NOAA Weather Radio has served the country well for decades. But as the rest of the alerting infrastructure moves ahead, NWS needs to catch up. Broadcasters can get IPAWS alerts from FEMA. So, there’s no reason we shouldn’t be capable of getting the weather the same way.

Let’s build a more resilient system — before we’re tested again.