Weather Watch:  Weather Information on the Water

-David Schultz, NOAA/National Severe Storms Laboratory

Have you ever been paddling and wondered what the forecast was for the
next day or if severe weather was in the area?  The National Oceanic
and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) provides continuous broadcasts
of weather observations, forecasts, watches, and warnings via the NOAA
Weather Radio.  More than 480 NOAA Weather Radio stations broadcast in
the 50 states and adjacent coastal waters, Puerto Rico, the
U.S. Virgin Islands and U.S. Pacific Territories.  Specific Area
Message Encoding (SAME) technology lets you preselect the specific
counties for alerts that you want to receive. Radios can be purchased
at electronics or outdoor-equipment stores.  NOAA Weather Radios
should be as common as smoke detectors in homes and public places,
too.  For more information on NOAA Weather Radio, see
<http://www.nws.noaa.gov/nwr/>.
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