National Weather Service United States Department of Commerce

Hail, Damaging Winds, and Tornadoes Possible Monday

Severe thunderstorms on Monday will be capable of producing damaging wind gusts, hail, and tornadoes. While the entire region will have a potential, the highest potential will be east of the Blue Ridge. A lesser risk of severe storms will be possible Sunday afternoon and evening for far southwest VA and northwest NC. These storms will be capable of localized damaging winds or an isolated tornado. Read More >

 

Weather information can be obtained by listening to NOAA Weather Radio.  NOAA Weather Radio stations broadcast the latest weather information and are one of the primary means for receiving severe weather information and general forecast information. Weather radios can be purchased form local electronic supply dealers, and some scanners are equipped to pick up the weather radio frequencies.

Some models have an alarm feature. This feature sounds a tone and turns on the radio when we activate the tone alert from our office. We normally send the Routine Weekly Test message around noon on Wednesdays, unless severe weather is a possibility. The test is done at 7pm on the first Wednesday of each month. If there is a possibility of severe weather, we postpone the test until the next fair weather day, usually Thursday.

We activate the tone alert for the following watches or warnings.

  • Tornado watch
  • Tornado warning
  • Severe thunderstorm watch
  • Severe thunderstorm warning
  • Flash flood warning
  • Blizzard warning
  • Winter storm warning

Newer weather radios that are equipped with SAME (Specific Area Message Encoder) are available. This allows you to program your radio to receive the tone warning alert only for the counties you program! In addition, you can hear the latest forecasts and other weather information.

Generally, our NWR program consists of local forecast, local hourly weather, the regional weather summary, and the hazardous weather outlook.

Climate and river information is included in the program rotation at certain times of the day.


 

NOAA Weather Radio Stations Operated from Blacksburg, VA
Location Call Letters Frequency (mhz)
Hinton, WV WXM-72 162.425
Roanoke, VA WXL-60 162.475
Lynchburg, VA WXL-92 162.550
Mount Jefferson, NC WNG-588 162.500
Halifax/South Boston, VA KJY-86 162.525
Wytheville, VA WZ-2500 162.450
Richlands, VA WZ-2543 162.425

 

 WFO Blacksburg's Forecast Listening Areas

 

NOAA Weather Radio Stations Just Outside Our Forecast Area
Location Call Letters Frequency (mhz) Responsible NWS Office
Beckley, WV WXM-71 162.550 Charleston, WV
Bristol, TN WXK-47 162.550 Morristown, TN
Winston-Salem, NC WXL-42 162.400 Raleigh, NC
Covesville, VA KZZ-28 162.450 Sterling, VA

 

Useful Links

 

NOAA Weather Radio News

Station Listings

NOAA Weather Radio Coverage Maps

NWR SAME program

County-by-county SAME codes VA WV NC

Reporting an NWR Transmitter Problem

NWR Consumer Information

Automated Voices