National Weather Service to send alerts to smartphones
A new Wireless Emergency Alerts system from the National Weather Service is on the way for American smartphone owners, but don't expect to get alerts about impending tornadoes or blizzards on your iPhone immediately.
Starting today, the Wireless Emergency Alerts system will begin alerting people in areas near potentially dangerous weather situations by making a special sound and vibrating. You won't have to sign up or pay for the service, which is part of a larger alert network launched by the Federal Emergency Management Agency earlier this year.
Carriers and governments will issue alerts by sending them out from every cell tower in an affected area, so the alerts are not on your home location. The alerts will cover ice and dust storms, blizzards, extreme winds, flash floods, tornadoes, hurricanes, typhoons, and tsunamis. Severe thunderstorm alerts won't be included, and only warnings -- not watches -- are to be sent out.
But iPhone owners shouldn't get too excited about the system, which is currently offered nationwide on Sprint, Verizon, and T-Mobile networks and a handful of cities on the AT&T network. Weather Service spokeswoman Susan Buchanan said that iPhones are supposed to join the system this fall, but it's not known if that will only be new iPhones or if all iPhones will be capable via a software update.
Share
Don't expect to get alerts about impending tornadoes or blizzards on your iPhone immediately
Deals of the Day
more deals- Refurb Apple 30" Cinema HD Widescreen LCD Display for $750 + $33 s&h;
- Rocketfish Keyboard Capsule for Apple iPad for $15 + $5 s&h;
- Refurb Mac Pro Xeon Quad 2.66GHz Desktop w/ Adobe CS 5.5 for $900 + $40 s&h;
- Apple TV Media Receiver for $89 + free shipping
- Apple iPod touch 64GB MP3 Player for $349 + free shipping
- Nikon 1 J1 Mirrorless Camera w/ lens, New iPad 16GB for $849 + free shipping