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What Are Free SMS Weather Alerts
The ECRT is proud to offer the Weather Alerts service by sending SMS (text message) alerts for severe weather affecting the Peoria, Tazewell, and Woodford counties directly to your mobile device. Weather Alert SMS messages are generated as a Severe Thunderstorm/Tornado Watch or Warning is issued by the National Weather Service. Servers are constantly monitoring the feed from the NWS and no human intervention is needed keeping the relay time short. The ECRT does not charge for text messages, however message and data rates may apply from your mobile phone company. Timely notification is one of the most important aspects to having storm spotters ready to go when the weather arrives. This service is our way of saying thank you for taking the time to volunteer and help your community. There are many services out there which do similar things. You can rest assured with our service the only messages you receive are related to local severe weather or emergency communication needs.
What severe weather events will I receive alerts for?
- Severe Thunderstorm Watch
- Severe Thunderstorm Warning
- Tornado Watch
- Tornado Warning
What geographic locations are covered?
- Peoria County
- Tazewell County
- Woodford County
Who can sign up for Weather Alerts?
The Weather Alerts program is free for anyone who would like timely notification of severe weather in the Peoria, Tazewell, or Woodford county areas. In general we offer this service for those persons who are providing storm spotting activities with a local emergency management agency or SKYWARN®.
What is sign up process?
Us the link at the bottom of this page to being the sign up process. After we receive your form we will generate a test message to you. This test message is to verify you have entered your phone information correctly. Please respond back to TEST text message as verification you received it. Something as simple as "Got your test message" is all we need. After confirmation we will enter your routing information into the list for the counties you have specified. At that point you are ready to go. Please be patient with us as it may take 24-48 hours to process your request.
