NWS installs NOAA Weather Radio stations near Dalhart, in Stratford area

Recent equipment additions will help get out weather watches and warnings to a broader area in the region, starting this week.

The National Weather Service (NWS), in coordination with officials from Dallam and Sherman counties, added two new NOAA Weather Radio stations, WWQ50 and WWQ51, to the area. The new towers will help fill a gap in coverage in the northwest Texas Panhandle and parts of Oklahoma, according to a news release.

The broadcast is scheduled to start at 9 a.m. Friday.

"Large portions of the northwest Texas Panhandle and southwest Oklahoma Panhandle, including the cities of Dalhart, Texline, Stratford, Cactus and Felt, will be able to receive a continuous broadcast of watches, warnings, forecasts and other hazard information on their NOAA Weather Radio," the release says.

NWS said the new transmitters are centrally located just northwest of Dalhart and in Stratford. The locations will help provide a strong radio broadcast 24 hours a day in an area that previously had limited to no coverage, according to NWS. The stations are broadcasting with a power output of 1,000 watts to generate a 40-mile radius listening area.

“Working with our partners and officials in Dallam and Sherman counties, we have filled a critical gap and greatly improved our communications of hazardous weather in the northwest Panhandles,” said Michael Gittinger, Meteorologist In Charge at the NWS office in Amarillo. “Individuals can now tune their radios to these transmitters to receive a dedicated feed of forecasts, watches and warnings for the area. This also increases the alert capability within area schools and businesses.”

The station WWQ50 located near Dalhart will operate on a frequency of 162.425 Megahertz, and the station WWQ51 in Stratford will operate on a frequency of 162.525 Megahertz.

NWS said tuning in to listen to either of these stations requires a NOAA Weather Radio All-Hazards-approved receiver or scanner capable of receiving VHF-FM channels within the radio frequency range of 162.400 through 162.550 megahertz, known as the weather band.

“We are really excited to get a weather radio transmitter in Sherman County and also in Dallam County. This has been a long process, starting over a decade ago, to get better weather coverage in this part of the Panhandle. The National Weather Service, Sherman County and other regional partners have been instrumental in getting these new transmitters and we are so excited to have better coverage through NOAA Weather Radio” said Greg Wright, Emergency Management Coordinator of Sherman County.

To make maximum use of the alerts sent out by NWS, listeners are encouraged to use a receiver equipped with Specific Area Message Encoding, which allows users to program the radio to get alerts for specific counties. For users who are deaf or hard of hearing, attachments are available that utilize visual and sensory cues for alerting purposes.

The NOAA Weather Radio network consists of more than 1,000 stations across the country and broadcasts official National Weather Service warnings, watches, forecasts and other hazard information 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. During an emergency, forecasters interrupt routine broadcasts to provide information about a potentially hazardous situation.

“NOAA Weather Radio is one of the most simple and reliable ways to stay informed about hazardous weather near you,” said Joanne Culin, Warning Coordination Meteorologist at NWS Amarillo. “It provides you and your family with timely information so you can take action to stay safe, acting like a smoke detector for severe weather. Weather radio gives you the benefit of being alerted inside of your home, day and night, when bad weather strikes. It also is another method to get warning and weather information on the go or if cell service is not available. It truly is a life saving tool to have as part of your severe weather plan.”

The Texas and Oklahoma Panhandle are currently served by nine NOAA Weather Radio Stations with broadcasts based in Amarillo, Childress, Des Moines, Guymon, Miami, Meade, Perryton, Stinnett, and Summerfield, according to NWS.

For a map of these stations, as well as other stations across the country, visit https://www.weather.gov/nwr/.

NOAA/NWS' Amarillo office is the main source of weather data, forecasts and warnings for more than 400,000 people in the Texas and Oklahoma Panhandles, serving 23 counties. Follow them on Facebook (NWSAmarillo) and X (@NWSAmarillo) for updates.

For more information regarding NOAA Weather Radio, including programming tips and broadcast information, contact NWS in Amarillo.

This article originally appeared on Amarillo Globe-News: NWS installs NOAA Weather Radio stations near Dalhart, in Stratford area