eureka22 Posted February 3, 2012 Share Posted February 3, 2012 With StormNow going out of business April 1st I'm in need of a replacement for getting severe wx alerts pushed to my phone via gmail. I'm a volunteer EM so I need something more robust than weather.com. I've been using the service to get not only the basic warnings but other products such as SVS, SPS, MCD, NOW, WCN, WOU, etc. for not only my home county but my work county and others to the west for heads up. StormNow was very reliable with alerts coming sometmes before my weather radio went off. I was paying $4 a month so something in that general range would be great. I'm looking for recommendations on what others are using for getting info when away from the desktop. Thanks in advance. I Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nchighcountrywx Posted February 3, 2012 Share Posted February 3, 2012 For years, I have used the valuable Dataswitch Stormnow service that offers all possible weather wire traffic (Forecasts, AFD, Watches, Warnings, Specials, etc) delivered instantly to the email box or SMS of your choice. The service is extemely flexibile in letting you setup what you want to see by counties and by NWS product type as well as setting delivery options. The investment of a few dollars a month has proven to be invaluable over the last 15 or so years I have used the service. www.stormnow.com Today, unfortunately, they announced to subscribers they are closing down on April 1. I do have an iNWS account, but it does not delivery anywhere near the breadth of products available through Dataswitch/Stormnow. Does anyone now of another potential replacement for this service? For me, I have a specific email account that get's these deliveries. They then also go directly immediately to my Blackberry PDA and I have Blackberry notifications setup for specific warning / notification types. The attached image shows all of the valuable products that have been offered by Stormnow: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
eureka22 Posted February 3, 2012 Author Share Posted February 3, 2012 I posted the exact same question in the marketplace forum. As a nine year user myself I hope we can find a service that provides the flexibility and wealth of products StormNow does. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nchighcountrywx Posted February 3, 2012 Share Posted February 3, 2012 So far, the best replacement I can find is: http://www.proalert.us/ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jim Marusak Posted February 3, 2012 Share Posted February 3, 2012 did they make this announcement today? and if so how did they notify subscribers? because their site says nothing about shutting down or they wouldn't take new subscribers. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nchighcountrywx Posted February 3, 2012 Share Posted February 3, 2012 did they make this announcement today? and if so how did they notify subscribers? because their site says nothing about shutting down or they wouldn't take new subscribers. Yes I was notified via email this morning.I will dig the email out of my deleted mail on my email server tonight and post what they sent out. Service is disbanding April 1 and they were offering to sell their weather wire satellite receiving equipment and distribution software. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jim Marusak Posted February 3, 2012 Share Posted February 3, 2012 wow. no need to dig out the e-mail. i just confirmed that here at work. i guess the costs just got too high. oh well. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RobbTC Posted February 4, 2012 Share Posted February 4, 2012 I've been a customer since 2002 and very sad to see them go. Will be looking for a replacement as well. It is with much sadness that we must announce the closure of the StormNow business, effective April 1, 2012. We are proud of our legacy and the years we have been given the opportunity to provide this life-saving service to our community. But changes in technology along with other factors have marginalized the need for our offerings. It is our hope that in giving you these two months of advanced notice, you will have time to find a satisfactory replacement service prior to our closure; please respect that we will not be able to provide any vendor-replacement recommendations. Also note that for those on the monthly auto-payment plan, the last monthly charge will be made during the first week of March after which we will be deleting all auto-charge records from our system. We are also prepared to send a refund check to all customers who meet all three of the following qualifications: - Have $2.00 or more in their StormNow account at the time of service termination - Have updated (if necessary) their StormNow account settings with their current mailing address - Have requested a refund from the DataSwitch administration help desk ([email protected]) prior to April 6, 2012 Refund checks will be mailed out, on or before April 30, 2012 to all customers who comply with the above requirements. Following our closure on April 1, we will be selling our NOAA Port configuration, which includes a 12 foot dish, LNB, Feed Horn, Novra S-300 receiver, associated cabling and hardware, and fully configured LDM Linux-based processing server. This is a very robust configuration that is fully setup and is very well documented. If you are interested in learning more, please contact the DataSwitch administrative help desk ([email protected]) prior to April 6, 2012. Sincerely, The StormNow Team DataSwitch Information Services, Inc. Email: [email protected] Web: http://www.stormnow.com Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WeatherNC Posted February 4, 2012 Share Posted February 4, 2012 I am moving this to marketplace and merging it with the thread already there. Let's try to keep topics where they belong guys, especially when they encompass more than one region as this one does. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nchighcountrywx Posted February 4, 2012 Share Posted February 4, 2012 Another alternative is Interwarn that you can run on your local Server that uses the EMWIN data ingestion. http://www.interwarn.com/iwdesc.html Still I will be missing the high level of product and customization that was available with Stormnow. It is a shame more individuals would not pony up a few dollars a month to subscribe to the service. It has been extremely valuable for many years. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Eskimo Joe Posted February 6, 2012 Share Posted February 6, 2012 For anyone in the EM/911/first responder community, I would recommend trying iNWS. http://inws.wrh.noaa.gov/ This is a free service which can forward weather alerts to your phone or email address and it 100% free. I have used it for some time now and find the alerts to be almost instantaneous from the time they leave AWIPS at the local WFO. Fantastic service! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KokomoWX Posted February 7, 2012 Share Posted February 7, 2012 I too have been a long time user (6 years?) and am saddened it is closing down. Weather Underground has a decent alerting service. Cell warn is good too - http://www.cellwarn.com/ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KokomoWX Posted March 19, 2012 Share Posted March 19, 2012 Weather Alert USA seems ok from my limited trial. (I am using the premium service but free is available.) The only thing I miss are no Mesoscale Discussion alerts. http://www.weatherusa.net/ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rtd208 Posted March 19, 2012 Share Posted March 19, 2012 Being in the emergency management field I have been using this service for the last couple of years and have found it to be very reliable. Definately a great service for anyone in public safety. For anyone in the EM/911/first responder community, I would recommend trying iNWS. http://inws.wrh.noaa.gov/ This is a free service which can forward weather alerts to your phone or email address and it 100% free. I have used it for some time now and find the alerts to be almost instantaneous from the time they leave AWIPS at the local WFO. Fantastic service! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Eskimo Joe Posted April 5, 2012 Share Posted April 5, 2012 Being in the emergency management field I have been using this service for the last couple of years and have found it to be very reliable. Definately a great service for anyone in public safety. Absolutely. There are times when I get the alert on my Blackberry before the Weather Radio even. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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