About — NWS Alerts

About the project

NWSAlerts.net

A free, real-time weather alert dashboard built for storm chasers, weather enthusiasts, emergency managers, and anyone who wants to stay ahead of severe weather across the United States. Every alert includes live impact estimates — population at risk, infrastructure in the path, and historical flood history.

The Story

Why This Exists

NWSAlerts.net was built out of a simple frustration: existing tools for viewing National Weather Service alerts were cluttered, slow, or buried behind confusing interfaces. The goal was to create something fast, clean, and genuinely useful — a dashboard that puts the most critical information front and center without getting in the way.

Every alert on this site comes directly from the official NWS API, updated every 30 seconds. No ads, no paywalls, no fluff. Just the data.

How It Works

Under the Hood

Live NWS Feed

Alerts are fetched from the official NWS API (api.weather.gov) every 30 seconds and cached server-side for fast delivery.

Tag Detection

Alert text is scanned automatically for keywords like "Tornado Emergency", "PDS", "Confirmed Tornado", and damage threat levels.

SPC Integration

Storm Prediction Center outlooks, Mesoscale Discussions, and probabilistic data are layered on top of active alerts for full situational awareness.

Historical Archive

Past alerts going back to 2002 are searchable via the Iowa Environmental Mesonet VTEC archive.

Impact Estimates

Every alert shows population, vulnerable residents, infrastructure counts, and historical flood risk for affected counties — sourced from Census, FEMA, and USACE data.

Data Sources

Where the Data Comes From

NWS API

api.weather.gov — live warnings, watches, and advisories. Primary alert source, refreshed every 30 seconds.

Storm Prediction Center

spc.noaa.gov — convective outlooks (Day 1–3), Mesoscale Discussions, and probabilistic tornado/wind/hail data.

WPC

wpc.ncep.noaa.gov — Excessive Rainfall Outlooks (ERO) and extended Hazards Outlook (Days 3–7).

Iowa Mesonet (IEM)

mesonet.agron.iastate.edu — historical VTEC alert archive going back to 2002, and the emergency events database.

NHC

nhc.noaa.gov — tropical cyclone advisories and storm surge data during active hurricane season.

OpenStreetMap / CARTO

Map tiles provided by CartoDB dark theme. Zone and county boundary polygons from the NWS API.

U.S. Census Bureau

2020 Census and 2022 ACS — county population, housing units, mobile homes, and age group breakdowns for the Impacts tab.

FEMA OpenFEMA

Historical flood disaster declarations by county — used to calculate the flood risk rating shown in the Impacts tab.

USACE / Census CBP

National Inventory of Dams (USACE) and County Business Patterns (Census) for infrastructure counts — hospitals, schools, power plants, airports, dams, and more.

The Developer

Built By

Jake

Developer & Designer — NWSAlerts.net

✉ jake@nwsalerts.net

Fine Print

Disclaimer

NWSAlerts.net is an independent project and is not affiliated with, endorsed by, or operated by the National Weather Service, NOAA, or any government agency. All alert data originates from official NWS sources and is presented as-is.

This site is intended as a supplemental situational awareness tool only. Always follow guidance from your local NWS office and emergency management officials during severe weather events.