Warning center

About the NWS warning desk

This is a live desk for United States National Weather Service warnings, built around one question: does this warning cover the place you care about? Drop a pin and the local lane lists the Warning Events whose polygon contains it, ordered by event type first — Tornado, then Flash Flood, then Severe Thunderstorm — and then by the CAP severity, urgency, and certainty the forecaster assigned. A nearby strip catches events that come close without covering you, and everything else stays in the national stream.

Open any Warning Event for the full official text — hazard, source, impacts, and the NWS instruction — beside the alert polygon on a map, Storm Prediction Center Day 1 risk context, and recent storm reports. Ended, expired, and cancelled events drop out of the ranked lists rather than sorting to the bottom; an expiry is never an all clear.

The desk is free and needs no account. To be told about a warning instead of checking for one, subscribe to Bitwatch alerts, watch the storms themselves on live radar, or read the day ahead on the severe weather outlook.

Warnings FAQ

What warnings does the warning desk show?

Every active National Weather Service warning, watch, and advisory for the United States — Tornado, Severe Thunderstorm, Flash Flood, winter, marine, and heat products — each with its official headline, hazard, impacts, instruction, and alert polygon.

How does the desk decide which warnings are local to me?

Set a pin and the local lane lists only Warning Events whose polygon covers it, ranked by event type and then CAP severity, urgency, and certainty. Events that sit close to the pin without covering it appear in a nearby strip, and geometry that cannot be resolved is never treated as local.

How fresh is the warning data?

Source Messages are pulled from the NWS CAP feed every minute, and the desk reports its Freshness State as fresh, delayed, or unavailable so you can tell whether you are looking at current data or a stale snapshot.

Can I be notified when a warning covers my location?

Yes. Bitwatch sends email and optional browser push Delivery for a Protected Place with no account required. It is a supplemental heads-up only — it does not replace Wireless Emergency Alerts, NOAA Weather Radio, or instructions from local officials.