Latest News About National Weather Service Radio Frequency

Here’s the latest overview of NOAA Weather Radio (NWR) frequencies and current status.

Direct answer

• NWR broadcasts on seven standard VHF frequencies: 162.400, 162.425, 162.450, 162.475, 162.500, 162.525, and 162.550 MHz. These are the widely used channels for national and local weather broadcasts [NWR station listings and brochures consistently list these seven frequencies].

Recent status and notable updates

• In 2025, several NWR transmitters were temporarily taken offline for scheduled system updates (AWIPS updates) as part of nationwide maintenance, with outages typically lasting 2–3 days per transmitter and rolling across the network through mid-2025. This means some local broadcasts may momentarily be unavailable and then restored after updates are completed [Rolling Updates take some NOAA Weather Radio stations offline] .
• A good baseline reference for NWR frequencies remains the official NWS/NWR station listings and brochures, which enumerate the same seven frequencies above and indicate continuous weather information when transmitters are online [NWR Station Listing and brochures] .

What this means for listeners

• If you’re near New York City or elsewhere in New York, the common practice is to monitor one or more of these seven frequencies. A typical configuration is to scan 162.400, 162.425, 162.450, 162.475, 162.500, 162.525, and 162.550 MHz to receive nationwide and local weather alerts [NWR resources and standard frequency lists] .
• To receive alerts reliably, you’ll need an appropriate NOAA Weather Radio receiver or a scanner capable of receiving the VHF public service band and isolating NWR tones if your device supports it [NWR brochures and reference pages] .

Illustrative snapshot

• Frequency lineup (typical seven-channel set): 162.400, 162.425, 162.450, 162.475, 162.500, 162.525, 162.550 MHz. These are standard across most NWR implementations and are designed to cover weather and hazard information nationwide [NWR brochure and station listings] .

If you’d like, I can tailor this to your exact location (e.g., NYC-area stations) and provide a quick checklist for setting up an NWR receiver, plus links to current official status pages.