Three Takeaways
If you only remember three things from this story, let them be these:
- Don’t try to outrun severe weather.
- Know your local weather and emergency channels before you travel.
- Practice with your emergency equipment before you need it.
Every year, my friends and I take a trip to Pittsburgh. It’s become a tradition, and like any good tradition, there’s always at least one story that follows us home.
Last year, that story was the 911 outage. We happened to be in Pittsburgh when emergency call systems went down across the entire state of Pennsylvania.
We were at Picklesburgh with more than 200,000 people. Thankfully, nothing serious happened (that we know of), but it was enough to get me thinking.
So this year, half joking and half serious, I tossed my ham radio into the car before we left.
“Well,” I thought, “at least I’ll be prepared if something weird happens again.”
Turns out, something weird did happen.
On our drive back to Rochester, we stopped just outside Buffalo to grab lunch. We had barely sat down when every phone in the restaurant erupted with that unmistakable emergency alert tone.
Tornado Warning.
The warning was in effect for the next 15 minutes.
We looked outside.
Dark skies? Absolutely.
But we convinced ourselves we could beat it home.
So we got back in the car and headed east.
That was mistake number one.
As we got onto the highway, the sky became darker and darker.
Then a few minutes later, we saw something that made all of us go quiet.
It looked like a tornado trying to organize itself beneath the storm.
It had everyone’s attention.
I won’t pretend I can confirm what we were seeing…
But nobody in the car was making jokes anymore.
Suddenly, I realized something.
Where were we supposed to get reliable information?
We started flipping through FM stations.
Nothing.
I didn’t know which NOAA Weather Radio frequency covered the Buffalo area (or even that we couldn’t use the car radio to get to it).
So I turned on my ham radio…
…and immediately realized something even more embarrassing.
I couldn’t remember which repeater or weather channels I had programmed.
Even worse?
I had to Google how to change the channels because I hadn’t practiced using the radio enough.
Thankfully, my cell service was still working.
I found the Buffalo NOAA channel online, figured out the radio controls, and eventually got information.
But that experience drove home something that I’ve talked about countless times through Ready Rochester:
Having emergency equipment doesn’t automatically make you prepared. Knowing how to use it does.
My radio was fine. I was the weak link.
If my phone had lost service, I would have been sitting there with a perfectly functional radio that I didn’t know how to operate under stress.
That moment was an uncomfortable reminder that preparedness is a skill. I had packed the right equipment, but I hadn’t practiced with it enough.
I wasn’t prepared.
I had an expensive radio with false confidence.
Three Lessons I Won’t Forget
1. Don’t try to outrun a storm.
Weather changes faster than traffic moves.
It had been a long drive, and we were anxious to get back home to our families.
Looking back, we should have stayed where we were, monitored conditions, and waited until the warning expired. Saving a few minutes on the drive wasn’t worth the risk.
2. Know the emergency information for the places you’re traveling through.
I knew the weather resources around Rochester.
I didn’t know Buffalo’s.
If you’re traveling long distances, take a few minutes before you leave to look up the NOAA Weather Radio frequencies, local emergency management pages, or radio stations along your route. You don’t want to be searching for them while severe weather is already happening.
This is the guide I wish I’d had.
Print a copy and keep it somewhere you’ll be able to find it when you need it. It includes news radio stations, NOAA Weather Radio frequencies, and amateur radio resources for Rochester, Buffalo, and Syracuse.
Download the Rochester Weather Radio Stations Guide →3. Practice with your emergency gear before you need it.
This one stung.
I have an amateur radio license from the FCC and a call sign.
I own a ham radio.
I had charged it.
I packed it.
I felt pretty good about bringing it.
Then, when I actually needed to use it, I realized I hadn’t spent enough time learning it.
Fortunately, I was able to rely on the internet to bail me out.
If I couldn’t, we would have been in a much tougher spot.
Preparedness Is About Finding the Gaps
I share this story because none of us gets preparedness perfectly right.
Every close call has something to teach us.
This one highlighted several gaps in my own planning that I’m working to fix.
Since getting home, I’ve already started making changes. I’m programming the weather frequencies I’ll need along the route before long car trips, spending more time practicing with my radio, and making sure I know what emergency resources are available wherever I’m traveling.
I’d much rather learn those lessons during a close call than during a true emergency.
So if you’re reading this before your next road trip, learn from my mistake.
Don’t assume you’ll have internet.
Don’t assume you’ll know where to get reliable information.
And don’t assume that owning emergency equipment automatically makes you prepared.
Because when the sky suddenly turns dark and every phone around you starts screaming with a serious weather warning, that’s a terrible time to discover the weak spots in your plan.