Chicago Area NOAA Weather Radio KWO39 (162.55MHz) 🇺🇸

NOAA Weather Radio (NWR) is a nationwide network delivering continuous weather and hazard information, operated by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) through the National Weather Service (NWS). KWO39, broadcasting on 162.55 MHz from its transmitter in Romeoville, Illinois, serves the Chicago metropolitan area. The station provides updated weather forecasts and critical severe weather alerts, including warnings for tornadoes, hurricanes, and floods. These forecasts and alerts originate from the National Weather Service Chicago Forecast Office, also located in Romeoville, ensuring localized and timely information. KWO39 utilizes Specific Area Message Encoding (SAME) technology, enabling users to program their weather radios to receive alerts specifically for their counties of interest. This prevents alert overload by filtering out irrelevant notifications. Counties covered by KWO39 include Cook (SAME code: 017031), DuPage (017043), Kane (017089), Lake (017097), McHenry (017111), and Will (017197) in Illinois, as well as Lake (018089) and Porter in Indiana, and Kenosha in Wisconsin. Besides weather, KWO39 broadcasts information about other hazards such as AMBER Alerts and environmental hazards.