iPhone Drives America’s Weather Safety
A week ago, two tornadoes touched down near St. Louis. The sirens installed to warn people did not work, and the danger could have hit people’s homes and businesses without a chance for preparation.
The alternative to local warnings is texts to smartphones from the National Weather Service. With cuts to its parent, the NOAA, these could be interrupted. For now, the warning system is the best available. All people need to do is keep their phones on.
Keep Your Phone On
Keeping phones on may be the biggest hurdle. The percentage of people who do keep their phones on 24/7 ranges from 51% to 81%. If a huge storm is approaching, the people without phones are out of luck. The iPhone has settings that make the phone into a permanent weather warning system that does not have to be changed.
Technology may change the weather forecasting system more than anything else has in the past. Forecasting is evolving toward AI-based forecasts, and preparation and actions during a storm could add to those features as well.
The iPhone may end up being one of the great health devices available. It already checks heart rates and has an emergency setting for when people are hurt or lost.
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