Here's How To Get Severe Weather, Tornado Alerts In New Jersey

NEW JERSEY — When Tropical Storm Elsa hit New Jersey in July, two tornadoes blew through Woodbine and Little Egg Harbor, bringing wind gusts up to 100 mph.

Since the tornadoes touched down in the middle of night, many New Jersey residents were unaware of the danger happening outside their homes.

Tornado warnings were issued overnight for parts of Cape May, Atlantic, Ocean and Monmouth counties. But to get these alerts, residents have to activate them on their mobile devices.

Electronic devices that run iPhone or Android operating systems have the option to receive Wireless Emergency Alerts (WEA), which are an essential part of United States emergency preparedness, according to the Federal Communications Commission.

WEA is a public safety system that allows customers who own compatible mobile devices to receive geographically targeted, text-like messages alerting them of imminent threats to safety in their area. Tornado warnings are only one of a few types of weather warnings that trigger emergency phone alerts from the national WEA system.

Here's how to turn on WEA alerts on your mobile device:

Apple (IOS)

1. Find the settings application -> tap on notifications
2. Scroll to the bottom -> turn on Emergency Alerts if not already on

Android

1. Find the settings application -> tap on Apps & Notifications
2. Find Emergency Alerts and tap to confirm these alerts are turned on

When severe weather is reported within your current location, your mobile device will vibrate and play a loud emergency tone-based noise for your location — briefing you on the latest advisories or warnings from the National Weather Service.

If you have these alerts turned off on your phone you will not receive any updates on severe weather in your area. If you switch to a "Do Not Disturb" mode, which deactivates all incoming notifications, you may still receive these alerts.

Since its launch in 2012, the WEA system has been used more than 61,000 times to warn the public about dangerous weather, missing children, and other critical situations – all through alerts on compatible cell phones and other mobile devices.

The main weather events that regularly trigger emergency alerts on mobile phones include tornado warnings, flash flood warnings and snow squall warnings. Most severe thunderstorm warnings do not trigger phone alerts, but occasionally an extremely powerful thunderstorm will prompt an alert, according to the National Weather Service.

Mobile alerts are designed to warn the public about imminent, short-lived weather dangers — not long-duration events like winter storms.