I see that there are two different SAME codes for St. Louis area, one for county and one for city. I'm setting up a radio for daughter is in University City. Is there much difference between the two when it comes to warning and such, how far out does the city one actually cover when it comes to area specific, anybody actually know. I hate for the county one to be in there if the city one would cover her, mostly I hate for it to be sounding for something in Eureka, when she doesn't need alerted.
Generally most storms come from the west or southwest and will trigger the county code first. I also see most warnings for this area end up covering both the city and county except for the far south and north county ones so most will still send the cities code. I think for safety, I'd program them both really. There have been the rare storm that comes down from the north and swings west into the city and then the county plus I've seen some not bloom out until they are over the city.
It is almost a safe bet that a county warning is going to move into the city as well so play it safe and set both.
I questioned this on the HP-1 as it only lets one set St. Louis and it does not specify if it is for the county or city. Someone at the official Homepatrol forum checked and found that the HP-1 will alert for either area. I don't use my HP-1 though for weather alerts.
What I do living here in Chesterfield is I set Jefferson, Franklin and St. Louis County. Those seem to keep me up all night so I may be doign too many counties but I always figured most storms here do originate out in one of those counties that I'm better off playing it safe. I sometimes will add your county also if the radar shows them moving through St. Charles heading due East or slightly SouthEasterly as those can also clip this part of the county.
Hope this helps!
edit: being she is in U-City, I'd go with the county code for sure. The city code may not activate until the storm is on top of her area.
And yes, I fully understand about being woken for alerts out in Eureka! They have talked about splitting the county but between North and South with two new codes but I've heard nothing further on that. The city code is really meant for the city only. When they see a storm will hit within the city limits, then they send that code. But a storm moving northerly may miss the city hence the code is never sent yet that storm could clip U-City.
This may be a goiod question to ask those at the forcast office out in your area, I forget the direct email address but you should be able to find it at the local forecast office website. They should be able to give you more exact info.
If they do, please post back here what they said!
