TornadoScanner: Tornado Alerts

TornadoScanner is a live tornado tracker for the US and Canada. Every tornado warning, tornado watch and severe thunderstorm warning appears on one live tornado map, and when a tornado warning or tornado watch covers the place you care about, your phone gets an alert.

Pick your place by ZIP code, Canadian postal code or town, or tap to use your current location. You can watch up to five places for free, such as home and family. Any warning or watch covering it goes to the top of the list, so you can see at a glance whether there is a tornado warning near you right now, and tornado alerts reach your phone even when the app is closed. If a warning gets worse, because a tornado is confirmed on the ground, the National Weather Service (NWS) warns of considerable damage, or a tornado emergency is declared, you get a second alert. When the warning ends, you get an all clear, so you are not left wondering whether it is safe.

Live tornado map and radar
The map shows warnings and watches in the NWS colors, with live US weather radar underneath and a radar loop of the last 50 minutes, so you can see where the storm is heading. Turn on storm reports to see where tornadoes, hail and damaging wind were reported in the last 24 hours. In Canada, every tornado warning and watch Environment Canada issues is covered, from Alberta, Saskatchewan and Manitoba to Ontario and Quebec.

Every warning in full
Open a tornado warning to read what the National Weather Service or Environment Canada said, with a live countdown, the safety steps in plain words and the official text one tap away. Tap Read aloud to hear the steps while you move. For US warnings you also see the storm's direction and speed, the hail size where given, roughly how many people are inside and when it could reach your place. Once you are safe, one button lets you tell your family.

On your home screen
Add the free widget, wide or small, to see your place at a glance: all clear, a tornado watch or a tornado warning, with the next three days of storm risk. Without signal, the app shows the last alerts it read and when.

See severe weather coming
The Outlook tab shows the Storm Prediction Center (SPC) risk for today and the next eight days, with the chance of tornadoes, hail and damaging wind near your place. If you want it, a heads-up arrives one to three days ahead when the outlook puts your place at Slight risk or higher. The outlook covers US places only.

Built for the nights that matter
On Android you can let tornado warnings sound through Do Not Disturb, because the biggest risk is a silent phone at 2 a.m. while a storm crosses your county. A timed tornado drill lets you practice your shelter plan and checks that your phone can receive alerts, without ever sounding or looking like a real warning.

Tornado history for your county
For US places, see every tornado recorded in your county since 1950, the months they strike most, and the strongest storms that have hit near you.

English and Spanish
The whole app is in English and Spanish, and tornado alerts arrive in the language you choose.

Free and private
TornadoScanner is free, with no account and no ads. The app reads your location only when you tap the button. When you turn on phone alerts, your saved place goes to TornadoScanner's alert server, since that is where warnings are matched to it, and turning alerts off deletes it.

Where the data comes from
Warnings and watches come from the National Weather Service and Environment Canada, outlooks and county records from NOAA's Storm Prediction Center, and radar and storm reports from the Iowa Environmental Mesonet. TornadoScanner is an independent app. It is not made by, endorsed by or part of the National Weather Service, NOAA, Environment Canada or any other government agency.

TornadoScanner is not an official warning service, and a notification can arrive late. Always follow the National Weather Service or Environment Canada and your local officials.

Recent changes:
New in 1.1: a home screen widget in two sizes, an animated radar loop, Read aloud on warning pages, five free places, switches for hail and wind and for flash flood alerts, and the last alerts kept on screen when you lose signal.