What is a First Alert Weather Day?

MONTGOMERY, AL (WSFA) - WSFA 12 News is your First Alert Station, and that is no more evident than in our weather coverage. Protecting you and your family is our main concern when it comes to the sometimes volatile conditions in the River Region.

The WSFA First Alert Weather Team wants to give you advance notice when we see conditions that could be dangerous or life-threatening. That's the driving focus behind a WSFA First Alert Weather Day.

We may declare a WSFA First Alert Weather Day when any of the following weather hazards appear likely:

• Strong to severe storms, which could include damaging hail, dangerous lightning, and destructive tornadoes
• Heavy rains which could cause flooding conditions
• Extreme heat
• Extreme cold
• High fire danger

In short, if threatening conditions are possible in the WSFA viewing area, we will declare a WSFA First Alert Weather Day in order to give you the most advance warning possible - even before a watch or warning is issued by the National Weather Service. This gives you time to plan ahead, change plans if necessary - and ensure you are adequately prepared.

We'll make sure you know it's a First Alert Weather Day on-air, online and on mobile:

• You'll see our profile pictures on Facebook and Twitter change from our normal icon to a special, red First Alert Weather Day icon.
• You'll see a WSFA First Alert Weather Day story on WSFA.com, which will also be sent as an alert on your WSFA First Alert Weather Mobile App and as a text message if you subscribe to our breaking news alert message. We'll also link you to this story on social media.
• During the broadcast day, you will notice a red WSFA First Alert Weather Day icon on the lower right portion of your television screen.
• Our newscasts will open with a special announcement stating a WSFA First Alert Weather Day has been declared, and you will see additional special graphics throughout our newscasts and weather segments.
• We'll also alert you on mobile and on social media if there have been changes to storm timelines, storm strength, and other factors which affect the details of the First Alert Weather Day.

You can begin to prepare now - even if a WSFA First Alert Weather Day is not in effect:

• Bookmark our Interactive Radar on your web browser - even if your mobile device is not handy, you can still track storms down to street-level.
• Download the free WSFA 12 News and WSFA First Alert Weather Apps so you can monitor conditions on-the-go and on your travels. You'll also be able to stream all our newscasts and special weather coverage.
• Like WSFA First Alert and our meteorologists on Facebook and Twitter - Set up a Twitter search for the hashtag #12FirstAlert so you can easily monitor updates.

Ensure you have other methods of obtaining important weather information:

• Check our updated weather blog
• Learn more about our radio partnerships with Cumulus Radio and iHeart Media
• Learn how to program your weather radio - and keep the batteries inside fresh and ready in case of a power outage.

Copyright 2017 WSFA 12 News. All rights reserved.