UPDATE: NOAA Weather Radio transmitters back on the air

UPDATE #2, 3:16 a.m.:  All NOAA Weather Radio transmitters are now back on the air.  Kudos to the folks in Paducah for their FAST work!

UPDATE, 2:55 a.m.:  I have added the counties where folks will be affected by these outages this morning.  If you know someone who lives in these areas, call them and let them severe weather IS on its way ... it's just a couple of hours (maybe less) west of us.  They will need to know that the weather radio might not wake them up.

The National Weather Service office in Paducah reports early this morning that several of its NOAA Weather Radio transmitters are down due to mechanical difficulties.

The affected transmitters which serve portions of the Tri-State are:

• KIG76 (162.550 MHz) in Evansville - which serves all or part of Edwards, Wabash and White counties in Southeastern Illinois; Dubois, Gibson, Perry, Pike, Posey, Spencer, Vanderburgh and Warrick counties in Southwestern Indiana; and Henderson and Union counties in Western Kentucky.
  
• WXJ91 (162.525 MHz) in Madisonville - which serves all or part of Caldwell, Christian, Crittenden, Daviess, Henderson, Hopkins, Lyon, McLean, Muhlenberg, Todd, Trigg, Union and Webster counties in Western Kentucky.
  
• KXI26 (162.450 MHz) in Hopkinsville - which serves all or part of Christian, Todd and Trigg counties in Western Kentucky.
  

Two additional transmitters in Southeast Missouri are also down.

The Paducah office reports that efforts are underway to get these up and running once again as soon as possible. In the meantime, if you are in an area served by one of these transmitters, be sure to follow another information source such as TV or radio to get the latest severe weather information.

Ill. residents can win a weather radio from IESMA and IEMA

March is Severe Weather Preparedness Month in Illinois, and the Illinois Emergency Services Management Association (IESMA) and the Illinois Emergency Management Agency (IEMA) are joining forces to encourage Illinois residents to have National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) all-hazards weather alert radios. A weather alert radio provides potentially life-saving alerts about approaching severe weather and other hazards in your area 24 hours a day.

As part of their awareness campaign, IESMA and IEMA are sponsoring the "Weather Alert Radios Save Lives" contest throughout March to promote the use of weather alert radios. The contest is open to all Illinois residents. To participate, simply click on the contest link at ready.illinois.gov, read a narrative about weather alert radios and take a quick five-question quiz. After completing the quiz, you'll need to fill out the entry form and click "submit." A total of 100 NOAA weather alert radios will be awarded to participants throughout Illinois.

EDITOR'S NOTE:  Weather radios can also be found for sale at many stores across Illinois and elsewhere, such as Walmart and RadioShack, just to name a couple.  I encourage everyone - not just in Illinois but across the Tri-State - to get a weather radio, program it and keep it at the ready in your home.  For more NOAA Weather Radio information, visit JDTVB's NOAA Weather Radio page or the official NOAA Weather Radio website.

Information for this story was provided by IESMA and IEMA.