1 - tdotwriter
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Environment Canada shutting down Weatheradio network next month
Most people have (sadly) never heard of it, but for decades there has existed a dedicated radio service devoted to "all weather, all the time" 24/7. Mostly broadcasting through a network of transmitters at 162 MHz (at narrow bandwidth intervals) with a few re-transmitters on the regular FM band, notably the town of Parry Sound and Algonquin Park, the service for decades has provided a dedicated, non-internet and non-cell network based source of forecasts, special weather statements, watches and warnings for all the weather that graces and afflicts our land.
The service is most notable for its ability to automatically activate radios equipped with SAME (Specific Area Message Encoding) capability when watches or warnings are issued, effectively allow them to function as alarms for dangerous weather as well as other man-made disasters. The capability extends to Amber Alerts as well. I should also note that most of the radios also allow you to voluntarily "silence" activations for the "events" of your choosing, such as Amber Alerts or tests.
The service has mostly been available through what is simply known as "weather radios"; a type of radio widely available in the U.S capable of tuning the 162 MHz VHF channels that the stations have transmitted on, and the technical standards are practically identical between the American and Canadian networks. American weather radios have been available online in Canada and have fully supported the Canadian network thanks to the mutual choice of common technical standards.
Using the usual status-quo and cliche arguments to the effect of "it's old-fashioned radio technology" and "we have the internet and smartphones now", Environment Canada has seemingly chosen to discontinue the service effective March 16th. The network has traditionally reached areas with poor or practically no cell coverage, including further-out areas of the Great Lakes which are notoriously prone to very dangerous and unpredictable weather and cell networks often become unusable in severe weather events, and I can tell you this through experience. There's also the network outages that have occurred under the most mundane of circumstances.
Needless to say, I'm not the only person who feels that this is a step backwards in public safety and preparedness. Fortunately, the U.S National Weather Service seem to have no plans to discontinue their long-established Weatheradio network.
- RadioActive
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Re: Environment Canada shutting down Weatheradio network next month
Here's a list of frequencies in Ontario, including the rare instances of it on FM.
- turkeytop
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Re: Environment Canada shutting down Weatheradio network next month
Sad. I use it all the time during emergency weather conditions. So now what? Rely on local radio stations that often don't even report weather?
Last edited by turkeytop (February 24, 2026 10:13 am)
After all is said and done, more is usually said than done.
- RadioActive
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Re: Environment Canada shutting down Weatheradio network next month
I think they believe most have a weather app on their phones that can provide the same information, so it's not worth the duplication.
- ig
- Iain Grant
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Re: Environment Canada shutting down Weatheradio network next month
I use it all the time to verify a refurb scanner's Front-end sensitivity could truly be that bad 
. (Do the Bearcat!)
Madness takes its toll. Please have exact change.
- turkeytop
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Re: Environment Canada shutting down Weatheradio network next month
RadioActive wrote:
I think they believe most have a weather app on their phones that can provide the same information, so it's not worth the duplication.
I have several weather radios. But our only phone, the one on the kitchen wall doesn't do aps. So now I have to go out and buy a device and pay for a monthly plan, to get a service that used to be free.
After all is said and done, more is usually said than done.
- RadioActive
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Re: Environment Canada shutting down Weatheradio network next month
Environment Canada has websites that provide this info. Perhaps you could use those.
- RadioActive
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Re: Environment Canada shutting down Weatheradio network next month
They're also discontinuing their "Hello Weather" feature, a service where you could get local weather information over a phone line. You'd dial 1-833-79-HELLO, enter a code number for your area, and get the forecast. (The Toronto code, if you're curious while it's still working, is 04143. Interestingly, they have a separate code for the Toronto Islands.)
I'm not entirely sure anyone even knew this thing was there and it had been in operation since 2021. After March 16th, it, too, will be gone.
See all the codes here.
- RadioActive
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Re: Environment Canada shutting down Weatheradio network next month
One last note on this. This is the brochure Environment Canada put out to advertise this service. According to the copy, "Having an active Weatheradio is just as important as having a smoke detector in your home."
I guess they're changing their minds about that on March 16th.
- Easily Amused
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Re: Environment Canada shutting down Weatheradio network next month
crainbebo succinctly addresses the situation with a recent Radio Discussions post:
"Great, once cell phone towers go down during a crippling tornadic event, a severe thunderstorm, a blizzard, an earthquake, etc. no one will have access to Weather Radio. Way to go, Canada.
Can't wait to see death tolls rise during Canada's major weather disasters to come.
NOAA in the USA better not be next. It's a lifeline for many Americans."
The thread:
Certainly outlines the problem more than your cut and paste dithering.
- RadioAaron
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Re: Environment Canada shutting down Weatheradio network next month
crainbebo succinctly addresses the situation with a recent Radio Discussions post:
"Great, once cell phone towers go down during a crippling tornadic event, a severe thunderstorm, a blizzard, an earthquake, etc. no one will have access to Weather Radio. Way to go, Canada.
Can't wait to see death tolls rise during Canada's major weather disasters to come.
NOAA in the USA better not be next. It's a lifeline for many Americans."
The thread:
Certainly outlines the problem more than your cut and paste dithering.
Holy over-dramatic.
The actual use of this has to be absolutely minimal. Having said that, it can't cost much at all to keep running.
- tdotwriter
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Re: Environment Canada shutting down Weatheradio network next month
crainbebo succinctly addresses the situation with a recent Radio Discussions post:
"Great, once cell phone towers go down during a crippling tornadic event, a severe thunderstorm, a blizzard, an earthquake, etc. no one will have access to Weather Radio. Way to go, Canada.
Can't wait to see death tolls rise during Canada's major weather disasters to come.
NOAA in the USA better not be next. It's a lifeline for many Americans."
The thread:
Certainly outlines the problem more than your cut and paste dithering.
My idea was to point out how many people agree with my concerns about overly exclusive reliance on internet and cell connections in times of disaster. You don't have to be a douchebag about me posting links to other venues.
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Thread Starter- Easily Amused
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Re: Environment Canada shutting down Weatheradio network next month
My idea was to point out how many people agree with my concerns about overly exclusive reliance on internet and cell connections in times of disaster. You don't have to be a douchebag about me posting links to other venues.
No quarrel at all with your observations; I was referring to RadioActive's cut and paste performance.
He seems to quite often argue both sides of an issue.
Last edited by Easily Amused (February 24, 2026 11:39 am)
- tdotwriter
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Re: Environment Canada shutting down Weatheradio network next month
My idea was to point out how many people agree with my concerns about overly exclusive reliance on internet and cell connections in times of disaster. You don't have to be a douchebag about me posting links to other venues.
No quarrel at all with your observations; I was referring to RadioActive's cut and paste performance.
He seems to quite often argue both sides of an issue.
I understand. However, I don't have any issue with any of RadioActive's posts though.
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Thread Starter- Radiowiz
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Re: Environment Canada shutting down Weatheradio network next month
crainbebo succinctly addresses the situation with a recent Radio Discussions post:
"Great, once cell phone towers go down during a crippling tornadic event, a severe thunderstorm, a blizzard, an earthquake, etc. no one will have access to Weather Radio. Way to go, Canada."
How does the new Rogers Sattelite work? Maybe use that when cell towers are down?
- Saul
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Re: Environment Canada shutting down Weatheradio network next month
More people listen to AM than to 162 MHz. I wonder how many people even have radios that will tune into 162 MHz and would even know to check that band just in case there might be a warning. Okay, FM DXers will certainly miss tornado warnings when the E-skip max frequency is well above FM. Because we'll be listening to Nebraska, where the weather will be calm. But we can live with the risk. Why not just send out a donkey with speakers blaring Morse code.
- turkeytop
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Re: Environment Canada shutting down Weatheradio network next month
So, their ad said that having a weather radio is as important as having a smoke detector. So, are smoke detectors now obsolete too? Just use the smoke detector ap on your phone.
After all is said and done, more is usually said than done.
- RadioActive
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Re: Environment Canada shutting down Weatheradio network next month
So, their ad said that having a weather radio is as important as having a smoke detector. So, are smoke detectors now obsolete too? Just use the smoke detector ap on your phone.
That would sure come in handy if your phone battery catches fire..
- mic'em
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Re: Environment Canada shutting down Weatheradio network next month
I have heard both the Bruce Peninsula and Parry Sound FM broadcasts in my travels. There are roadside signs that show the signals for weather information both north and south on highway 400 as you approach Parry Sound.
- markow202
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Re: Environment Canada shutting down Weatheradio network next month
I beleive they should be left on but for THOSE WHO KNOW of the weather radio and bands. These days I can see with the phone alerts that its become obsolete. The only weather radio I have is the weather button on my 1998 Mercedes' factory radio.
- Evuguy
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Re: Environment Canada shutting down Weatheradio network next month
I bought the first Radio Shack weather radio when I was a young teen. The system only had 3 channels back then: 162.400/475 and 550. At that time, Toronto's XMJ225 was on 162.475MHz (some years later, it moved to .400), Rochester was on 162.400 and Buffalo on 162.550. XMJ225 would conduct a test at 12 noon each Wednesday, by sending a 1kHz tone that would trigger the alarm in the radio. My mother, who was home at the time would complain to me about it as she would have to go and press the "listen" bar to stop the alarm. Things were simple and fun back in those days.
- turkeytop
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Re: Environment Canada shutting down Weatheradio network next month
So now they expect us to go out and buy a device and pay for a monthly plan to get a weather alert once or twice a year.
This has always been free.
After all is said and done, more is usually said than done.
- RadioActive
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Re: Environment Canada shutting down Weatheradio network next month
This article from the CBC details how the shutdown will work, and contains this statement:
"Environment Canada said operating the network costs about $4 million per year, and the cost to decommission Weatheradio and Hello Weather will be $2.5 million over two years."
Why does it cost $2.5 million to turn something off? Only in government could not doing something cost taxpayers so much money!
Environment Canada to disconnect Weatheradio service this month
- Skywave
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Re: Environment Canada shutting down Weatheradio network next month
Why does it cost $2.5 million to turn something off? Only in government could not doing something cost taxpayers so much money!
Apparently there are 185 VHF transmitters, plus some low power AM and FM for a total of 230. The antennas and transmitters will have to be removed from each location, and there may be lease termination fees. That means hiring qualified riggers to climb towers, and transporting and disposing of the material.
It averages out to about $11,000 per location.
- turkeytop
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Re: Environment Canada shutting down Weatheradio network next month
This article from the CBC details how the shutdown will work, and contains this statement:
"Environment Canada said operating the network costs about $4 million per year, and the cost to decommission Weatheradio and Hello Weather will be $2.5 million over two years."
Why does it cost $2.5 million to turn something off? Only in government could not doing something cost taxpayers so much money!
Environment Canada to disconnect Weatheradio service this month
So, $4M/ yr? Whats that? About ten cents per year coming out of the pockets of each of us?
For a huge saving like that, it's worth putting our safety at risk.
After all is said and done, more is usually said than done.
- Easily Amused
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Re: Environment Canada shutting down Weatheradio network next month
So, $4M/ yr? Whats that? About ten cents per year coming out of the pockets of each of us?
For a huge saving like that, it's worth putting our safety at risk.
Politicians. Always tripping over $100 bills to pick up nickels. 🤨
- Saul
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Re: Environment Canada shutting down Weatheradio network next month
This article from the CBC details how the shutdown will work, and contains this statement:
"Environment Canada said operating the network costs about $4 million per year, and the cost to decommission Weatheradio and Hello Weather will be $2.5 million over two years."
Why does it cost $2.5 million to turn something off? Only in government could not doing something cost taxpayers so much money!
Environment Canada to disconnect Weatheradio service this monthSo, $4M/ yr? Whats that? About ten cents per year coming out of the pockets of each of us?
For a huge saving like that, it's worth putting our safety at risk.
Pretty well everyone has cell phones, and these carry alerts. We've moved online. Who's seriously going to tune to 162 point whatever to get a weather alert, if they even know about that band. People outside the big cities barely know AM exists. I just can't see anything close to a meaningful number of people tuning in.
- RadioActive
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Re: Environment Canada shutting down Weatheradio network next month
Add to that you need a special radio that can tune those frequencies in and you're further hobbled by providing the service for what you get in return.
- Saul
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Re: Environment Canada shutting down Weatheradio network next month
Add to that you need a special radio that can tune those frequencies in and you're further hobbled by providing the service for what you get in return.
That's yet another good reason, RA. Honestly, EC would do better to send weather alerts by horseback...