How to get prepared for hurricane season 2023

Written by Jim Beaugez | Jun 19, 2023 7:10:12 PM

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) has released its predictions for the 2023 Atlantic hurricane season, and it's time to get prepared.

NOAA is forecasting an average Atlantic hurricane season for 2023, with a likely range of 12 to 17 named storms (winds of 39 mph or higher). Five to nine of those could become hurricanes (winds of 74 mph or higher), including one to four major hurricanes (category 3, 4 or 5; with winds of 111 mph or higher), according to their analysis.

At C Spire, we don’t take hurricanes or other severe-weather threats lightly. Here’s how we keep our wireless network running when the inevitable happens, plus some resources consumers can keep handy to help with their own preparation and recovery plans.

We don’t get prepared—we stay prepared
C Spire team members work year-round to harden our extensive wireless networks and prepare for a wide range of potential disasters and major weather events. We routinely review and update our emergency preparedness and crisis communications plans, as well as conduct drills throughout the year to test the readiness of our network and team members.

‘Super switches’ at the ready
Multiple facilities placed around C Spire’s wireless footprint, nicknamed “super switches,” are designed to withstand the force of a category-five hurricane. These high-tech facilities process millions and millions of calls and data and add additional protection and service assurance for customers. Within the super switches, we have additional generators and a grid of battery backups, and then redundancy systems on top of that just to ensure the maximum reliability of our network. We don’t quit, and that’s good news for you.

Backups for the backups
Network engineers run regular drills to force-fail our systems in order to make sure generators kick on. Tower crews stand ready to act, with fuel trucks prepared to service our cell sites in the event external fuel sources get low. COWs (Cell on Wheels) and COLTs (Cell on Light Truck) are readied to respond in the event a cell site goes down or is damaged.

But how can you get or stay prepared?

Stay weather aware with free alerts on your mobile phone
Consumers can receive free, location-based Wireless Emergency Alerts (WEA) notifications on capable mobile phones under a national public safety warning system designed to alert consumers during emergencies. WEA messages feature a special tone and vibration that is repeated twice so users can easily identify these types of emergency alerts. See instructions for iOS and Android here.