This is from the latest post and I had decided to extract it, because what I’m talking about will not only give us another option with getting the latest weather forecasts, conditions and alerts. It will also give all of us an idea of what i-Notify sounds like on Weatheradio Canada, for those who don’t have it as yet. I encourage you to call both numbers below and give it a try. Now, on with the rest of this post.

For many years we have been able to get our local weather on the phone, as a recording or a 1 (900) number gave those who wanted to, a chance to talk to a meteorologist. For those who wanted to get even more recorded weather information on the phone, there was a service in Ontario called Weather Menu, which also had a 1(900) number and it was addictive. Thankfully, I had my addiction to it under control and I didn’t call it all that much, unless I really wanted to know about any severe weather I had heard of happening via any severe weather bulletins I had heard on Weatheradio Canada.

Now, there is no need, because of all manner of apps and websites for us to stay up to date on the latest weather in our area. However, for those of us who simply wished to call a number, Canadians had to call specific numbers in order to hear the local forecast and as the author of the newsletter blog, I’ve called all of them and I have even used them as a guide to figure out where problems with Weatheradio Canada could be occurring. Sadly, not every region is represented and this goes for some key areas in Ontario, such as cottage country and the far north of the province, which has no Weatheradio Canada coverage. In my own case, I was toldd to call all of the numbers back in 2013, in order to check on each option in both languages and write it down. If I didn’t have unlimited Canadian calling, it would have been a really large bill. It wasn’t, but it took a week to go through everything and it gave me a new appreciation for having weather on the phone. After all, it did replace Weatheradio Canada when I couldn’t listen to it anymore on TV.

The specific numbers are all in the past, as we can now say HelloWeather, with 2 numbers to call. We can now get the information in and around our local area, along with just about anywhere else across Canada. I have used it and I am very happy with what I have been able to do and if you give it a couple of minutes in order to learn how it works, you will be taken with it too.

The phone numbers are: 1 (833) 794-3556 or 1 (833) 586-3836. There are two numbers because they each Put the main focus on either English or French, depending on which phone number you call. However, you can hear either language if you call either number by pressing one on the telephone keypad when prompted. You can even hear marine forecasts and I for one have been waiting for this since about 2008 or so, when I had first heard about the possibility of a one 800 number being created, as a national number as opposed to a bunch of numbers for specific cities and areas.

Give those two numbers a try today and sure, it’s another option for those who may not have a computer or a smart phone, but I think that you will agree that getting your weather by calling a number is just as helpful as hearing it over a VHF radio, reading the text on the website or an app, or hearing about it on radio and TV. By the way, there will be a website, or a link to it somewhere on the EccC website, talking about it better than I can. It’s not ready yet and I will hopefully have a link to it in a future Weather Radio Listeners Newsletter blog post.

Earlier I had mentioned i-Notify and this also figures into the new phone numbers, because these are the voices which are now heard on Weatheradio Canada (from this point forward). Some stations are on the old AVIPADs software, but they will be transformed before the end of 2021, barring anything holding things up. If you want to hear about HelloWeather from the source, check out this link. https://youtu.be/f6lz_gfzM7Y