NOAA Weather Radio

KZZ-81 Lockport, 162.425 MHz

NOAA All Hazards Weather Radio station, KZZ-81 serves portions of northeast Illinois and northwest Indiana including the Chicago Metropolitan Area, from a 1000 Watt transmitter in Lockport, IL. The nominal effective range of the transmitter is about 40 miles. Continuous 24 hour programming is provided from the National Weather Service Chicago Forecast Office, located in southwest suburban Romeoville.

A map of the listening area is shown below, with Specific Area Message Encoder codes shown for each county. Severe weather watches and warnings are tone-alerted for all counties shaded in blue. Tone alarm tests for KZZ-81 occur each WEDNESDAY at approximately 11 AM.

Area of KZZ-81 Warning Area
County
 
McHenry
Lake (IL)
Kane
Cook
DuPage
Kendall
Will
Grundy
Lake (IN)
Porter (IN)
FIPS code
 
017111
017097
017089
017031
017043
017093
017197
017063
018089
018127
*Note that FIPS codes are used for programming SAME-equipped NWR receivers. This utilizes a six digit number for each county. The first three digits are the state code, with the last three digits being the county code.

Broadcast Cycle

  • Station ID Message
    		•  
  • Regional Weather Synopsis
    		• updated around 430 AM and 430 PM, or as needed
  • Hourly Temperature Roundup
    		• updated between 5 and 10 min past the hour
  • Short Term Forecast
    		• only when precipitation or active weather is near Chicagoland
  • Chicago Metro Forecast
    		• updated 4 AM and 4 PM, or as needed
  • Nearshore Marine Forecast for Illinois and Indiana waters
    		•  updated 4 AM, 10 AM, 4 PM and 10 PM
  • Chicago Climate Summary
    		• 6 AM to 10 AM and 430 PM to 7 PM
  • Severe Weather and other special programming during "active" weather
    		•  
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