Watching surrounding-county alerts gives you 15-60 minutes of lead time vs waiting for your own county to be added to a polygon.
Active NWS alerts in counties surrounding yours, organized by how close they are. Severe weather often crosses county lines on a predictable path — a tornado warning in the next county west of you may be heading your way within minutes.
SKYWARN spotters and EMA volunteers track what's coming toward them, not just what's overhead. Watching nearby alerts gives you 15–60 minutes of lead time vs. waiting for your own county to be added to the warning polygon.
Direction arrows on alert badges (↑ N, → E, etc.) show which direction each affected county sits relative to you.
Part of the BloomWX learn library — beginner-friendly explainers covering every surface of the BloomWX weather dashboard. Open BloomWX to see live data for any U.S. county.