NWS data, a dated snapshot
Weather alerts on the road right now: how many hours are left
A snapshot of the active National Weather Service alerts for the 50 states and D.C., with the hours each has left to run and how long such weather usually lasts. It is dated and not live.
Dated snapshotNational Weather Service active alerts, 50 states and D.C.In force at Oct 10, 2026, 10:00 UTCRetrieved Oct 10, 2026, 10:00 UTCretrieved Oct 10, 2026
Read this first
This is a photograph of alerts taken on one date and time, not a live feed and not a forecast. Alerts change within hours. It says nothing about whether a road is open. Hours left is the time from the snapshot to the end or expiry time on the alert. Use it as context, and check weather.gov and the state 511 service for your route today.
What a stop costs against what the alert says
Pick a state and a type. The form puts the hours left on its alerts next to how long such episodes usually last.
Alerts in force, by state
- below 2
- 2 to below 3
- 3 to below 4
- 4 to below 11
- 11 or more
- not published
Colours are quintiles of the published states (alerts in force in the state at retrieval). Select a state tile to set the form below.
Hours left, all land alerts
Number of alerts by hours left at the snapshot time, all states, each alert counted once.
Pre-filled values are Example data. Replace them with your own.
Alerts of this type in the state
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- Median hours left
- -
- Longest hours left
- -
- Typical episode, median
- -
- Typical episode, 90th percentile
- -
- Cost if stopped for the median hours left
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- Cost if stopped for the longest hours left
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- Cost of a typical episode, median
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- Cost of a long episode, 90th percentile
- -
Pick a state and type.
Formula: cost = trucks x hours x share stopped x cost per stopped hour, integer cents, half up. Hours left come from the alerts in this snapshot; typical episodes are NOAA Storm Events lengths for the same state and type. Nothing you type leaves this page.
By state
Click a heading to sort. An alert that covers two states is counted in each.
| State | Alerts in force | Warnings | Median hours left | Longest hours left | Most common type (count) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Alabama | 13 | 4 | 7 h | 75 h | Other alerts (8) |
| Alaska | 3 | 1 | 29 h | 38 h | Winter weather (2) |
| Arizona | 2 | 0 | 44 h | 50 h | High wind (1) |
| California | 12 | 0 | 50 h | 109 h | Flooding (6) |
| Colorado | 1 | 0 | 62 h | 62 h | Other alerts (1) |
| Florida | 15 | 3 | 6 h | 62 h | Other alerts (7) |
| Georgia | 13 | 3 | 6 h | 106 h | Other alerts (6) |
| Indiana | 1 | 0 | 5 h | 5 h | Other alerts (1) |
| Kentucky | 4 | 0 | 3 h | 23 h | Other alerts (3) |
| Louisiana | 3 | 0 | 14 h | 14 h | High wind (1) |
| Maine | 3 | 1 | 26 h | 26 h | Freeze and frost (3) |
| Maryland | 2 | 0 | 29 h | 41 h | High wind (1) |
| Michigan | 1 | 0 | 11 h | 11 h | Other alerts (1) |
| Minnesota | 11 | 0 | 14 h | 14 h | Other alerts (11) |
| Mississippi | 12 | 0 | 5 h | 15 h | Other alerts (8) |
| Montana | 5 | 1 | 50 h | 50 h | Winter weather (4) |
| Nevada | 4 | 0 | 50 h | 50 h | Flooding (3) |
| New Hampshire | 1 | 0 | 26 h | 26 h | Freeze and frost (1) |
| North Carolina | 7 | 1 | 26 h | 68 h | Flooding (4) |
| Oklahoma | 4 | 0 | 10 h | 11 h | Other alerts (4) |
| Oregon | 4 | 0 | 30 h | 54 h | Freeze and frost (4) |
| Pennsylvania | 2 | 0 | 32 h | 32 h | High wind (2) |
| South Carolina | 7 | 1 | 26 h | 68 h | Flooding (6) |
| South Dakota | 2 | 0 | 14 h | 14 h | Other alerts (2) |
| Texas | 6 | 1 | 14 h | 50 h | Other alerts (5) |
| Utah | 7 | 0 | 50 h | 62 h | High wind (4) |
| Virginia | 1 | 0 | 29 h | 29 h | High wind (1) |
| Washington | 2 | 0 | 29 h | 30 h | Freeze and frost (2) |
| West Virginia | 2 | 0 | 29 h | 29 h | High wind (2) |
Source: National Weather Service alerts API, retrieved Oct 10, 2026. Warnings are alerts whose event name ends in Warning. Marine and territory zones are not counted.
By type, next to typical episodes
Each alert counted once. Typical episode columns are the five years of NOAA Storm Events on the storm episode page, all states pooled.
| Type | Alerts | States | Median hours left | Longest hours left | Typical episode, median | Typical episode, 90th percentile |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Winter weather | 6 | 2 | 38 h | 50 h | 20 h | 49 h |
| High wind | 24 | 18 | 26 h | 50 h | 6 h | 25 h |
| Flooding | 35 | 13 | 38 h | 109 h | 4 h | 52 h |
| Freeze and frost | 9 | 5 | 29 h | 54 h | - | - |
| Other alerts | 46 | 15 | 7 h | 67 h | - | - |
Sources: National Weather Service alerts API, retrieved Oct 10, 2026; NOAA NCEI Storm Events Database, retrieved Oct 10, 2026. Episode length is first warning to last in a state, a different measure from the hours left on one alert. Dashes: no episode history for the type.
What this number means
- Hours left is a ceiling on one alert, not a stop time for your truck. The weather may clear sooner, or the alert may be renewed and run longer.
- A long list of short alerts is a different day from one alert with days left. The median and the longest figure show both.
- The typical episode column shows whether the alerts on the list are short or long next to what the same weather usually does.
What to do about it
- Before a trip, look up the alerts for each state on the route at weather.gov and note the end times in your load file.
- Put your stopped-hour cost in the form so you know what a day of waiting is worth before a broker asks you to run through it.
- Write the alert and its time into your dispatch notes. If a delay turns into a layover claim, the record helps.
Questions
Is this a live feed?
No. It is a snapshot taken Oct 10, 2026, 10:00 UTC from the National Weather Service alerts feed. Alerts are issued, extended and cancelled all day, so the page can be hours or days out of date by the time you read it. Use weather.gov or your dispatch system for what is in force now.
How are hours left worked out?
For each alert we take the end time the National Weather Service gives for the event, or the expiry time when it gives no end, and subtract the snapshot time. The result is rounded to whole hours. Alerts already past their end at the snapshot time are left out. An expiry is when the message expires, which can come before the weather is over.
Why are there so few alerts?
We count only alerts for zones in the 50 states and D.C. Marine zones, offshore waters and territories are left out (168 alerts in the snapshot). Quiet days have few land alerts and busy days many more. A snapshot says nothing about the next one.
What is the typical episode column?
It comes from the NOAA Storm Events history on our storm episode page: five years of episodes, measured from the first warning to the last in a state. It is a different measure from hours left on one alert, so it is a comparison for scale, not a prediction of when this alert ends.
Does a warning mean roads are closed?
No. The alert is a weather statement. Road closures are decided by state and local agencies and can start after, or never. Check the state 511 service for your route.
Related guides and tools
- Weather risk: the alert snapshot by state, event and severity
- Storm episode length: how long systems last, five years
- Weather calendar: event days by month
- Road works radar: work zones and lane closures
- Layover calculator: what a night stopped costs
- Layover pay: what you can ask for
- Intelligence hub: all open-data pages
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