Operating Systems (OS): Apple and Android.
Cost: Free.
Emergency: Alerts is an app from the American Red Cross. It warns you about upcoming severe weather and also keeps you safe during a severe weather event. You and your loved ones can let each other know that you're safe and sound and look up nearby Red Cross shelters. The app comes with a flashlight, strobe light, and audible alarm.
This app also features preloaded content that's accessible without an internet connection, giving you peace of mind when you need it most. The American Red Cross also offers apps specifically for tornadoes, hurricanes, earthquakes, and floods if you prefer to zero in on these emergency events.
OS: Apple and Android.
Cost: Free, with in-app purchase options.
WeatherBug gets top marks for the depth of its data and update speed, with thunderstorm alerts that claim to ping you in half the time of other apps. The alerts come with preparedness tips and potential impacts of severe weather on nature and wildlife.
OS: Apple and Android.
Cost: Free, with subscription-based upgrade options.
Storm Shield gives you alerts for your current location (versus your home address/city/county) so you receive applicable and timely alerts for just about any kind of life- or property-threatening weather event. You can customize your alerts to extremely specific levels (volcanoes are an option), including the advisory level.
The app's alerts come in text and voice format, making them impossible to ignore. You can also track conditions in up to five locations and overlay different types of data on the map, so you can keep tabs on friends and family near and far.
OS: Apple and Android.
Cost: Free.
Storm Radar is The Weather Channel's severe weather app. It's one of the few apps to include lightning trackers and alerts for free. Storm Radar works well for hurricanes and tornadoes because you not only get real-time alerts, you can track the unpredictable paths of these storms to stay out of their way.
OS: Apple and Android.
Cost: Free.
The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) app is perfect for people who purely want alerts for every kind of severe weather event possible, without maps, radar, or data points to analyze. Just put in up to five locations and customize alerts for dozens of weather events and advisory types, and then you'll get text alerts in real-time. The app also provides storm preparedness tips and resources, including links for filing a flood claim.
OS: Apple and Android.
Cost: $9.99.
Alert FM will give you voice and text alerts for more than 100 severe weather and advisory types of your choice for up to five stored locations and your current location. You can also track severe weather in real-time on the animated radar and text snapshots of the radar to alert your friends who may be in the path of severe weather. Alert FM will also announce evacuations and shelter locations.
OS: Apple and Android.
Cost: Free.
AlertSense lets you bookmark specific addresses and set quiet hours so only emergency alerts and severe weather warnings are sent with sound. All other less urgent notifications will be on silent. You can also toggle between a list view and map view for the alerts if you've got locations bookmarked all over the country.