Champaign To Display Tornado Warnings On Digital Billboards
Digital billboards are being used for more than just pitching a product or service, especially since some cities are now using them to protect their citizens.
We've already seen their digital screens showing missing children, wanted criminals, and even highlighting road conditions.
Now, it's to warn motorists of potential and/or confirmed tornado activity in the area.
The latest city to join the trend of warnings via billboards is Champaign, Illinois.
The National Weather Service and an outdoor advertising company are teaming up to equip nine digital billboards in central Illinois with the ability to display tornado warnings.
Adams Outdoor Advertising says the billboards in Champaign will alert drivers to any tornado warning in effect within 20 miles (32 kilometers) of each billboard.
John Dwyer of the Champaign County Emergency Management Agency is cautioning people still will need weather radios and phone apps to stay alert to the kind of weather that can rapidly develop into tornadoes even before warnings are issued.
It's not just the city of Champaign that thinks this may save lives, as other places are getting on board with it, too:
I guess you'd have to figure things have gotten really bad weather-wise when this happens:
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