FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. – When a winter storm hits Northwest Arkansas the fastest way to find out if University of Arkansas classes and operations are affected is the U of A inclement weather alert system. The alert messages come in three speeds: fast, faster and fastest.  Email notices are fast and they go to all students, faculty and staff automatically. Since that’s more than 36,000 messages, it takes about 10 minutes to send them all out. To get weather alerts faster or fastest, you have to sign up for them.

Text messages are the fastest, taking only a couple of minutes to be delivered. However, students, faculty and staff have to give the university permission to send them text, or even voice messages.

Students can do that by logging into ISIS, going to the “Personal Information” section and choosing “Campus Alert Systems” from the drop-down menu. They can then designate one phone number to receive text messages. It’s recommended that students check their accounts to make sure they’ve put a text number in the system, and that the number is correct and current. Students can also add as many as six phone numbers to receive voice messages – if, for example, a student has more than one phone, or wants other family members to get emergency messages. Phone messages are faster than email, but slower than text, and remember: most inclement weather messages go out at about 5:30 a.m. It’s a good idea to get permission before adding a number for a spouse or for parents who don’t live near the campus – so they aren’t surprised by the early morning calls.

Faculty and staff can check and update their alert information through their BASIS accounts, using the “My Personal Data” section, and going to “Addresses, etc.” Faculty and staff can authorize up to three phone numbers for an inclement weather text or voice message alert.  

Additional help signing up phones for text or voice mail messages is available at razalert.uark.edu/.

The U of A also posts inclement weather messages on its homepage, and messages are also available by calling the University of Arkansas Weather Hotline at 575-7000.