Three Cheers, NOAA Weather Radio!

PUBLIC INFORMATION STATEMENT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE BIRMINGHAM AL
600 AM CST FRI FEB 25 2011

..THIS WEEK IS SEVERE WEATHER AWARENESS WEEK IN ALABAMA

…TODAY IS NOAA WEATHER RADIO ALL HAZARDS AND EMERGENCY ALERT SYSTEM
AWARENESS DAY….

SEVERE WEATHER AWARENESS WEEK CONCLUDES TODAY WITH A CLOSER LOOK AT
NOAA WEATHER RADIO ALL HAZARDS AND THE EMERGENCY ALERT SYSTEM. NOAA
WEATHER RADIO ALL HAZARDS IS ALSO KNOWN AS THE VOICE OF THE NATIONAL
WEATHER SERVICE. NOAA WEATHER RADIO ALL HAZARDS PROVIDES
CONTINUOUSLY UPDATED WEATHER INFORMATION, 24 HOURS A DAY, EVERY DAY
OF THE YEAR. NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE PERSONNEL PREPARE WEATHER
INFORMATION THAT IS NORMALLY BROADCAST IN THREE TO FIVE MINUTE
CYCLES. THIS INFORMATION INCLUDES FORECASTS, WARNINGS, CURRENT
CONDITIONS, CLIMATE DATA, AND OTHER IMPORTANT INFORMATION.

TO RECEIVE BROADCASTS FROM THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE, A SPECIAL
RADIO CAPABLE OF RECEIVING SIGNALS IN THE VERY HIGH FREQUENCY, ALSO
KNOWN AS VHF, PUBLIC SERVICE BAND IS REQUIRED. NATIONALLY,
FREQUENCIES FROM 162.400 TO 162.550 MEGAHERTZ ARE USED FOR NOAA
WEATHER RADIO ALL HAZARDS BROADCASTS. ALABAMA IS SERVED BY 29
TRANSMITTERS WHICH COVER APPROXIMATELY 95 PERCENT OF THE CITIZENS IN
ALABAMA.

NOAA WEATHER RADIO ALL HAZARDS IS USEFUL ANYTIME, BUT IT IS MOST
IMPORTANT DURING SEVERE WEATHER. WHEN THREATENING WEATHER DEVELOPS,
NORMAL BROADCASTS ARE INTERRUPTED BY IMPORTANT SEVERE WEATHER
INFORMATION. WATCHES, WARNINGS, AND STATEMENTS ARE GIVEN THE HIGHEST
PRIORITY AND ARE UPDATED FREQUENTLY.

IN AN EMERGENCY, EACH NOAA WEATHER RADIO ALL HAZARDS STATION WILL
TRANSMIT A WARNING ALARM TONE SIGNAL FOLLOWED BY INFORMATION ON THE
EMERGENCY SITUATION. THIS SIGNAL IS CAPABLE OF ACTIVATING SPECIALLY
DESIGNED RECEIVERS BY INCREASING THE VOLUME OR PRODUCING A VISUAL OR
AUDIBLE ALARM. NOT ALL WEATHER BAND RECEIVERS HAVE THIS
CAPABILITY, BUT ALL RADIOS THAT RECEIVE NOAA WEATHER RADIO ALL
HAZARDS CAN RECEIVE EMERGENCY BROADCASTS. THE WARNING ALARM DEVICE
IS TESTED EACH WEDNESDAY, USUALLY BETWEEN 11 AM AND NOON, WEATHER
PERMITTING.

A FEATURE AVAILABLE IN NEWER WEATHER RADIO ALL HAZARDS RECEIVERS IS
CALLED “SAME” WHICH STANDS FOR SPECIFIC AREA MESSAGE ENCODING.
“SAME” TECHNOLOGY ALLOWS RADIOS TO BE PROGRAMMED FOR THE RECEPTION OF
WATCH AND WARNING MESSAGES FOR CERTAIN COUNTIES IN YOUR AREA, WITHOUT
DISTURBING USERS FOR WARNINGS OUTSIDE OF THE PROGRAMMED COUNTIES.
LOCAL MEDIA OUTLETS ARE URGED TO USE NOAA WEATHER RADIO FOR UP TO
DATE WEATHER INFORMATION AND MAY FREELY REBROADCAST THE NOAA WEATHER
RADIO ALL HAZARDS TRANSMISSION.

ANOTHER SOURCE OF WEATHER INFORMATION IS THE EMERGENCY ALERT
SYSTEM, ALSO KNOWN AS EAS, WHICH REPLACED THE EMERGENCY BROADCAST
SYSTEM. THE EAS IS A SYSTEM OF COMMUNICATION LINKS THAT UTILIZE
DATA IN A DIGITAL FORM. IT IS A RELIABLE MEANS OF LINKING THE
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE, EMERGENCY MANAGEMENT AGENCIES, AND
VARIOUS BROADCAST MEDIA TOGETHER. THE EAS WILL HELP PARTICIPATING
RADIO AND TELEVISION STATIONS RECEIVE AND RELAY WEATHER WARNINGS AND
OTHER EMERGENCY INFORMATION IN A TIMELY MANNER.

FOR ADDITIONAL DETAILS CONCERNING SEVERE WEATHER AWARENESS WEEK,
VISIT OUR WEB SITE AT WWW.WEATHER.GOV AND THEN CLICK ON CENTRAL
ALABAMA, OR CONTACT JIM STEFKOVICH, METEOROLOGIST-IN-CHARGE, NATIONAL
WEATHER SERVICE BIRMINGHAM, AT 205-664-3010, EXTENSION 222, OR JOHN
DE BLOCK, WARNING COORDINATION METEOROLOGIST, EXTENSION 223.

—LINHARES

Category: Alabama's Weather