SWAW: Focus on Weather Radio

SWAW stands for Severe Weather Awareness Week. This is an annual event, and has been since 1975, to focus on the weather threats which come with severe weather season in Alabama. Many, many states hold these educational events in an effort to increase the awareness of people to the severe weather threats and also to the procedures to follow for safety. Friday’s focus is on NOAA Weather Radio.

-Brian-

NOUS44 KBMX 211125
PNSBMX
ALZ011>015-017>050-220600-

PUBLIC INFORMATION STATEMENT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE BIRMINGHAM AL
525 AM CST FRI FEB 21 2014

...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 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 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. IN CENTRAL ALABAMA
THE WARNING ALARM DEVICE IS TESTED EACH WEDNESDAY AND SATURDAY,
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.

$$

Category: Alabama's Weather, Severe Weather