[EAS] An Open "Letter" to the National Weather Service - now posted on the EAS Forum

[Richard_Rudman]

Greetings:

There is a new posting on EAS_Forum that the Broadcast Warning Working Group (BWWG) hopes will help solve a serious problem we have identified with some National Weather Service (NWS) EAS activations.

During recent severe storms in some parts of the country many of us saw what we can only describe as "message flooding" -- a large number of  EAS events in a very short period of time -- perceived as excessive and duplicative. We have even observed some NWS offices that issue EAS events to cancel storm warnings. The way the NWS local offices are managed there is no national policy for these and other aspects of NWS EAS messages.

This can, in the opinion of the BWWG, only lead to a growing number of those subject to Part 11 choosing to opt out of relaying weather EAS events. All well within the Rules since local state EAS event relay is voluntary. 

Please take a look at the posting, and talk it up. It will take a concerted effort on the part of local and state committees to work with NWS to come up with policies for their EAS events we can all live with. We are hoping that NWS office "management" in Silver Springs, MD, will step in and help. That would make what needs to be done to solve this a lot easier that working with all the individual NWS offices across the country.

If the common goal is to get timely and effective life safety weather warnings to a public at risk, the effort we will all have to put into this issue will be well worth it.

Regards,

Richard Rudman
Core member, the BWWG