[EAS] Anticipated county name change and FIPS code change

[Tim Schott - NWS Federal]

Please make note of the anticipated county name change and FIPS code change for Shannon County, South Dakota.

The NWS disseminated an initial Public Information Statement on January 7, 2015:

http://www.nws.noaa.gov/om/notification/pns15shannon_county.htm

Assuming actions are completed by the state's legislature and subsequently the state's governor, the US Census Bureau will assign a new FIPS code. 

The NWS fully understands EAS participants and the emergency management community will need time to to plan for this change.  We have reached out to manufacturers of EAS encoders/decoders and NWR consumer receivers concerning this anticipated change.  We will be working closely with the FCC, other agencies and EAS stakeholders on when to implement the new FIPS code for NWS systems and the EAS.  The NWS implementation date will be provided in a future Service Change Notice; the Notice will be posted on this list server.

Please let us know if you have any questions or concerns. 

Timothy Schott
NWS Dissemination Services
NWS Emergency Alert System (EAS) Lead
new_telephone:_301-427-9336